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The ranching industry’s toxic grass problem

Food Environment and Reporting Network

Fescue toxicity is the most devastating livestock disorder east of the Mississippi,” said Craig Roberts, a forage specialist at the University of Missouri (MU) Extension and an expert on fescue. Instead, in 2012, they converted 90 acres of pasture to native warm-season grasses, using their own money and cost-share funding from the U.S.

Ranching 101
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When Not Farming is the Best Use of Land

Modern Farmer

In return, they are paid a yearly rental rate per acre of land enrolled in CRP programs. In 2023, he USDA Farm Service Agency made more than $1.77 billion in payments to agricultural producers and landowners enrolled in all CRP programs, and more than 23 million acres of private land in the US was being conserved.

Farming 83
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Building a Case for Investment in Regenerative Agriculture on Indigenous Farms

Civil Eats

million-acre Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation , where she grew up, the county is among the poorest areas in the United States. The Brewers run cattle and grow some alfalfa across 12,000 acres of grassland that’s a combination of owned land, leased tribal land, and federal trust land. Encompassing part of the 1.4-million-acre

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Food Systems 101: How Community Colleges Are Helping Students Connect Farm to Fork

Modern Farmer

On the back 16 acres of Walla Walla Community College, 30 Red Angus cows stand munching on hairy vetch, ryegrass and other cover crops that were planted to help restore the soil. Several classes discuss using ecology principles to inhibit or get rid of weeds, for example.

Food 98
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Perceptions Vary as Colorado Prepares for Wolf Reintroduction

Modern Farmer

The 260-acre ranch butts up against the West Elk Mountains, four miles east of the West Elk Wilderness, almost smack-dab in the middle of where gray wolves could be released this winter. He purchases weaned calves and finishes most of them on an 80-acre pasture on the ranch. Every few years, he said, all 260 acres will be grazed. “I

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Our Best Farming and Farm Bill Reporting of 2023

Civil Eats

As the Salton Sea Shrinks, Agriculture’s Legacy Turns to Dust As drought dries up the shallow sea, near a half-million farmable acres in the Imperial Valley, farmworkers living nearby are exposed to toxic dust and airborne pollution from algae blooms. Asthma, allergies, and other health impacts are rising at alarming rates. We Explain Why.

Farming 77
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Inflation Reduction Act Conservation Dollars Are a Vital Bulwark Against Climate Change

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Practices That Sequester Carbon and Increase Resilience Within EQIP and CSP in particular, the practices that receive funding through the IRA tend to accomplish multiple ecological goals. Some selections can increase yields and profits per acre. Some of the highest impact comes from agroforestry practices.