Guy Altsenzer News Today

Rural advocates are supporting the Farmland for Farmers Act in Congress. It would restrict the amount of Iowa farmland large corporations can own, and it is in response to foreign and domestic corporations buying up land and then renting it out. As farmers start to retire, more than 40% of U.S. ...

The Environmental Protection Agency has upheld Montana farmers right to repair their own equipment, and says doing so does not violate the Clean Air Act. Montana farmers and ranchers joined with the National Farmers Union in writing to the EPA to oppose equipment manufacturers and dealers, who claimed farmers shouldnt be working on the emission-control systems on their high-dollar machinery. The farmers union said the dealers cited the Clean Air Act as justification for limiting the right to re...

North Dakota farmers and fellow producers from around the country are in Washington, D.C., this week, calling on Congress to prioritize the soon-to-expire Farm Bill. The sweeping policy, which carves out funding for agriculture programs as well as SNAP benefits, is updated every five years, and parts of the current version expire at the end of the month. The looming deadline is overshadowed by another fiscal fight: Lawmakers must agree on a broader spending plan by Oct. ...

Rural advocates are calling on the state to tighten the rules governing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations - or CAFOs - in rural Montana. They claim current Department of Environmental Quality standards leave drinking water and other resources unprotected. CAFOs have been well-known polluters for years in rural Montana - discharging nitrogen and phosphorus into the states waterways, as well as pathogens, heavy metals and pharmaceuticals that threaten wildlife and public health in additio...