Bill on Charitable Ag Research Groups Needs Cosponsors National Association of Wheat Growers. Congressional leaders seeking to advance a bill that would allow the creation of tax-exempt charitable organizations focusing on agricultural research are looking for original cosponsors for the legislation. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) formulated the bill, which eight […]

AFBF Outlines Steps to Ease Regulatory Nightmare By American Farm Bureau Federation WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14, 2011 – Congress must help alleviate the burden of an ever-increasing array of federal environmental regulations on agriculture, according to Arizona Farm Bureau President Kevin Rogers, who testified today before a House Energy and […]

An interview with Governor Kitzhaber By Oregon Department of Agriculture. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber responded to a series of questions regarding agriculture posed by ODA’s Bruce Pokarney, director of communications. In the interview, the governor discusses his vision for Oregon agriculture and the important role it will play in the […]

BLM Defies Court and Moves To Abandon Scientific Plan and Rural Oregon By American Forest Research Council PORTLAND, OR—In an eleventh hour filing, Justices Department officials representing the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed a response in the Pacific Rivers vs. Salazar case asking the Court […]

By Rick Sohn, Umpqua Coquille Company Lumber prices are rebounding and log prices are falling. Real estate agents report more activity, unsold inventories and interest rates are down, and a new softwood lumber promotion program is launching. Good basic news. See below for details and a six-year span of prices […]

Governor upholds secret ballot with ‘card check’ veto By Christine Souza Assistant Editor California Farm Bureau Gov. Jerry Brown, who more than 35 years ago signed into law the nation’s first agricultural labor relations act giving agricultural workers the right to consider unionization by secret ballot, upheld that position last […]

Youth hunters must wear orange beginning Aug. 1, 2011 By Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife SALEM, Ore.—New rules that require youth to wear hunter orange when hunting take effect Aug. 1, 2011.  As of that date, hunters age 17 and under are required to wear a hunter (fluorescent) orange […]

By Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation Regarding Memorandum on Mexican Trucks WASHINGTON, D.C., July 6, 2011 – “The American Farm Bureau is pleased that a memorandum between Mexico and the United States has been signed today, bringing an end to the long-running dispute over Mexican truck access north […]

Tiny wasps offer hope in battle vs. exotic stink bug Imported natural enemies are being researched in Oregon By Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon’s ability to control an exotic stink bug that threatens agriculture may rest on a tiny insect that just happens to be a natural predator of the […]

Forest Policy Briefs by Rex Storm, Forest Policy Manager Associated Oregon Loggers Governor’s Biomass Fable: Oregon Governor Kitzhaber told reporters that wood pellets were a solution to reviving Oregon’s moribund rural economy. He talked about his vision of forest communities replacing their dwindling wood product-based (sawlog) industry with an industry […]