Alabama Farmers Fed Celebrates Legis Victories and Ethanol Exemptions Canceled
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**With this year’s Legislative Session behind us, the Alabama Farmers Federation is celebrating key victories for rural Alabamians.
www.alfafarmers.org reports, highlights include the small farm winery bill; the farm and forest products tag bill; and the police jurisdiction bill.
Federation External Affairs Director Matthew Durdin says these wins were months, even year in the making and in each case, our farmers saw a problem, approached our team and showed us the importance of passing legislation.
**The federal appeals court that restricted access to “hardship” exemptions from the U.S. ethanol mandate in 2020, granted an EPA request to cancel three exemptions issued on President Trump’s final day in office.
According to www.agriculture.com, the EPA says the waivers had been issued without analysis of whether they were appropriate.
www.agriculture.com/news/business/appeals-court-vacates-three-last-minute-rfs-waivers
**The USDA Farm Service Agency published the first notice of funding availability (NOFA) announcing loan payments for eligible borrowers with qualifying direct farm loans under the American Rescue Plan Act.
The official NOFA will be published in the Federal Register this week and USDA expects payments to begin in early June and continue on a rolling basis.
A subsequent notice addressing guaranteed loan balances and direct loans that no longer have collateral and have been previously referred to the Department of Treasury for debt collection for offset, will be published within 120 days.
