On Feb. 16, 2018, National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) conducted a workshop in New Orleans to explore the potential for digitization of the paperwork and processes currently utilized in the barge trade industry. The workshop was attended by more than 40 representatives from various sectors in the barge trade, including barge lines and operators; grain companies; exporters; trade, transportation and logistics consultants; and technology providers. The workshop focused on the numerous steps and multiple entities involved in the ... Read More
News
Senate Agriculture Committee releases farm bill text
The Senate Agriculture Committee released on Friday the text of its farm bill language, which includes some adjustments to conservation programs. The acreage cap under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) would be increased one million acres to 25 million acres. The bill also lowers the annual rental rate for both general and continuous sign-ups to 88.5 percent of the county rental rate. A new CRP provision would create a Conservation Reserve Easement Program to pay landowners to permanently give up their rights as well those of all future owners to engage in crop production on the ... Read More
Ag Transportation Summit to focus on linking growing U.S. ag production with expanding demand
ARLINGTON, Va., and ANKENY, Iowa, June 4, 2018 - "Connecting Growing Supply with Growing Demand" will be the theme and focus of the third Agricultural Transportation Summit conference to be conducted on July 25-26 at the Westin Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Va. Jointly hosted by the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and Soy Transportation Coalition (STC), and sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service, this year's conference will occur at a particularly pivotal time as the U.S. transportation network ... Read More
What to expect from OSHA — A Q&A with Eric Conn
During CONVEY ’18 this summer, Eric Conn, a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey in Washington, D.C., and chair of the firm’s national OSHA Workplace Safety Practice Group, will provide a thorough overview of the most important aspects of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection. CONVEY ’18, hosted by the NGFA and Grain Journal Magazine, is to be conducted July 25-26 at the Hilton Omaha hotel in Omaha, Neb., where speakers and attendees will focus on operations, compliance and grain quality issues facing the grain, feed and processing ... Read More
NGFA gathers congressional support for FSMA exemptions
The NGFA is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to properly implement the exemption authority provided within the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) for grain elevators solely engaged in storing raw agricultural commodities. The Association has been circulating information on Capitol Hill in recent weeks to garner support from lawmakers. Specifically, the NGFA is urging FDA to revise its FSMA exemptions for “solely engaged” grain elevator facilities and exemptions for grain elevators that store pulse crops. The paragraphs below summarize two significant problems with FDA’s rules ... Read More
House passes water resources infrastructure bill
The House on Wednesday (June 6) overwhelmingly approved the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA), H.R. 8, the first major infrastructure legislation to move under the Trump administration. WRDA focuses on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, authorizing new projects and permitting the full use of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) to finance port dredging and other port projects. The House-passed WRDA would accomplish the latter objective by moving the HMTF off-budget to allow for full-use of HMTF funds to be used solely for harbor-maintenance purposes. The bill ... Read More
Trade roller coaster continues
It continues to be an up-and-down roller coaster ride for trade. A U.S. trade delegation returned from China and met with President Trump on June 5 on a reported offer from China to purchase up to $70 billion in American agricultural and energy products, as well as some manufactured goods, over the next year. The U.S. delegation was led by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney, and Gregg Doud, chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. There were no reports on ... Read More
Deadline to complete Census of Agriculture questionnaire is June 15
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is wrapping up data collection for the 2017 Census of Agriculture. To stay on track for data release in February 2019, the deadline for submitting the paper questionnaire is June 15, 2018. Farmers and ranchers who have not responded by June 15, 2018 still have until the end of July to complete the Census online at www.agcensus.usda.gov. “The Census of Agriculture provides the only source of comprehensive agricultural data for every state and county in the nation,” said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue in ... Read More
DOT provides regulatory guidance on transportation of agricultural commodities
By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 31 issued a regulatory guidance clarifying the agricultural commodity exception to the hours-of-service regulations. Under the exception, agriculture haulers operating within 150 air-miles of the source of their agricultural products do not have to comply with hours-of-service regulations, including the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule. The exception applies to the transportation of non-processed food, feed, fiber, or livestock and insects and will be relied upon ... Read More
NGFA unveils new grain bin entry safety video
In the NGFA’s latest training video, join Manager of Education, Training and Regulatory Affairs Jim Seibert to brush up on the basic safety precautions and equipment needed to enter a grain bin. This short video breaks down each step of the process to ensure managers and employees don’t miss a step and stay safe every day. Engulfment is one of the leading types of fatalities inside a grain bin; however, there are numerous industry and Occupational Safety and Health Administration resources available to assist in preventing future incidents. This video summarizes some critical aspects of safe ... Read More
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