The Farm Post eNews

Friday eNews from the Pike and Scott County Farm Bureaus
 

FEBRUARY 26, 2016
AFBF supports Robert's GMO bill
AFBF's Board of Directors on Tuesday voted to support efforts of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) to move forward with a bill to pre-empt state GMO labeling mandates.

"The Senate Agriculture Committee this week is marking up a bill to provide American consumers a wealth of easily accessible, accurate information about GMOs through a voluntary, national GMO labeling program," AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a news release. "The bill would pre-empt a patchwork of mandatory and misleading state GMO labeling laws founded more on scare-tactics than science, and we must move this process forward."

The Illinois Farm Bureau initiated an action request this week for members to make calls to Illinois' senators. Thank you for calls made.
NASS releases payment data
On February 18, the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) released county yield data for the 2015 crop year. Farmdoc uses the NASS county yields and current MYA price projections from the USDA to estimate 2015 payments for the Ag Risk Coverage county level program (ARC-CO).

The final yields and prices used to determine actual payment levels will differ from the values these payment estimates are based upon. The final MYA price for corn and soybeans will not be known until the marketing year ends in August, and the final yields FSA will use to determine ARC-CO payments will likely not be released until September. 

Read more at farmdoc
FFA Week Celebrated

Each year, FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. The week-long tradition began in 1947 when the National FFA Board of Directors designated the week of George Washington's birthday as National FFA Week in recognition of his legacy as an agriculturist and farmer. The first National FFA Week was held in 1948. Today, FFA Week always runs Saturday to Saturday and encompasses Feb. 22, Washington's birthday.

https://www.ffa.org/ffaweek
Get your OTR Booklet On-line
Did you miss the Illinois Farm Bureau's On-the-Road Seminar earlier this month? If so, you can download the OTR Winter 2016 Booklet now.

The booklet is a great resource for motor carrier safety, motor fuel taxes, hazardous materials transportation, commercial drivers' license, carrier for hire, safety testing, emissions testing, size & weight, USDOT#, UCR, vehicle registration, drug & alcohol screening program and Illinois State Police motor carrier safety officer.

Check out all the truck regulations on IFB's website.
Linking Growers and Eaters
Retail grocers and innovative farmers are using technology and new store concepts to address changing demographics, capitalize on new shopping trends, and bring consumers closer to the source of their food.

Focus on Ag column and podcast  
TODAY IN HISTORY
WTC Bombed
 February 26, 1993

Today in 1993, at about 17 minutes past noon (EST), a thunderous explosion rocked lower Manhattan.

The epicenter was the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center, where a massive eruption carved out a nearly 100-foot crater several stories deep and several more above.

Six people were killed almost instantly. Smoke and flames began filling the wound and streaming upward into the building. Those who weren't trapped were soon pouring out of the building-many panic-stricken and covered in soot. More than a thousand people were hurt in some way, some badly, with crushed limbs.

It was Friday, February 26, 1993, and Middle Eastern terrorism had arrived on American soil-with a bang.

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