Lyons, NE – Minnesota farmers are being encouraged to try something different with their crops and land, and it could mean federal money in their pockets. Mike Heavrin with the Center for Rural Affairs says millions of dollars are available through the U.S. Agriculture Department's "Value-Added Producer" grant program, which encourages producers to put their ideas into practice.

"Examples would be a dairy, where they're bottling their milk and blending their milk right on the farm. Organic meats have been funded, walnuts have been funded, wood projects have been funded."

Other successful proposals have included biodiesel production, wineries and "wind farms" to produce electrical power. Heavrin says they all have one thing in common -- they're innovative attempts to get a few more dollars into the pockets of folks who run rural and farm-based businesses.

"Right now, out of every dollar that a consumer spends in a grocery store, the farmer gets between three and four cents. This program is designed to help the farmer keep control of that product during a longer portion of the chain, hopefully from the farm right to the grocery store; so all that money for the middlemen will go into the pockets of the farmers who are growing the food in the first place."

Heavrin adds farmers aren't the only ones eligible for the grants. The program is open to others involved in producing or harvesting an agricultural commodity, including loggers and anglers. He cautions that not every proposal will rewrite the history books, so to speak - but perhaps a few will.

"Every idea that's ever led to a Fortune 500 company started with one person. There could be some farmer or rancher out in Minnesota who has an idea that could really help rural communities, the rural economy and also themselves - and, hopefully, make an awful lot of money in the future. It's to help people who are thinkers and dreamers, put their dreams into action."

Heavrin notes that Minnesota is one of the top five states nationally for the amounts of such grant money received. The deadline to apply this year is March 31st. Learn more about the grant program online, at
www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/vadg/htm


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A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops.

Excess nitrates can wind up in ground and surface water, and cause health problems.

Practical Farmers of Iowa is encouraging farmers to find just the right amount of nitrogen they need for their crops - while avoiding applying too much, which the group says is common.

PFI's Field Crops Viability Coordinator - Chelsea Ferrie - said thanks to federal grants and private funding, the group will pay farmers up to $35 for every acre that has a lower than normal yield if they didn't apply enough nitrogen.

"No cost to the farmer, either," said Ferrie. "We're trying to help incentivize them. This is something that farmers want to do - I mean, they want to be good stewards of the land - but also, that they need to have a profitable farm."

The application period for the program is open through the end of April.

To help them reach the right nitrogen balance, Ferrie said PFI will help farmers on the front end of the process, too - so they aren't left guessing how much to apply.

"Talk through what your typical fertilizer plan is, and what your reduction plan would be," said Ferrie. "Then you would implement this year, going into the spring and into the season."

Farmers have relied on nitrogen-based fertilizers for generations - but when applied in excess, nitrates run off into ground and surface water, posing health concerns for animals and people.




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Pesticides are still common in agriculture. Organic producers who avoid them have seen ups and downs in pushing for stronger regulations, and they point to a South Dakota example of the harm associated with widespread use among neighboring farms.

At the heart of the regulatory fight is the application of the weed-killing pesticide dicamba, and how it can drift from one farm to another. Last month, a federal court blocked "over the top" spraying of dicamba products, but the EPA followed with an order to allow the spraying of existing supplies.

Glenn Pulse, co-owner of an organic farm in Vermillion, said a 2017 drift incident had a big impact on his operation.

"Our entire farm was covered. We lost a lot of livestock, and thousands of bees were killed," he explained.

It also resulted in health concerns for his family, having to regain his organic farmer certification, and a legal battle over restitution. Groups such as the National Family Farm Coalition have been fighting what they call the deregulation of these chemicals, arguing the drift and runoff effect has damaged millions of crops.

Dicamba-manufacturing companies deny responsibility, instead blaming farmers who apply it for not following guidelines.

The EPA has said there were already millions of gallons of dicamba in circulation prior to the court's ruling, prompting the agency's order. Pulse feels there are farmers who are careful in spraying chemicals, but he wants stronger enforcement against those he describes as "loose cannons."

"The guys that are not following the labels and they're spraying in weather conditions that are not favorable, that is where, I would say, 90% of the problems are happening with drift incidents," Pulse said.

His calls for better responses to these incidents coincide with policy demands to heavily restrict dicamba products. Meanwhile, Rep. Dusty Johnson, D-South Dakota, is the main sponsor of a bill supporters say would assure uniformity in national pesticide labeling under federal law. But opponents argue it would limit longstanding state and local pesticide safety rules.

Montana farmers have testified before a panel of state lawmakers asking them to protect agricultural data that is collected by precision farming technology - and stored electronically, "in the cloud."

They're looking for changes in how that information is accessed.

At a recent state Economic Affairs Committee meeting, Montana Farmer's Union President Walter Schweitzer said with the increased use of precision ag tools and a huge uptick in data collected and stored remotely, farmers' information needs greater protections.

"We read every day that there's data being hacked," said Schweitzer. "The military has gotten hacked. Banks have been hacked. Hospitals are being hacked."

Schweitzer argued that hackers could use the information to affect prices or direct-market products to farmers based on the information they collect about crops and ag operations.

He said based on farmers' input, the Economic Affairs Committee will work with lawmakers to consider changes during next year's legislative session.

Rather than tighten access, Schweitzer said he thinks ag data should be made more transparent and publicly available.

He explained that this would help avoid the potential for market manipulation by commodities brokers or large countries, such as China, that purchase the crops.

"Let's say the wheat crop, during harvest, it looks like it's going to be lower yields than average or anticipated," said Schweitzer. "So then, China would come in, purchase all the wheat they needed before the USDA announces that, and the price goes up."

Schweitzer said 10% of a farmer's data, which is uploaded in real time during harvest and stored in the cloud, is all it takes for hackers to know a producer's entire harvest.




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