Ag notebook

« New Web site ... Communicating with the Colorado Department of Agriculture is now easier for Colorado's agricultural industry and public, thanks to the launch of their newly designed Web site. Now available at www.colorado.gov/ag, this new site offers an improved look and feel and is more user-friendly and informative. The Web site redesign was carried out to more effectively communicate important agricultural issues with Colorado residents. The new site provides users with a comprehensive overview of the department, and features improved navigation, industry and consumer resources and agriculture education. The department is made up of the commissioner's office and seven divisions; information from each division can be easily accessed from the Department home page, by topic or directly from the division.

« Sign-ups set ... Eligible farmers and livestock producers may apply for benefits under the Livestock Compensation Program and the Livestock Indemnity Program starting Monday. Farmers may sign up for the Crop Disaster Program beginning Oct. 15. The USDA programs are designed to provide benefits to producers who have suffered losses caused by natural disasters such as droughts, wildfires and blizzards in recent years. More information on the programs is available at www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=diap&topic=
landing.

« Wheat meeting ... Three officials representing Gruma, the largest and most influential wheat buyer in Mexico, and a representative of U.S. Wheat Associates /Mexico met with representatives of the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee and the Kansas and Oklahoma Wheat Commissions Aug. 28-30, in Kansas City. CWAC President Richard Starkebaum of Haxtun and CWAC Executive Director Darrell Hanavan met with the delegation. Gruma is a milling group with 10 flour mills located throughout Mexico with total milling capacity of 156,528 bushels of wheat per day. Mexico was the third largest export customer of U.S. wheat in the 2006-2007 marketing year, purchasing more than 78.5 million bushels.
Only Japan at 118.6 million bushels and Nigeria (99.7 million bushels) imported more U.S. wheat then Mexico.
The sponsorship of foreign trade teams is a cooperative effort between CWAC and USWA to expand export markets for Colorado and U.S.-produced wheat.
CWAC is a member state organization of USWA, the export market development organization representing Colorado and U.S. wheat producers.

« Oct. 1 deadline ... The deadline for farmers to sign-up for federally subsidized crop insurance on planted crops is Oct. 1. Oct. 1 is also the deadline for making any changes to existing policies. Not all crops nor all types of insurance coverage are available in every county. For more information, farmers are encouraged to check with a private crop insurance agent well before the deadline.

Submissions for the Ag Notebook should be sent to Bill Jackson, bjackson@greeleytribune.com, (970) 392-4442 or to Sharon Dunn, sdunn@ greeleytribune.com, (970) 392-4439. Deadline is 4 p.m. Wednesdays. Any submission after that time will run the following week.