Ag Briefs

USDA official upbeat despite farm forecast U.S.|

USDA official upbeat despite farm forecast

U.S. farms are expected to see a sharp decline in profitability this year after reaching a high point in 2013, the USDA reported last week.

Net cash income is expected to fall by 27.7 percent this year. And net farm income is forecast to drop 38.2 percent, which if accurate would be the largest single-year decline since 1983 in both nominal and inflation-adjusted terms.

Despite the expected declines, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said “American agriculture continues to enjoy some of the strongest years in our nation’s history.”

“Overall, today’s projections provide a snapshot of a rural America that continues to remain innovative, stable and resilient in the aftermath of the worst animal disease outbreak in our nation’s history and as the western United States unloosens itself from the grip of historic drought,” Vilsack said in a statement. The outbreak he was referring to involved avian flu.

Crescent City egg producer making a mark

What started a decade ago as a parental effort to instill solid values in their children has become the mainstay of Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms of Crescent City.

Today, the rusty red chickens foraging in the fields outnumber the farms cows 10 to 1 - and the roughly 5 million eggs they will produce this year command prices that make organic milk look cheap.

“The egg business has kept the dairy going in several years,” farmer Blake Alexandr told the New York Times.

Alexandre Kids Eggs produces pastured eggs, which on their farm means that the hens live in housing that allows them to spend much of the day in open pasture.

While still a minuscule portion of the roughly 75 billion eggs produced in the United States each year, pastured eggs like theirs are one of the fastest-growing category of eggs in the industry today.

Farming workshop this week in Santa Rosa

Farmers can get updates on local farm issues and receive continuing credit toward pesticide education requirements at a workshop Dec. 3 in Santa Rosa.

Sonoma County Agricultural Commission Tony Linegar will present the annual Certified Private Applicator Workshop. The event will be held from 9 to 11:40 a.m. at the Santa Rosa Veterans Building, 1351 Maple Ave.

Topics will include updates on the county’s vineyard and orchard development rules; best management practices along streams and news about efforts to curtail two invasive pests, the European grapevine moth and the light brown apple moth

The cost is $10 each for advance registration or $20 at the door. For more information, go online to http://bit.ly/20BeBRQ.

Compiled by Press Democrat staff and wire reports. Submit items to robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.ocm

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