In the News
USDA Staffing Shortages Strain FSA and NRCS Services Across Rural America
WASHINGTON (DTN) — Farmers in Polk County, Iowa, still have a Farm Service Agency office to visit. But when they arrive, four out of five days, that office will be closed. Calls are rerouted and employees from other counties come in to staff the office.
Read More USDA Staffing Shortages Strain FSA and NRCS Services Across Rural America
STUDY | The Unfinished Farm Bill: First Reading of Proposed Senate Legislation by Jonathan Coppess
On June 23, 2026, Senator John Boozman (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (ANF), released legislative text for the unfinished provisions of the traditional Farm Bill. Chairman Boozman is calling the legislation “Farm Bill 2.0” (Senate ANF, “Farm Bill 2.0” and Press Release, June 23, 2026). This article provides a first
Read More STUDY | The Unfinished Farm Bill: First Reading of Proposed Senate Legislation by Jonathan Coppess
USDA in Minnesota, already hit hard by DOGE cuts, faces more lost jobs
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency hit hardest in Minnesota by federal cuts last year, now faces additional defunding under President Donald Trump’s second-year budget proposal. The White House wants to reduce the USDA’s 2027 budget for discretionary conservation funding from $850 million to just $111 million. If the latest USDA cuts are approved,
Read More USDA in Minnesota, already hit hard by DOGE cuts, faces more lost jobsNEWS RELEASE: Statement from Invest In Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels on House Passage of the Farm Bill
Washington DC, Thursday, April 30, 2026 – Today, Invest in Our Land issued the following statement in response to the passage of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 by the House of Representatives: “From high input costs and volatile markets to increasingly destructive weather, American farmers and ranchers are navigating the toughest stretch in a generation,” said Rebecca
Read More NEWS RELEASE: Statement from Invest In Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels on House Passage of the Farm Bill
Op-ed: Pa. farmers need conservation programs now more than ever
My name is Amanda Butterfield and together with my husband, I run a beef cattle operation in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania — a 180-acre cow-calf operation in the Laurel Mountains of Somerset County.
Read More Op-ed: Pa. farmers need conservation programs now more than ever
USDA staff cuts threaten Arkansas farmers
Tim Wells is a busy guy. His day job is working at First National Bank in Paragould as an ag loan officer. In the evenings, he does excavation work and operates his own gravel quarry. And on top of that, he runs a generational cattle farm called Sugar Creek Ranch. Wells says it was through
Read More USDA staff cuts threaten Arkansas farmersNEWS RELEASE: Statement from Invest In Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels on Congressional Letter Urging USDA to Address NRCS and FSA Understaffing
Today, Invest in Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels issued the following statement in response to a letter led by Representative Dan Newhouse (R-WA), signed by 14 other House Members, to Richard Fordyce, the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation, asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to address understaffing at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Read More NEWS RELEASE: Statement from Invest In Our Land Executive Director Rebecca Bartels on Congressional Letter Urging USDA to Address NRCS and FSA Understaffing
Farmers push for restored USDA staffing
Invest in Our Land’s Executive Director Rebecca Bartels explains why farmers nationwide are urging Congress to rebuild USDA staffing to protect conservation programs and support agriculture.
Read More Farmers push for restored USDA staffing
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