Reps. seek delay on greenhouse gases
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Congressional members from West Virginia and Virginia are trying to block the federal government’s regulation of greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants and other sources.

West Virginia Reps. Nick Rahall and Alan Mollohan and Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher introduced legislation March 3 to let Congress, rather than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), develop a program to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The three Democrats’ proposal is in response to EPA’s finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger human health. The three say the EPA’s regulations could cost their coal-mining districts thousands of jobs.

A similar proposal was introduced in the U.S. Senate by West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller.

Spring closing date near for crop insurance
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Brian D. Frieden, director of the Springfield Regional Office of the Risk Management Agency (RMA), reminds producers the sales closing date for 2010 crop insurance is March 15, for spring-planted crops.

The sales closing date is significant because it’s the deadline for taking out insurance or making a change to the crop insured level of protection, changing insurance providers or cancelling a policy. Crops impacted by the deadline include corn, soybeans, hybrid seed corn, grain sorghum, oats, popcorn, potatoes, processing beans, mint, tobacco and tomatoes.

The following 2010 crop year base prices were released on March 1: corn $3.99/bushel; soybeans $9.23/bu.; hybrid seed corn $3.99/bu.; and grain sorghum $3.90/bu. These price guarantees are used for revenue products such as Revenue Assurance, Crop Revenue Coverage and the Group Risk Income Protection policies, and are based on the Chicago Board of Trade.

For more information and a list of local crop insurance agents, visit the RMA website at www.rma.usda.gov/tools/agent.html

Perdue chicken farm facing lawsuit
BALTIMORE, Md. (The Baltimore Sun) — Environmental groups filed suit March 2 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, accusing an Eastern Shore chicken farm and poultry giant Perdue Farms of polluting waters that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

The Assateague Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance contends that harmful levels of bacteria and nutrient pollution are flowing from a drainage ditch on the farm into a branch of the Pocomoke River.

The lawsuit – the first to target Maryland’s chicken industry for water pollution – was filed two months after the groups warned Perdue and Hudson Farms in Berlin, Md., that they would sue after spotting what appeared to be chicken manure draining into the ditch. The Maryland Department of the Environment later said the pile was made up of treated biosolids from the Ocean City sewage treatment plant.

Fed: Iowa farmland values rose in 2009

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago shows the value of good quality Iowa farmland rose by 3 percent during the last quarter of 2009, and 4 percent during the year.

The report is based on a survey of 214 bankers in its five-state district. It doesn’t put a dollar amount on land values. Chicago Fed economist Richard Oppedahl said despite a 35 percent drop in farm income last year, farmers have financial cushions after a run of several good years.

An annual survey by Iowa State University released in December reported a 2 percent drop in Iowa farm values through November of last year. That survey reported an average value of $4,371 an acre.

Ohio man sentenced in horse deaths
BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 180 days in jail in the discovery of dead horses on his family’s farm in southwestern Ohio.

Chad Moore, 39, pled guilty March 2 to six charges of abandoning animals and was sentenced by a Clermont County Municipal Court judge, who told Moore to choose a new profession other than caring for animals.

Moore trained and looked after racehorses for their owners. He was arrested in late December after animal control officers said 10 dead horses were found on the farm in Bethel, about 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati.

Six animal cruelty counts against Moore were dropped as part of a deal with prosecutors.

3 charged in fatal beating of Ohio alpaca

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Authorities have charged three people in the theft and fatal beating of a baby alpaca in southwestern Ohio.

The three-month-old alpaca, named Masterpiece, was reported stolen Feb. 19 from a farm near Middletown. Authorities say the animal was beaten, put in a truck and dumped in an abandoned barn.

Butler County sheriff’s officials say two 17-year-old boys are charged in juvenile court with animal cruelty, breaking and entering and tampering with evidence. A 22-year-old woman faces complicity charges, for allegedly driving the truck the alpaca was moved in.
The alpaca had a value of at least $8,000. Alpacas are similar to llamas and native to South America. They’re prized for their wool.

Bredesen gets disaster relief for 7 counties
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Gov. Phil Bredesen said federal agricultural disaster assistance has been approved for seven additional counties because of rain and flooding in September and October. They are Fentress, Giles, Madison, Morgan, Putnam, Van Buren and White.

A disaster designation would make farmers in these and adjoining counties eligible to apply for assistance through their local USDA Farm Service Agency. Qualifying farmers are eligible for emergency loans and supplemental farm payments.

According to the governor’s office, farmers in these counties have reported crop losses ranging from 20-50 percent for major commodities. A total of 28 Tennessee counties have qualified for natural disaster designation due to excessive rain during the 2009 harvest.