Sustainable Bioenergy, Farms, and Forests - July 20, 2018

House Appoints Conference Committee for 2018 Farm Bill

On July 18, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, instead voting to send the bill to conference committee, where leaders from both chambers will spend the next several months hammering out differences between the two bills.  There are a number of them, leaving many to question whether the conferees can produce a final bill by the September 30th deadline.

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USDA Makes $2 Billion in Disaster Relief Funds Available to Producers Hit By 2017 Disaster Season

Well into the 2018 hurricane season, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Monday that the agency is making approximately $2 billion available to farmers and ranchers hit hard by 2017’s catastrophic wildfires and hurricanes.  The 2017 disaster season shattered all records, with a federal tally of more than $300 billion in losses from 16 different disasters, affecting over 25 million people. A $6.7 billion disaster relief package was passed by Congress in February as part of the 2017 Bipartisan Budget Act and the $2 billion being doled out by USDA is part of its 2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (WHIP).

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Headlines: 

1. U.S. Court of Appeals Rules in Ergon - West Virginia in Favor in RFS Claim Against EPA
2. Can Florida’s Toxic Algae Be Stopped?
3. Lab-Grown Meat's Washington Moment is Now
4. U.S. Trade, Immigration and Biofuel Policies Hit Farmers Hard
5. California is Preparing for Extreme Weather. It’s Time to Plant Some Trees. 

 

To Contact the Editor: Jessie Stolark at [email protected]

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