Farmers encouraged to participate in survey

Dec 30, 2015

Survey revolves around different USDA programs

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is encouraging American farmers to participate in a survey about some USDA programs and their experiences when using the programs.

The organization’s main reasons for administering the survey, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, are to advise the USDA on how programs can be improved and make them more useful and attractive for farmers to consider.

Questions in the survey include how long the participant has been farming, the commodities produced on the farm and specifics about certain USDA programs.

“Farmers and ranchers sometimes find it confusing and complex to participate in USDA programs,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said in a release. “At the same time, USDA staff are concerned that farmers and ranchers who could benefit from a number of different programs frequently do not apply.”

The survey will focus on 10 USDA programs administered by the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Rural Development. The specific programs being explored are:

Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Conservation Stewardship Program
Conservation Reserve Program
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program
Value-Added Agricultural Producer Grants
Rural Energy for America Program
Farmers’ Marketing and Local Food Promotion Program
Direct Farm Ownership Loans
Direct Farm Operating Loans
Guaranteed Farm Loans (farm operating and farm ownership)

Farmers across the United States are able to participate in the survey until Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.