Increased Grazing Fees, Wildfire Season Begins, & Farm Walks

Increased Grazing Fees, Wildfire Season Begins, & Farm Walks

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

The Obama Administration’s proposed budget released on April 10th calls for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service to impose a $1 per animal unit month increase in federal lands grazing fees. Currently, it is $1.35 per animal unit month. Most ranchers agree that levying a 74 percent tax on the grazing fee is unwarranted and would more than likely put many family ranchers out of business. The Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association spoke out in strong opposition to the increase, and representatives for both groups state that they will continue working with members of Congress to do what is in the best interest of ranchers to ensure a sustainable future for the industry and rural America.

Wildfire season officially begins today, and despite the rainy spring we’ve been having, seventeen forest fires have already been reported this year on Department of Natural Resources protected lands. Be sure to visit DNR’s website to view the “summer fire rules”, which are in effect now through October 15th.
 
Since 2003 the WSU Small Farms Program has been pairing up with the Tilth Producers of Washington to host the farmer to farmer educational series known as “Farm Walks”. Tilth Producer’s Jacqueline Cramer shares some insight into the farm walks.

CRAMER: It’s a collaborative effort for the farming movement when we get out on a farm and we walk a farm with the farmer and they teach other fellow farmers, but they also open up their farm to their peers and have feedback and they learn from each other, and they get some questions answered or they pose their challenges.

Tomorrow Cramer will return to talk about the success of the Farm Walk series and give us a glimpse into this season’s Farm Walks.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.