Farm & Ranch

Farm bill decision-aid workshop set for Jan. 21 in SanAngelo

Published

9 years ago

January 14, 2015

NTFR

By: Steve Byrns

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, [email protected]

Contact: Bill Thompson, 325-653-4576, [email protected]

SAN ANGELO – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a farm bill decision aid-workshop from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Region 15 Education Center, 612 S. Irene St. in San Angelo.

“This workshop is specifically tailored to producers who don’t have Internet access, are uncomfortable with the data entry process or with interpreting the generated results from that data entry,” said Bill Thompson, AgriLife Extension economist at San Angelo and the workshop’s main speaker.

The new farm bill eliminated many of the commodity programs producers were familiar with and had used for years, Thompson said. This new program gives producers the ability to choose between three distinctly different commodity programs in addition to possibly reallocating crop base acres and updating program yields.

“The details of these programs can be complex to comprehend and very difficult to work through to determine which program best addresses the risk-management need of each farm,” Thompson said. “This is why the Agriculture and Food Policy Center in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University has developed an online producer decision aid, specifically for helping producers with these options. The decision aid is available at https://usda.afpc.tamu.edu/ .

“The decision aid also requires a lot of historical data, which is readily available from their crop insurance agent and the FSA office. The data entry process is relatively simple and the results are available almost instantly, allowing producers to run multiple scenarios quickly to determine which option best fits their respective operation.”

Thompson said through this hands-on workshop, producers will enter actual production data and begin to evaluate their choices from among the Price Loss Coverage, or PLC, program and two distinctly different Agricultural Risk Coverage, or ARC, programs. With this information, Thompson said producers will be able to sign up their farms at their respective Farm Service Agency office.

The workshop is free, but participants are asked to RSVP by Jan. 20 by calling the AgriLife Extension office in Tom Green County at 325-659-6524. More information is also available by calling the county office or by contacting Thompson at 325-653-4576, [email protected] .

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Farm & Ranch

Hazards of Backyard Poultry

Published

4 days ago

April 21, 2024

NTFR

By Barry Whitworth, DVM

Having backyard poultry is a popular agriculture enterprise. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 0.8 percent of all households in the United States have chickens. People keep chickens for a variety of reasons with table eggs being one of the more common reasons.

Unfortunately, some of these poultry producers are not aware of the hazards that come with keeping poultry because many times they carry pathogens but appear healthy.
Chickens are carriers of several zoonotic diseases. These are diseases that can be passed from animals to humans. According to a recent survey in Pennsylvania, a majority of backyard poultry producers were aware of the dangers of avian influenza. However, this study also revealed that far fewer producers were aware of the risk of possible exposure to Salmonella and Campylobacter.

The lack of knowledge about the hazards of raising poultry likely contributes to the continued issues of Salmonella outbreaks associated with backyard poultry. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,072 illnesses of Salmonella linked to backyard poultry, and 272 of those patients required hospitalization. Oklahoma reported 43 individuals with the disease.

To read more, pick up a copy of the April issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.