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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Smallest Farms Locked Out by Farm Bill

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Monday, February 25, 2008   

Northern Neck, VA – The latest version of the Farm Bill making its way through Congress includes a minimum income provision for farmers in order to be able to participate in conservation programs.

Lloyd Wright is a farmer, and former director of the U.S.Department of Agriculture's Office of Civil Rights. He says the provision means farmers who need the program the most can't participate.

"Although they didn't put a limit on the maximum amount of money a person could receive, they did include a floor for farmers, which is that you need -- to make $15,000 from farm income -- to participate."

Wright says that automatically would eliminate about 80 percent of the minority-owned farms in the United States. In Iowa, Tanya Meyer-Dideriksen with the Natural Resources Conservation Service Outreach Program agrees with Wright that there are good reasons to include those farmers whose incomes are on the low-end of the scale.

"We could help them with both technical and financial assistance to implement conservation practices on their land, which not only can protect their land, but also can positively affect their bottom line."

Wright is hopeful that the the income floor will be removed from the final bill. It's something he believes is vital for rural communities in Iowa.


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