News March 2018 Commodity Corner

March 2018 Commodity Corner

March 2018 Commodity Corner
March 9, 2018 |

Pork

Walker County’s Daniel Tubbs attended the 2018 National Pork Industry Forum in Kansas City, Missouri, as a delegate. Over 350 pig farmers and industry professionals discussed emerging technology, the We Care initiative and new cooking recommendations for pork products. Learn more at pork.org.

-Guy Hall, division director

Cotton

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue unveiled a Cotton Ginning Cost Share program to offset a portion of 2016 crop season ginning costs. Payments will be calculated based on 2016 cotton acres reported to the Farm Service Agency. The program will help fill a safety net void until the seed cotton ARC/PLC program begins in 2018. Cost share sign-up ends May 11.

-Carla Hornady, division director

Forestry

Rex Lumber has announced a new sawmill will be built in northern Pike County. The $110 million investment will bring 110 new jobs to the area. The mill will produce Southern yellow pine lumber typically used for construction. Annual production will be a minimum of 240 million board feet.

-William Green, division director

Equine

The biggest concern in the Equine Division this year is the electronic logging device mandate, effective March 18. We are working with state and national groups to push for a five-year delay on implementation for livestock and insect transporters. Most non-commercial transporting is exempt. However, farmers should determine personal impact at tinyurl.com/FMSCAMandate.

-Nate Jaeger, division director

Peanuts

Nearly 300 peanut farmers attended production meetings across Alabama in February and March. Growers received disease, insect, weed and production updates from Alabama Extension and Auburn University’s peanut team. Farmers also received a 2018 market outlook from the National Peanut Research Lab.

-Caleb Bristow, division director

Horticulture 

The 2015 revised Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) is very complex. The WPS-Compliance Assistance Library is a convenient guide that breaks up and sorts information by user types to tailor the learning experience for workers, handlers, employers and more. Learn more at tinyurl.com/agworker.

-Mac Higginbotham, division director

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