Farm Progress

Northey addresses LIP changes, wildfire and drought issues, listens to producers

Shelley E. Huguley, Editor

April 27, 2018

12 Slides

USDA Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey was the keynote speaker at the 2018 Hemphill County Texas A&M AgriLife Beef Cattle Conference and Ag Tour luncheon at Canadian, Texas, Tuesday, April 24. While more than 300 guests dined on chicken-fried steak, Northey discussed changes to programs such as the Livestock Indemnity Program and updated listeners on the progress of the farm bill and trade issues.

Prior to him speaking, Hemphill County Extension Agent Andy Holloway asked Hemphill County rancher Steve Rader, who lost 12 sections of his ranch in a wildfire in March, 2017, to share a few words.  

"I, along with a lot of other people, experienced that wildfire we had last year. The country has had a lot of disaster, whether it was in Houston or up in the Panhandle, we'd never experienced anything like that. But we saw the generosity of the people and how they came together. And I can not not say how I saw the generosity of the U.S. government. They've helped us with our fences, our livestock assistance. The people in our local offices, like the FSA, NRCS, how they took on more jobs and just the avalanche of work that came to them to help us process the fencing costs and keeping it all straight. The credibility of those people — we just want to say thank you to them and thank you for the generosity and the foresight of our government to help us through times like that. What a beautiful government we have that would do something like that."  

Rader hosted a tour on his ranch on day two of the beef cattle conference, telling guests about the history of the Rader Ranch.

The beef cattle conference drew attendees from 11 states and 32 Texas counties and included 52 agribusiness vendors.

See, Under Secretary Northey visits Oklahoma, Texas, tours wildfire, drought-stricken areashttps://bit.ly/2FiaN13.

About the Author(s)

Shelley E. Huguley

Editor, Southwest Farm Press

Shelley Huguley has been involved in agriculture for the last 25 years. She began her career in agricultural communications at the Texas Forest Service West Texas Nursery in Lubbock, where she developed and produced the Windbreak Quarterly, a newspaper about windbreak trees and their benefit to wildlife, production agriculture and livestock operations. While with the Forest Service she also served as an information officer and team leader on fires during the 1998 fire season and later produced the Firebrands newsletter that was distributed quarterly throughout Texas to Volunteer Fire Departments. Her most personal involvement in agriculture also came in 1998, when she married the love of her life and cotton farmer Preston Huguley of Olton, Texas. As a farmwife, she knows first-hand the ups and downs of farming, the endless decisions made each season based on “if” it rains, “if” the drought continues, “if” the market holds. She is the bookkeeper for their family farming operation and cherishes moments on the farm such as taking harvest meals to the field or starting a sprinkler in the summer with the whole family lending a hand. Shelley has also freelanced for agricultural companies such as Olton CO-OP Gin, producing the newsletter Cotton Connections while also designing marketing materials to promote the gin. She has published articles in agricultural publications such as Southwest Farm Press while also volunteering her marketing and writing skills to non-profit organizations such as Refuge Services, an equine-assisted therapy group in Lubbock. She and her husband reside in Olton with their three children Breely, Brennon and HalleeKate.

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