Small Grain Referendum Scheduled in North Carolina

A farmer referendum on assessing sales of seven types of grain will take place Aug. 7, the N.C. Small Grain Growers Association has announced.
All North Carolina small-grain growers who are at least 18 years old by Aug. 7 are eligible to vote during regular business hours at their local N.C. Cooperative Extension office. 

The assessment amount would be half of 1 percent on sales of wheat, rye, oats, barley, rapeseed, canola and grain sorghum. The assessment period would run from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 31, 2019.
 

Edisto Research & Education Center sets Corn & Peanut Field Day
 

Clemson University’s Edisto Research & Education Center continues it’s successful split of field days with the corn & peanut field day is scheduled for September 5th at the Research Center in Blackville. The second field day for cotton and soybeans will be held in October, again at the Edisto station.
 

House Leaders Plan to Take Different Approach on Immigration

House Speaker John Boehner has made it clear the Senate-passed immigration bill has no chance of passage in the House. He has also stated he won’t bring any immigration legislation to the House floor that doesn’t have the support of a majority of Republican members. Last week (week of July 8) – House Republicans started mapping out their own slower, piecemeal approach to immigration and border security legislation at a closed-door meeting.
 

Future of Farm Bill Still Uncertain
 

The farm bill faces an uncertain path forward in the wake of last week’s narrow House passage of a stripped-down bill that jettisoned the nutrition title to win over conservative Republicans. American Farm Bureau Director Dale Moore says the House bill – shorn of its nutrition title and controversial food stamp cuts – faces new uncertainty. That – as House and Senate Ag Leaders explore options to conference vastly different bills…

“I would not suspect that either side would want to appoint until there was some clear understanding of how they were going to deal with the House bill not having the nutrition bill in it.”

House Ag Chair Frank Lucas vowed on the floor before Thursday’s House vote to craft a separate nutrition bill – but the prospects and timing for that are even more uncertain.