Monsanto’s patent on the original Roundup Ready soybean trait is set to expire after the 2014 planting season. The Roundup Ready (RR) patent and the Roundup Ready to Yield (RR2Y) patent are general utility patents, by the way, not Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) protections, and that is one reason farmers cannot save seed. But…
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Farmers are extremely attentive to governmental policy, especially the regulations generated by the Environmental Protection Agency, but also tax policy, trade policy, and conservation policy. Immigration policy has recently moved to the forefront of farmers’ minds due to necessity of finding labor and the rising costs to farmers of the current farm worker visa program.…
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Deciding where to invest soybean checkoff research dollars can be a daunting task for a checkoff board. The facts of the situation are that (1) farmers on checkoff boards do not routinely work in a research environment and so do not keep up with the current state of science and (2) research leaders routinely make…
DetailsSen. Kay Hagan introduced a bill last week to clarify that pesticide applications are regulated by Congress under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and by EPA under the Clean Water Act (CWA.) A U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2009 determined that applications over or near water required a CWA…
DetailsA bill that recently passed both the House and Senate of the North Carolina General Assembly would preempt local government authorities from banning plants, seeds and plant parts in their jurisdictions. Some advocates of organic farming systems have suggested that the legislation will harm organic producers. They reason that with the legislation in place, organic…
DetailsThe failure of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a Farm Bill on June 20 leads one to wonder if it is simply asking too much of Congress to continue to pass commodity legislation bundled into a nutrition assistance program. The nutrition title was added into the Farm Bill in the 1960s (the bill…
DetailsPeople in the mainstream of the political spectrum are talking about an option to advance the 2013 Farm Bill by splitting off the Nutrition Title as separate legislation. This solution was not long ago only being talked about on the far end of the spectrum, but now is being mulled over by the policy leaders…
DetailsHigh yielding varieties and weed management are important to farm profitability and deserve to be a major focus of soybean checkoff research investments. When we talk about the challenges facing soybean farmers, we often start by discussing some aspect of these two items. And there are certainly years of work ahead for checkoff-funded research programs…
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The NC SoyPAC hosted over 90 supporters for its 4th Annual Sporting Clays Tournament March 21st at Drake Landing in Fuquay-Varina. The tournament takes place every year in the spring to help raise contributions to support federal candidates that are friendly to the N.C. soybean farmers and to assure that N.C. soybean farmers have a…
DetailsEvery five years soybean farmers have the opportunity to request a referendum on their soy checkoff. If USDA determines that 10% of soy growers nationwide have requested a referendum, then USDA will hold the referendum within one year. Farmers can register their requests for referendum at their county FSA office. The following Q&A information further…
DetailsThe North Carolina Soybean Producers Association elected nine members to serve a three-year term on its board of directors at its 47th annual meeting in Durham, N.C. on Jan. 17, 2014. Directors on the state soybean board are responsible for overseeing the soybean checkoff-funded research, marketing and communications work of the association, as well as…
DetailsThe North Carolina Soybean Producers Association is kicking off a new program to reach elementary and middle school students visiting the State Capitol complex in Raleigh. The program launches on October 4. The association partnered with the N.C. Museum of History to identify visiting groups from Title I schools and provide a drawstring backpack with…
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