Grazing Cattle Improves Air Quality

The PBS featured film, The First Millimeter: Healing the Land, shows how farmers and ranchers globally use simple tools and practices to improve biodiversity, increase profits, all while addressing future agricultural challenges, like climate change and food security.


To see scenes from the movie on YouTube, click here.


To order a copy of the DVD, click here.

Sweeping for Fall Army Worms

Sweeping your pastures and hay land for Fall Army Worms is one way you can minimize damage from these common pests. To learn more, visit ACA's YouTube channel to watch a video on sweeping for Fall Army Worms.

NCBA President to Testify Before Congress

Tomorrow, May 12, 2011, Bill Donald, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) president and Melville, Mont., cattleman, will testify before the House Committee on Agriculture about NCBA's support of the pending trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. NCBA strongly supports immediate implementation of all three agreements. Click here for more information about the hearing or to download the testimony.

The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. EST. It will be broadcast live on the House Agriculture Committee's website. Click here to watch or listen to the hearing online. The hearing will be in 1300 Longworth House Office Building. 

ACA Establishes "Cattlemen's Disaster Relief Fund"

The Alabama Cattlemen’s Association has announced a two-phased plan to provide help in areas affected by last week’s storms. The first phase involves partnering with county cattlemen’s associations across the state that are preparing beef meals for tornado victims and relief workers. The second addresses needs of cattlemen in rebuilding fences and facilities following the storms.

“Like other groups, the first thought of our leadership was to address the need for humanitarian aid. However, we’re also taking an additional step to reach out to our fellow cattlemen who have a long road ahead of them,” says ACA’s Executive Vice President Dr. Billy Powell.

In the days following the April 27^th tornados, members of local county cattlemen’s associations began setting up across North Alabama to grill hamburgers, steak sandwiches and other items to help feed the influx of relief workers as well as those affected by the storm.

“We have a big grill that we use all during the year for ribeye steak sandwich sale fundraisers. Because we saw this as an area we could help in, we put it to work helping to feed folks around Franklin County after the storm and have even worked with local schools to prepare meat left in their freezers since they lost power after the storm,” says Orland Britnell of Russellville, a past state President of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association.

To help the county cattlemen’s associations which are preparing meals, thousands of dollars in Beef Gift Certificates have been dispersed to aid in buying beef.

As well, $10,000 from the Alabama 50 Cent Beef Checkoff has been committed as seed money to a “Cattlemen’s Disaster Relief Fund” within the Alabama Cattlemen’s Foundation to help cattlemen rebuild their operations. These monies will be distributed to cattlemen in the form of coupons to use in buying fencing and other materials at local farm stores.

“This disaster has affected so many people and so many cattlemen; we just want to do what we can to help,” says Powell.

Those interested in donating to relief efforts coordinated by the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association can visit the association online at www.bamabeef.org or call 334-265-1867.

Emergency Watershed Protection from NRCS

The objective of this program is to assist in relieving hazards to life and property from floods and the products of erosion created by natural disasters (tornadoes) that cause a sudden impairment of a watershed.  Assistance is to units of government such as cities and counties to implement emergency measures to relieve imminent hazards to life and property created by a natural disaster. EWP work includes measures to protect road banks and bridge abutments, debris removal from streams, and control of caving gullies that threatened infrastructures such as homes, gas and power lines, and road ways. Sponsors (cities and counties) sign a EWP Agreement with NRCS prior to the work and are reimbursed for 75% of the construction costs.  Sponsors who contract the work out can also receive additional money for technical services.

For more information on the EWP, click here.

For help in locating your local Alabama NRCS office, please click here.

FSA Disaster Assistance Programs

The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers several important programs that help producers recover from disaster damage and livestock deaths. Among the key programs available to address impacts from disasters are:

• Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)—provides funding for farmers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by a natural disaster (check with local FSA Office for sign-up periods, which are set by county FSA committees)

• Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP)—provides assistance to livestock producers for livestock deaths from a natural disaster event (must file a notice of loss within 30 calendar days of the loss event or of when the loss of livestock was apparent to the participant)

• Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP)— provides emergency relief to producers of livestock, honey bees, and farm-raised fish, and covers losses not adequately covered by any other disaster program (must file notice of loss within the earlier of 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent to the participant, or 30 calendar days after the end of the calendar year in which the loss occurred)

• Tree Assistance Program (TAP)—provides assistance to orchardists and nursery tree growers for losses due to a natural disaster (must file notice of loss within 90 calendar days from the date of the disaster event or the date when the loss of trees, bushes or vines is apparent)

• Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP)—provides assistance to eligible owners of nonindustrial private forest land in order to carry out emergency measures to restore land damaged by a natural disaster (check with local FSA Office for sign-up periods, which are set by county FSA committees)

• Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP)—provides assistance to eligible producers affected by a natural disaster, covering noninsurable crop losses and prevented planting (must file notice of loss within 15 calendar days of date of loss or of the date damage to the crop or loss of production becomes apparent to the participant)

• Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program—provides assistance for crop production and/or quality losses due to a natural disaster

Fact sheets for all of these programs can be found online at www.fsa.usda.gov; click on Newsroom, then Fact Sheets. You may also visit your local Farm Service Agency Office for more information regarding these programs. For help in locating your local FSA office, click here.