INDUSTRY NEWS

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the USDA is accepting more than 2 million acres in offers from agricultural producers and landowners through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up, which included 48,234 acres in New Mexico.

Ag tractor and combine unit sales had their first decline since July 2021, according to the latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

The USDA announced March 31 that ranchers who have approved applications through the 2021 Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) for forage losses due to severe drought or wildfire in 2021 will soon begin receiving emergency relief payments for increases in supplemental feed costs in 2021 through the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) new Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP).

There’s still time and weather to impact 2022 cropping plans, but initial indications are that U.S. acreage devoted to dry hay production could be the lowest in 115 years.

“Alfalfa – ice cream in the making,” is a common saying among forage farmers, and if you’ve had ice cream or cheese pizza recently, you may be more involved with alfalfa than you realize.

On March 15, 2022, the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly (UNGA) in New York unanimously declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP).