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Experts warn of issues in alternate sources of hay Pam Burke community@havredailynews.com Conditions this year including rain during the first cutting damaging hay and hail leading some grain producers to bale crops rather than harvesting the grain are causing some cattle prod u c e r s t o l o o k a t h a r ve s t i n g s o m e plants or buying hay from sources they don’t normally look at. At issue are a variety of concerns that can result in cattle poisoning, but v i g i l a n c e a n d t e s t i n g h ay, M o n ta n a State University Extension Agriculture Agent Tom Allen said, can be the key to avoiding a problem. Sweet clover poisoning Sweet clover, a legume with a tall stalk and spikes of yellow or white flowers, provides a benefit to soils by fixing n i t ra t e s a n d c re a t i n g s o i l s ta b i l i t y against erosion. It spreads easily and conditions this year saw it proliferating throughout the state from pastures to roadside ditches and wildland areas. Under the wrong harvesting conditions, though, sweet clover can produce a compound that is toxic to cattle. Sweet clover, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service plant guide says,
www.havredailynews.com ucts from the U.S. The Montana Grain Growers Association cheered the announcement, where Trump also said Japan would soon be purchasing large quantities of U.S. wheat and corn. “We welcome the agreement in principle that will provide export market certainty in the crucial Japanese market for premiumquality U.S. wheat” MGGA President Lyle Benjamin said. “This is a key development for Montana farmers who sell a majority of their wheat into the Asian markets.” A release from the Montana Grain Growers Association said Japan has historically represented the largest export market for Montana wheat, but the U.S. has been at a competitive disadvantage to other wheat producing countries since the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership went into effect earlier this year without the United States. Lacking a trade agreement Montana farmers expect their market share of wheat sales to Japan to fall significantly with annual losses estimated at $150 million. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue also praised the announcement. “Japan is a significant market for United States agriculture exports, making today a good day for American agriculture,” he said
FARM & RANCH in a statement released Sunday. “By removing existing barriers for our products, we will be able to sell more to the Japanese markets. At the same time we will able to close gaps to better allow us to compete on a level playing field with our competitors. I thank President Trump and Ambassador (Robert) Lighthizer for their constant support of America’s farmers and ranchers and their hard work negotiating better trade deals around the globe.” Abe said in the remarks released by the White House that he welcomed the development. “We still have some remaining work that has to be done at the working level, namely finalizing the wording of the trade agreement and also finalizing the content of the agreement itself,” he said. “But we would like to make sure that our teams would accelerate the remaining work for us to achieve this goal of realizing the signing of the agreement on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly at the end of September.” Trump said the two nations have agreed in principle on all of the points in the proposal. “This is a tremendous deal for the United States,” he said. “It’s a, really, tremendous deal for our farmers and agricultural ranch-
ers, and also involves other things, including, as I said, e-commerce.” Lighthizer said in the remarks released by the White House that the countries have agreed on core principles. He said that details would be released later, but with Japan already importing about $14 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products, the agreement would open up markets to about $7 billion of those products. “It has three parts: agriculture, industrial tariffs and digital trade,” he said. “And from our point of view, it is extremely important to our farmers and ranchers and those people who work in the digital space.” “ … In the agriculture area, it will be a major benefit for beef, pork, wheat, dairy products, wine, ethanol and a variety of other products.” he said. Lighthizer said the agreement would lead to substantial reductions in tariffs and nontariff barriers in the two countries. “And I’ll just give you one example: Japan is, by far, our biggest beef market,” he said. “We sell over $2 billion worth of beef to Japan. And this allow us to do with lower tariffs and to compete more effectively with people across the board, particularly the (Trans-Pacific Partnership) countries and Europe.”
Loan Deficiency Payments benefits available for lentils
■ See Warning Page 6 Havre Daily News/Pam Burke The last yellow blossoms of the season sit among a one-acre patch of sweet clover in gravelly ground near Havre Aug. 18. A patch this size can produce tens of thousands of seeds in one summer.
From Montana Farm Service Agency Loan Deficiency Payments have triggered for lentils at $.20 cents in Montana. Montana was $.19 cents away from triggering a LDP for hard red spring wheat Aug. 27. Producers must submit page 2 of the CCC-633EZ form to the local FSA office to request LDP benefits. To be considered eligible for an LDP, producers must retain beneficial interest in the commodity from the time of planting through the date the producer filed form CCC-633EZ, Page 1 at the local FSA office. If form CCC-633EZ is filed before loss of beneficial interest, the producer may obtain the LDP rate in effect on the date beneficial interest is lost. A producer retains beneficial interest when control of and title to the commodity is maintained. Before LDP disbursements can be made, producers must meet the requirements of actively engaged in farming, cash rent tenant and member contribu-
tion. A producer who is eligible to obtain a Marketing Assistance Loan, but agrees to forgo the loan, may obtain an LDP if such a payment is available. To check the weekly pulse rate, producers can access the rates online at https:// www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/price-support/Index, download the “Pulse Crop LDP Rates” spreadsheet, navigate to the Lentils page. The rate for Montana is in the column labeled West. Daily status of LDP payment rates in Montana can be found online at http:// www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Montana/ ldp-rates/index The 2014 Farm Bill authorized 2014-2018 crop year MALs and LDPs. The 2018 Farm Bill extends LDPs and MALs through 2023. Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n , p ro d u c e rs should contact their local FSA county office or view the LDP Fact Sheet at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/fact-
sheets/index. Visit FSA’s Price Support Website, Montana FSA online at www.fsa.usda.gov/ mt and your local FSA office for more information.
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U.S., Japan working on deal that could benefit U.S. ag producers Staff and wire report Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan, announced at the Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz, France, that the countries had agreed in principle to a trade agreement that they hoped could be signed in a side meeting during the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly later this month. Trump said that could greatly benefit U.S. agricultural producers. “We’ve been working on a deal with Japan for a long time. It involves agricultural and it involves e-commerce and many other things,” Trump said Sunday in remarks released by the White House. “It’s a very big transaction, and we’ve agreed in principle. I t ’s b i l l i o n s a n d b i l l i o n s o f d o l l a rs. Tremendous for the farmers.” Japan is one of the largest importers of U.S. agriculture prices but trade has had some difficulties including after bovine spongiform encephalopathy — mad cow disease — was discovered in cattle in the U.S. early last decade and also after the U.S. pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ending up giving lower tariffs to countries like Canada and Australia that remained in the partnership. USDA announced in May that Japan had lifted the last of its restrictions due to BSE, and the hopes are that the agreement will allow greater agricultural exports to Japan, now the third-largest importer of ag prod-
FARM & RANCH
www.havredailynews.com
September 2019
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Farm Service Agency expands payment options From Farm Service Agency WASHINGTON — The U.S. D e p a r t m e n t o f A g r i c u l t u re ’s Farm Service Agency is expanding its payment options to now accept debit cards and Automated Clearing House debit. These paperless payment options enable FSA customers to pay farm loan payments, measurement service fees, farm program debt repayments and administrative service fees, as well as to purchase aerial maps. “Our customers have spoken, and we’ve listened,” USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey said. “Finding ways to improve customer service and efficiency is important for our farmers, ranchers, producers and forest landowners who work hard for our nation every day. Now, our customers can make electronic payments instantly by stopping in our offic-
es or calling over the phone.” Previously, only cash, check, money orders and wires were accepted. By using debit cards
and ACH debit, transactions are securely processed from the custo m e r ’s f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n through http://pay.gov, the U.S.
Treasury’s online payment hub. While traditional collection methods like cash and paper checks will continue, offering the new alternatives will improve effectiveness and convenience to customers while being more cost effective. In 2017, the average cost to manually process checks, a process that included navigating multiple systems, cost USDA more than $4.6 million. The expanded payment options will cut the time employees take processing payments by 75 percent. “At USDA, we’re focused on modernization to improve customer service,” said Northey. “If half of our customers use these new payment options, we’ll see a $1 million savings in one year. These new payment methods are one part of a much larger effort to expand options for our customers, as well as to make our services more effective and efficient.”
The announcement marks the beginning of a multi-phased rollout of new payment options for USDA customers. Ultimately, payment option flexibility will be extended to allow farmers and producers to use debit cards and ACH debit payments to make payments for all FSA programs, including farm storage facility loan repayments, farm loan facility fees, marketing assistance loan r e p a y m e n t s, D a i r y M a r g i n Coverage administrative fees and premiums and Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program fees. To learn more, contact the l o c a l F SA c o u n t y office, visit http://farmers.gov , or download the “Make Your FSA Payments Instantly” fact sheet https://www.farmers.gov/sites/ default/files/documents/FSA_ E c o m m e r c e F l ye r - 1 9 _ FINAL_08_01.pdf .
MDA holding waste pesticide disposal events in September Bulk freight and cargo set sail on a container ship.
Image by Alexander Kliem from Pixabay
Annual events have collected over 638,000 lbs. of waste pesticides From Montana Department of Agriculture HELENA — The Montana Department of Agriculture’s annual Pesticide Disposal Events will be held in several locations across Montana during September. The collection events will be held Sept. 17 in Wolf Point; Sept. 18 in Sidney; Sept. 19 in Miles City; and Sept. 20 in Billings. The annual events have collected more than 638,000 pounds of waste pesticides since it began in 1994. The program was designed to help individuals dispose of any pesticides that
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are unusable as originally intended and cannot be used for any other purpose. This allows participants to dispose of waste pesticides in an environmentally re s p o n s i b l e way a n d h e l p s p r o t e c t Montana’s ecosystems and groundwater, as well as families, pets, livestock and drinking water. The department asks that participants pre-register online at https://agr.mt.gov/ Pesticide-Waste-Disposal-Registration by Sept. 9 before the collection events so products can be managed safely and efficiently. People interested in having their waste pesticides recycled should visit the website at: https://agr.mt.gov/PesticideWaste- Disposal . There is no charge for the first 200 pounds of material. Amounts more than 200 pounds are assessed at $1 per pound. A higher fee may apply to pesticides with dioxins or dioxin precursors. The Montana Department of
Agriculture’s mission is to protect producers and consumers, and to enhance and develop agriculture and allied indus-
t r i e s. Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n o n t h e Montana Department of Agriculture, visit https://agr.mt.gov .
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Warning: Nitrate levels also something to watch for in feed n Continued from page 4 was introduced to the U.S. from Europe in about 1700, and prior to World War II, before chemical fertilizers became popular, was widely used as a green m a n u re i n c ro p l a n d b e c a u s e i t i s a h a rd y, fa s t g row i n g p l a n t t h a t , l i ke other legumes, fixes nitrogen in the soil. It is also widely recommended as a plant to include in reclamation projects after soil has been disturbed such as through mining and road work or from f i r e. M o n t a n a D e p a r t m e n t o f E n v iro n mental Q ual i ty, t h o u g h , n ow limits its recommendation for use in reseeding only where the ground has been disturbed in dry areas with little to no topsoil and where spotted or diffuse knapweeds are present where it aggressive growth can help the soil and drive out the undesirable knapweeds. Bees, the NRCS guide says, can produce upward of 200 pounds of honey per colony off an acre of sweet clover, but the plant benefits, as well. Sweet clover fields using one to two colonies of honey bees yield up to 700 pounds of seed per acre, compared to only between 50 and 100 pounds of seed per acre when using natural pollinators. As a feed, it added, wildlife thrive on the stems and leaves which can comprise a large portion of the elk, deer and antelope diet, more than 70 percent of the mule deer diet in summer and early fall. Livestock, though, the guide s ays, p re f e r i t w h e n t h e p l a n t s a re young and tender, but have to get used to e a t i n g i t a s t h e p l a n t ge t s o l d e r because it can be bitter tasting and the stems tough. While sweet clover is rarely, if ever, planted for a hay crop, it can crop up in hay fields and in roadside ditches where vegetation is hayed. The plant produces a chemical called coumarin that is responsible for sweet clover’s namesake scent and harmless, but if the harvested plants get moldy, mildewy or damaged in the haying process, coumarin breaks down into dicoumarin and that, in large enough doses, is poisonous to ruminant animals, cattle especially and sheep to a lesser extent, said Montana State University Extension Hill County Agriculture Agent Tom Allen. Dicoumarin is a blood thinner that interferes with the intake of vitamin K — it’s used in some mouse and rat poisons for this purpose. Symptoms, a guide from the Iowa Beef Center says, include “stiffness, lameness, dull attitude, and swellings beneath the skin — hematomas or blood clots — over all parts of the body,but primarily at the hips, brisket or neck. The mucous membranes may be pale (and) varying degrees of respiratory stress. … Blood may be present in the feces and urine, or milk may come from the nostrils, or there may be extensive hemorrhage at parturition.”
It can also cause hemorrhage in the fetus and may also cause reproduction issues, even without clinical signs of toxicosis in the cow, it added. It has a cumulative effect on cattle, Allen said, rather than an immediate effect, so the feed can be given to the cattle for short periods. Iowa Beef said seven to 10 days, and then alfalfa, which is naturally high in vitamin K, can be fed for an equal period of time. The hay doesn’t have to be obviously moldy or mildewy, Allen said. So it’s important to be vigilant with hay that does or may contain sweet clover. “It’s a good sweet clover year out there and people just have to be careful with it. Keep an eye on your cows,” he said. Nitrates toxicity Another issue to worry about, Allen said, is the nitrate level in feeds including cereal grains, especially oats; forage grasses; and alfalfa, as well as the sweet clover. Forage nitrate at normal levels, an Extension MontGuide said, broken down by rumen microbes into nitrite, and then into ammonia, which is converted into protein. At high levels of nitrate, the nitrite that isn’t converted to ammonia passes enters the bloodstream where it converts the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin into methemoglobin which doesn’t carry oxygen. Symptoms of early or chronic toxicity, the MontGuide says, include watery eyes, reduced appetite, reduced milk production, rough hair and unthrifty a p p e a ra n c e, we i g h t l o s s o r l a c k o f weight rain, night blindness and abortion. Acute toxicity symptoms include accelerated pulse rate, labored breathing or shortness of breath, muscle tremors, weakness, staggering gait, cyanosis or membranous tissue turning blue or death. Unlike sweet clover poisoning, nitrate poisoning can occur quickly, sometimes within minutes. Though it can be treated with an immediate intravenous dose of methylene blue, the MontGuide said, this isn’t a practical management practice. If hay has been grown under stressful conditions, such as drought, frost, unseasonable or prolonged cool temperatures, hail, shade, disease, insects, mineral deficiencies, herbicide damage or high soil nitrate including from fert i l i z i n g o r a p p l i c a t i o n o f m a n u r e, increase nitrate levels can occur in the forage. Many factors, even the type of plant and the time of day the plant was harvested, can affect nitrate levels, Allen said. “Nitrates are kind of funny because it acts different in different plants. … Your best bet is if you have any questions at all about nitrates, bring it in and we’ll send it in for nitrate tests,” he said.
Havre Daily News/Pam Burke The last yellow blossoms of the season open on a 6-foot tall sweet clover plant near Havre Aug. 18. Sweet clover, which grew in abundance across Montana this year, produces coumarin, a chemical that gives the plant its distinctive scent, but coumarin can transform into dicoumarin if harvested sweet clover becomes moldy or mildewy and dicoumarin is a poison to ruminants, especially cattle.
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Warning: Nitrate levels also something to watch for in feed n Continued from page 4 was introduced to the U.S. from Europe in about 1700, and prior to World War II, before chemical fertilizers became popular, was widely used as a green m a n u re i n c ro p l a n d b e c a u s e i t i s a h a rd y, fa s t g row i n g p l a n t t h a t , l i ke other legumes, fixes nitrogen in the soil. It is also widely recommended as a plant to include in reclamation projects after soil has been disturbed such as through mining and road work or from f i r e. M o n t a n a D e p a r t m e n t o f E n v iro n mental Q ual i ty, t h o u g h , n ow limits its recommendation for use in reseeding only where the ground has been disturbed in dry areas with little to no topsoil and where spotted or diffuse knapweeds are present where it aggressive growth can help the soil and drive out the undesirable knapweeds. Bees, the NRCS guide says, can produce upward of 200 pounds of honey per colony off an acre of sweet clover, but the plant benefits, as well. Sweet clover fields using one to two colonies of honey bees yield up to 700 pounds of seed per acre, compared to only between 50 and 100 pounds of seed per acre when using natural pollinators. As a feed, it added, wildlife thrive on the stems and leaves which can comprise a large portion of the elk, deer and antelope diet, more than 70 percent of the mule deer diet in summer and early fall. Livestock, though, the guide s ays, p re f e r i t w h e n t h e p l a n t s a re young and tender, but have to get used to e a t i n g i t a s t h e p l a n t ge t s o l d e r because it can be bitter tasting and the stems tough. While sweet clover is rarely, if ever, planted for a hay crop, it can crop up in hay fields and in roadside ditches where vegetation is hayed. The plant produces a chemical called coumarin that is responsible for sweet clover’s namesake scent and harmless, but if the harvested plants get moldy, mildewy or damaged in the haying process, coumarin breaks down into dicoumarin and that, in large enough doses, is poisonous to ruminant animals, cattle especially and sheep to a lesser extent, said Montana State University Extension Hill County Agriculture Agent Tom Allen. Dicoumarin is a blood thinner that interferes with the intake of vitamin K — it’s used in some mouse and rat poisons for this purpose. Symptoms, a guide from the Iowa Beef Center says, include “stiffness, lameness, dull attitude, and swellings beneath the skin — hematomas or blood clots — over all parts of the body,but primarily at the hips, brisket or neck. The mucous membranes may be pale (and) varying degrees of respiratory stress. … Blood may be present in the feces and urine, or milk may come from the nostrils, or there may be extensive hemorrhage at parturition.”
It can also cause hemorrhage in the fetus and may also cause reproduction issues, even without clinical signs of toxicosis in the cow, it added. It has a cumulative effect on cattle, Allen said, rather than an immediate effect, so the feed can be given to the cattle for short periods. Iowa Beef said seven to 10 days, and then alfalfa, which is naturally high in vitamin K, can be fed for an equal period of time. The hay doesn’t have to be obviously moldy or mildewy, Allen said. So it’s important to be vigilant with hay that does or may contain sweet clover. “It’s a good sweet clover year out there and people just have to be careful with it. Keep an eye on your cows,” he said. Nitrates toxicity Another issue to worry about, Allen said, is the nitrate level in feeds including cereal grains, especially oats; forage grasses; and alfalfa, as well as the sweet clover. Forage nitrate at normal levels, an Extension MontGuide said, broken down by rumen microbes into nitrite, and then into ammonia, which is converted into protein. At high levels of nitrate, the nitrite that isn’t converted to ammonia passes enters the bloodstream where it converts the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin into methemoglobin which doesn’t carry oxygen. Symptoms of early or chronic toxicity, the MontGuide says, include watery eyes, reduced appetite, reduced milk production, rough hair and unthrifty a p p e a ra n c e, we i g h t l o s s o r l a c k o f weight rain, night blindness and abortion. Acute toxicity symptoms include accelerated pulse rate, labored breathing or shortness of breath, muscle tremors, weakness, staggering gait, cyanosis or membranous tissue turning blue or death. Unlike sweet clover poisoning, nitrate poisoning can occur quickly, sometimes within minutes. Though it can be treated with an immediate intravenous dose of methylene blue, the MontGuide said, this isn’t a practical management practice. If hay has been grown under stressful conditions, such as drought, frost, unseasonable or prolonged cool temperatures, hail, shade, disease, insects, mineral deficiencies, herbicide damage or high soil nitrate including from fert i l i z i n g o r a p p l i c a t i o n o f m a n u r e, increase nitrate levels can occur in the forage. Many factors, even the type of plant and the time of day the plant was harvested, can affect nitrate levels, Allen said. “Nitrates are kind of funny because it acts different in different plants. … Your best bet is if you have any questions at all about nitrates, bring it in and we’ll send it in for nitrate tests,” he said.
Havre Daily News/Pam Burke The last yellow blossoms of the season open on a 6-foot tall sweet clover plant near Havre Aug. 18. Sweet clover, which grew in abundance across Montana this year, produces coumarin, a chemical that gives the plant its distinctive scent, but coumarin can transform into dicoumarin if harvested sweet clover becomes moldy or mildewy and dicoumarin is a poison to ruminants, especially cattle.
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U.S., Japan working on deal that could benefit U.S. ag producers Staff and wire report Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan, announced at the Group of Seven meeting in Biarritz, France, that the countries had agreed in principle to a trade agreement that they hoped could be signed in a side meeting during the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly later this month. Trump said that could greatly benefit U.S. agricultural producers. “We’ve been working on a deal with Japan for a long time. It involves agricultural and it involves e-commerce and many other things,” Trump said Sunday in remarks released by the White House. “It’s a very big transaction, and we’ve agreed in principle. I t ’s b i l l i o n s a n d b i l l i o n s o f d o l l a rs. Tremendous for the farmers.” Japan is one of the largest importers of U.S. agriculture prices but trade has had some difficulties including after bovine spongiform encephalopathy — mad cow disease — was discovered in cattle in the U.S. early last decade and also after the U.S. pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ending up giving lower tariffs to countries like Canada and Australia that remained in the partnership. USDA announced in May that Japan had lifted the last of its restrictions due to BSE, and the hopes are that the agreement will allow greater agricultural exports to Japan, now the third-largest importer of ag prod-
FARM & RANCH
www.havredailynews.com
September 2019
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Farm Service Agency expands payment options From Farm Service Agency WASHINGTON — The U.S. D e p a r t m e n t o f A g r i c u l t u re ’s Farm Service Agency is expanding its payment options to now accept debit cards and Automated Clearing House debit. These paperless payment options enable FSA customers to pay farm loan payments, measurement service fees, farm program debt repayments and administrative service fees, as well as to purchase aerial maps. “Our customers have spoken, and we’ve listened,” USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey said. “Finding ways to improve customer service and efficiency is important for our farmers, ranchers, producers and forest landowners who work hard for our nation every day. Now, our customers can make electronic payments instantly by stopping in our offic-
es or calling over the phone.” Previously, only cash, check, money orders and wires were accepted. By using debit cards
and ACH debit, transactions are securely processed from the custo m e r ’s f i n a n c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n through http://pay.gov, the U.S.
Treasury’s online payment hub. While traditional collection methods like cash and paper checks will continue, offering the new alternatives will improve effectiveness and convenience to customers while being more cost effective. In 2017, the average cost to manually process checks, a process that included navigating multiple systems, cost USDA more than $4.6 million. The expanded payment options will cut the time employees take processing payments by 75 percent. “At USDA, we’re focused on modernization to improve customer service,” said Northey. “If half of our customers use these new payment options, we’ll see a $1 million savings in one year. These new payment methods are one part of a much larger effort to expand options for our customers, as well as to make our services more effective and efficient.”
The announcement marks the beginning of a multi-phased rollout of new payment options for USDA customers. Ultimately, payment option flexibility will be extended to allow farmers and producers to use debit cards and ACH debit payments to make payments for all FSA programs, including farm storage facility loan repayments, farm loan facility fees, marketing assistance loan r e p a y m e n t s, D a i r y M a r g i n Coverage administrative fees and premiums and Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program fees. To learn more, contact the l o c a l F SA c o u n t y office, visit http://farmers.gov , or download the “Make Your FSA Payments Instantly” fact sheet https://www.farmers.gov/sites/ default/files/documents/FSA_ E c o m m e r c e F l ye r - 1 9 _ FINAL_08_01.pdf .
MDA holding waste pesticide disposal events in September Bulk freight and cargo set sail on a container ship.
Image by Alexander Kliem from Pixabay
Annual events have collected over 638,000 lbs. of waste pesticides From Montana Department of Agriculture HELENA — The Montana Department of Agriculture’s annual Pesticide Disposal Events will be held in several locations across Montana during September. The collection events will be held Sept. 17 in Wolf Point; Sept. 18 in Sidney; Sept. 19 in Miles City; and Sept. 20 in Billings. The annual events have collected more than 638,000 pounds of waste pesticides since it began in 1994. The program was designed to help individuals dispose of any pesticides that
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are unusable as originally intended and cannot be used for any other purpose. This allows participants to dispose of waste pesticides in an environmentally re s p o n s i b l e way a n d h e l p s p r o t e c t Montana’s ecosystems and groundwater, as well as families, pets, livestock and drinking water. The department asks that participants pre-register online at https://agr.mt.gov/ Pesticide-Waste-Disposal-Registration by Sept. 9 before the collection events so products can be managed safely and efficiently. People interested in having their waste pesticides recycled should visit the website at: https://agr.mt.gov/PesticideWaste- Disposal . There is no charge for the first 200 pounds of material. Amounts more than 200 pounds are assessed at $1 per pound. A higher fee may apply to pesticides with dioxins or dioxin precursors. The Montana Department of
Agriculture’s mission is to protect producers and consumers, and to enhance and develop agriculture and allied indus-
t r i e s. Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n o n t h e Montana Department of Agriculture, visit https://agr.mt.gov .
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Experts warn of issues in alternate sources of hay Pam Burke community@havredailynews.com Conditions this year including rain during the first cutting damaging hay and hail leading some grain producers to bale crops rather than harvesting the grain are causing some cattle prod u c e r s t o l o o k a t h a r ve s t i n g s o m e plants or buying hay from sources they don’t normally look at. At issue are a variety of concerns that can result in cattle poisoning, but v i g i l a n c e a n d t e s t i n g h ay, M o n ta n a State University Extension Agriculture Agent Tom Allen said, can be the key to avoiding a problem. Sweet clover poisoning Sweet clover, a legume with a tall stalk and spikes of yellow or white flowers, provides a benefit to soils by fixing n i t ra t e s a n d c re a t i n g s o i l s ta b i l i t y against erosion. It spreads easily and conditions this year saw it proliferating throughout the state from pastures to roadside ditches and wildland areas. Under the wrong harvesting conditions, though, sweet clover can produce a compound that is toxic to cattle. Sweet clover, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service plant guide says,
www.havredailynews.com ucts from the U.S. The Montana Grain Growers Association cheered the announcement, where Trump also said Japan would soon be purchasing large quantities of U.S. wheat and corn. “We welcome the agreement in principle that will provide export market certainty in the crucial Japanese market for premiumquality U.S. wheat” MGGA President Lyle Benjamin said. “This is a key development for Montana farmers who sell a majority of their wheat into the Asian markets.” A release from the Montana Grain Growers Association said Japan has historically represented the largest export market for Montana wheat, but the U.S. has been at a competitive disadvantage to other wheat producing countries since the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for TransPacific Partnership went into effect earlier this year without the United States. Lacking a trade agreement Montana farmers expect their market share of wheat sales to Japan to fall significantly with annual losses estimated at $150 million. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue also praised the announcement. “Japan is a significant market for United States agriculture exports, making today a good day for American agriculture,” he said
FARM & RANCH in a statement released Sunday. “By removing existing barriers for our products, we will be able to sell more to the Japanese markets. At the same time we will able to close gaps to better allow us to compete on a level playing field with our competitors. I thank President Trump and Ambassador (Robert) Lighthizer for their constant support of America’s farmers and ranchers and their hard work negotiating better trade deals around the globe.” Abe said in the remarks released by the White House that he welcomed the development. “We still have some remaining work that has to be done at the working level, namely finalizing the wording of the trade agreement and also finalizing the content of the agreement itself,” he said. “But we would like to make sure that our teams would accelerate the remaining work for us to achieve this goal of realizing the signing of the agreement on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly at the end of September.” Trump said the two nations have agreed in principle on all of the points in the proposal. “This is a tremendous deal for the United States,” he said. “It’s a, really, tremendous deal for our farmers and agricultural ranch-
ers, and also involves other things, including, as I said, e-commerce.” Lighthizer said in the remarks released by the White House that the countries have agreed on core principles. He said that details would be released later, but with Japan already importing about $14 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products, the agreement would open up markets to about $7 billion of those products. “It has three parts: agriculture, industrial tariffs and digital trade,” he said. “And from our point of view, it is extremely important to our farmers and ranchers and those people who work in the digital space.” “ … In the agriculture area, it will be a major benefit for beef, pork, wheat, dairy products, wine, ethanol and a variety of other products.” he said. Lighthizer said the agreement would lead to substantial reductions in tariffs and nontariff barriers in the two countries. “And I’ll just give you one example: Japan is, by far, our biggest beef market,” he said. “We sell over $2 billion worth of beef to Japan. And this allow us to do with lower tariffs and to compete more effectively with people across the board, particularly the (Trans-Pacific Partnership) countries and Europe.”
Loan Deficiency Payments benefits available for lentils
■ See Warning Page 6 Havre Daily News/Pam Burke The last yellow blossoms of the season sit among a one-acre patch of sweet clover in gravelly ground near Havre Aug. 18. A patch this size can produce tens of thousands of seeds in one summer.
From Montana Farm Service Agency Loan Deficiency Payments have triggered for lentils at $.20 cents in Montana. Montana was $.19 cents away from triggering a LDP for hard red spring wheat Aug. 27. Producers must submit page 2 of the CCC-633EZ form to the local FSA office to request LDP benefits. To be considered eligible for an LDP, producers must retain beneficial interest in the commodity from the time of planting through the date the producer filed form CCC-633EZ, Page 1 at the local FSA office. If form CCC-633EZ is filed before loss of beneficial interest, the producer may obtain the LDP rate in effect on the date beneficial interest is lost. A producer retains beneficial interest when control of and title to the commodity is maintained. Before LDP disbursements can be made, producers must meet the requirements of actively engaged in farming, cash rent tenant and member contribu-
tion. A producer who is eligible to obtain a Marketing Assistance Loan, but agrees to forgo the loan, may obtain an LDP if such a payment is available. To check the weekly pulse rate, producers can access the rates online at https:// www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/price-support/Index, download the “Pulse Crop LDP Rates” spreadsheet, navigate to the Lentils page. The rate for Montana is in the column labeled West. Daily status of LDP payment rates in Montana can be found online at http:// www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Montana/ ldp-rates/index The 2014 Farm Bill authorized 2014-2018 crop year MALs and LDPs. The 2018 Farm Bill extends LDPs and MALs through 2023. Fo r m o re i n fo r m a t i o n , p ro d u c e rs should contact their local FSA county office or view the LDP Fact Sheet at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/fact-
sheets/index. Visit FSA’s Price Support Website, Montana FSA online at www.fsa.usda.gov/ mt and your local FSA office for more information.
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