Florida Blackberry Field Day and Land Pulled from Conservation Reserve
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Several years ago, farmers asked University of Florida scientists to help them produce blackberries in an effort to test whether so-called “alternative” crops could grow in the Sunshine State.
Now, www.morningagclips.com reports, UF researchers have provided farmers a chance to learn a lot more at the first statewide blackberry field day, May 25th.
Attendees can tour the orchard at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center and learn more about growing blackberries in Florida.
www.morningagclips.com/tour-an-orchard-as-part-of-inaugural-uf-ifas-blackberry-growing-conference-may-25/
**The Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety heard testimony from cattle groups about the dangers of facing rampant illegal border crossings.
www.agrimarketing.com reports, the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association’s Stephen Diebel said these are the families who make it possible to order a hamburger or grill a steak, and they're having to worry about running into trespassers.
He says they face regular thefts, burglaries, damaged infrastructure and armed intimidation.
www.agrimarketing.com/s/140770
**Landowners tell the USDA they’ll take 1.7 million acres out of the long-term Conservation Reserve and put it back into crop production, betting on profits from sky-high commodity prices.
The USDA tells www.agriculture.com this year’s “general sign-up” would be the smallest amount of land since the reserve was created in 1985.
This complicates the Biden administration’s goal of relying on conservation lands to help slow global warming by sequestering carbon in plants and soil.
www.agriculture.com/news/business/high-commodity-prices-shift-conservation-lands-to-crop-fields
