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The 2017 Montana Ag Summit Thursday featured several high-profile speakers and panels on various issues affecting present and future agriculture, and top-of-mind beef industry issues were included. J. Christopher Giancarlo, acting chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), gave a speech on the future of commodity markets, placing emphasis on the need for regulatory reform and a need to change the “ill-conceived regulatory burdens” that add costs to doing business. Giancarlo discussed the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn.’s concerns about the impact high-frequency trading had on certain dates in the live cattle futures contract during 2015 and 2016. He

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., announced Wednesday in a press release that the airports at Havre and Big Sandy are among Montana facilities receiving almost $8.9 million in funding for upgrades and maintenance. The $1,216,934 grant for the Havre City-County Airport will be used to: • Fund the final phase for the rehabilitation of 10,000 square yards of the existing apron to maintain the structural integrity of the pavement. • Fund the second of three construction phases for the rehabilitation of 400 feet of the existing Taxiway C needed to maintain structural integrity of the pavement. • Fund the final

Here’s how Montana’s politicians reacted to Trump’s decision to back out of the Paris climate accord:  Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines: “Withdrawing from this unenforceable agreement is good news for Montanans — it would have raised utility rates for hardworking Montana families and cost our state jobs. We all want clean water and clean air, but this deal was a bad deal.” Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester: “At a time when countries around the world are looking to America to lead in innovation, the decision to pull out of this agreement puts American businesses and jobs at risk. Like all Montana farmers,

The Montana Ag Summit kicked off on Thursday at the Montana ExpoPark in Great Falls with a tribute to former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns. Burns passed away on April 28, 2016, at the age of 81. U.S. Senator Steve Daines opened the ceremony by announcing the creation of the Conrad Burns Ag Technology Award, to be given every year at the Ag Summit. U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Burns’ friend and former colleague, also spoke about his memories of Burns. Senator Roberts invited Burns’ wife Phyllis to the podium, where she spoke and took a picture with award winner Taylor Brown. Brown owns the Northern Broadcasting

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was in Great Falls Thursday for an “agriculture summit” hosted by Senator Steve Daines. Perdue promised big changes at the U.S. Forest Service, which his department oversees.  Former Georgia Governor Sunny Perdue has only been Agriculture Secretary for five weeks. He told the crowd of mostly farmers and ranchers that where he comes from, trees are a crop that can be sustainably harvested. “We’ve got a lot of U.S. Forest [Service] land that’s not healthy. Part of that’s budgetary, part of that’s ideology and litigation and NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] regulations that we’ve got

New U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue spoke in Great Falls Thursday. Perdue suggested reforms for a couple of big safety net programs important to farmers. Perdue has only been on the job as ag secretary since the end of April, and part of his job is to help President Trump push forward a budget that calls for big cuts in the Department of Agriculture. Speaking to an audience of more than 700 mostly farmers and ranchers at an “agriculture summit” convened by Senator Steve Daines, Secretary Perdue said the cuts include trimming SNAP benefits, better known as food stamps.  “It’s

The Montana Ag Summit kicked off on Thursday at the Montana ExpoPark in Great Falls with a tribute to former U.S. Senator Conrad Burns.  Burns passed away on April 28, 2016, at the age of 81. U.S. Senator Steve Daines opened by announcing the creation of the Conrad Burns Ag Technology award, to be given every year there is an Ag Summit. U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Burns’ friend and former colleague, also spoke about his memories of Conrad. Senator Roberts invited Conrad’s wife Phyllis to the podium, where she spoke and took a picture with award winner Taylor Brown. Brown owns the Northern Broadcasting

The first annual Ag summit wraps up Thursday in the Electric City.  There seemed to be a lot of hope from the attendees as they look to the future. Whole idea behind this summit, was for our National Agriculture leadership to hear and address the grassroots people of the Ag industry.  A big topic was how farmers and ranchers can make themselves part of a bigger global agriculture community.Senator Daines reminded people that agriculture brings in over five billion dollars a year to the state.  He was joined by Senator Pat Roberts, the Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee and Sonny Perdue the US Secretary of

Perhaps the greatest benefit Montana farmers and ranchers took home with them from the Montana Ag Summit was the national attention it delivered and a greater awareness in Washington, D.C. of Montana’s importance to the U.S. farm economy. “We have two of the nation’s leaders; I would argue the nation’s top two influencers of ag policy with us here today,” said Montana Senator Steve Daines. “This is making a very deep impression on Sonny Perdue (U.S. Secretary of Agriculture) and Pat Roberts (Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee).” Daines organized and sponsored the two-day event, bringing together what was probably the highest profile delegation of U.S. ag leaders