USDA says a task force established by President Obama Friday will assist agricultural communities facing the impacts of climate change.
The Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience will advise the Federal Government on strategies to help American agriculture mitigate and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.

Robert Bonnie, Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, says the task force is an important step in our shared effort to respond to climate change.
“America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners have long been tremendous stewards of our environment. At USDA, we have worked with a record number of producers and landowners over the course of the Obama Administration to help conserve the soil and water, and clean our air,” Bonnie said.

USDA expects the task force to help America’s farmers and ranchers adapt to changing climate conditions.
Bonnie says the USDA programs will help farmers and ranchers counter the impacts of climate change and help create modern practices for producers to capitalize on their good stewardship.
The latest Drought Monitor by the USDA shows nearly one-fourth of the Midwest and 22 percent of the High Plains are in moderate or worse with the percentage of corn and soybean crops growing in drought down from a month earlier. Rainfall across many drought-affected regions of the country in recent day are expected to show improving conditions.

As part of the broader Climate Action Plan, the USDA announced steps in June to create modern solutions against climate adversity. In addition to regional sources on climate information and forecasts, the USDA created the “Carbon Management and Evaluation Tool” (COMET-FARM), showing farmers how much carbon their land removes from the atmosphere.  -Brett Wessler, Drovers Cattle Network

Sometimes it’s just not your day (or week). That’s certainly the case for Governor Sam Brownback who has had to suffer through a week of bad news and bad polling numbers. Let’s recap:

1) Kansans don’t like the direction our state is heading under Brownback. That’s what a statewide poll of 944 Kansans found. A full 61% of Kansans were concerned about the economy under Brownback’s watch. And they should be. While other states are growing and seeing unemployment drop, Kansas is lagging behind and watching our unemployment numbers steadily rise.

Our poor economic performance coupled with cuts to education and assistance for poor kids may be why only 44% of the Kansans polled said they would vote for Brownback if the election was held today. These low performance numbers also make sense given what Kansans say they care about: better funded k-12 schools and Kansas colleges as well as a return to responsible social services that protect our most vulnerable Kansans.

2) Paul Davis announced Jill Docking will serve as his running mate. The day after Brownback found out that Kansans don’t trust him to handle our economy, he had to watch as Paul Davis introduced Jill Docking as his running mate for the 2014 gubernatorial election. Docking is a highly competent, highly motivated small business owner with political clout (her husband served as lieutenant governor and two Dockings have served as Kansas governors).

Davis and Docking completed a four-city announcement tour, highlighting their vision for Kansas and rallying excited Kansans in Johnson County, Topeka, Salina, and Jill’s hometown of Wichita. With over a year until the 2014 general election, it has to be unnerving to have common sense, moderate opponents who are generating excitement across the state. You can learn more about the Davis-Docking ticket and commit to helping them restore Kansas values to Topeka at www.davisforkansas.com.

3) Brownback is losing. Bad economic numbers and a strong opponent is a one-two punch that would ruin any politician’s week. But that’s not the worst of it.

The worst news for Brownback was finding out that not only do Kansans think President Obama is doing a better job than him, but that in the first statewide head-to-head poll, Brownback trails Paul Davis. A pair of scientific surveys produced by SurveyUSA found that 59% of Kansans disapprove of the job Sam Brownback has done as governor. This may be why Paul Davis leads Brownback, 43-39, winning support from moderate Republicans and independents who are turned off by Brownback’s extreme agenda and broken promises.

Clearly, the Kansas Democratic Party is excited by these numbers, but Paul Davis rightly put this news in perspective:

“This is exciting news, but we still have a LOT of work to do. Kansas needs a governor committed to strengthening our schools, restoring our middle class, and working cooperatively to solve our problems.”
Paul is absolutely correct. There is much work to do before next November if we are going to get rid of Sam Brownback and his brand of extremism. Together we can turn Brownback’s bad week into a bad month then a bad year and, most importantly, a bad election night.

– See more at: https://www.ksdp.org/blog/brownback-bad-news-comes-threes#sthash.LNvpAhYd.dpuf