Wolford said producers participating in farm programs are required to report all cropland acres to be eligible for FSA benefits. Specific programs that require certification of crops include Direct and Counter-Cyclical Programs (DCP), Conservation Reserve Programs (CRP), Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP) and Marketing Assistance Loans (MAL) Specific programs that require certification of crops include Direct and Counter-Cyclical Programs...

When lightning hits a tree, a cow can be fatally struck by the falling tree, but more often, as in Wilcom's case, the cow is killed by electric currents in the ground which travel up through the animal. According to a 1988 news account, a lightning bolt traveled through a sycamore tree and was transferred to the cows on Haines' farm. Fultz has not been an eyewitness to farm animals being struck, but said he arrived at a farm 15 minutes after 24 cows were killed by lightning in Oregon. Two...

For cattle farmers, the drought has meant that stores of hay stockpiled to last through the winter, must be used to supplement stingy summer yields. Recent rains have been welcomed by farmers, but Gerard said the accumulation may not be enough to counteract a year-and-a-half long drought. Nonetheless, the Rogers clan has been forced to ship some of the ranch's 50,000 cattle out west to graze. Some parts of the Pine Belt may get lucky, he said, but the widespread, prolonged rainfall so...

Industry and Ecology officials said they don t see any major wastewater treatment breakthroughs that would dramatically reduce the pollution that large industries such as oil refineries and pulp and paper mills dump into Puget Sound. Here are ideas for approaching the pollution problems caused by the nearly one billion gallons of treated wastewater discharged into Puget Sound every day by industry and municipal wastewater treatment plants. More than 700 new chemicals are introduced into...

Seven cows from their ranch tested positive for brucellosis in May, and Montana could lose its coveted brucellosis-free status if the Morgans' herd isn't slaughtered within 60 days of that discovery - or by July 17. During Tuesday's conference call, Hedstrom and other Livestock Board members raised concerns about how long it could take to contract truckers and physically remove the cattle from the rugged ranch. State and federal officials are still investigating the source of the outbreak,...