The Back 40

A recent New York Times article on the extensive ecosystem effects of invasive cheat grass in the intermountain West will come as no surprise to ranchers.  While livestock producers and wheat farmers have been blamed for the introduction and spread of cheat more than a hundred years ago, they also hold the key to restoring [...]

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, 13 conservation organizations expressed their opposition to the proposed extension of the current Farm Bill, stating that it will do great harm to conservation programs. The coalition writes that the “House’s extension bill uses deep and disproportionate cuts to the Conservation Title of the bill to offset [...]

The International Crane Foundation (ICF) hosted more than 30 top Chinese students from “key” high schools as part of an educational program called Rivers as Bridges. This summer begins a 10-year relationship between the people of the Mississippi and Yangtze basins using culture, conservation, and commerce as diplomatic tools that support a renewal of the [...]

House leaders are pushing for a one-year extension of the 2008 Farm Bill that will include disaster aid for farmers impacted by the drought. The one-year extension is seen as a way to continue expiring livestock and speciality crop disaster programs and to avoid a partisan fight in the House over the food stamp program. [...]

CommonGround farm moms share food facts with mothers for summertime snacking Eating food out of a warm picnic basket may have worked well for childhood cartoon character Yogi Bear, but for families eating perishable foods from a picnic cooler, there is a safer approach. Registered dietician and Maryland CommonGround volunteer- farmer Jennifer Schmidt says there [...]

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association announced the regional winners of the 2012 Environmental Stewardship Award. Congratulations to all of them! The national winner will be announced during the 2013 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show in February 2013 in Tampa, Florida. Pictured at right is Gary and Sue Price’s 77 Ranch in Blooming Grove, Texas. The [...]