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Work begins on the new Farm Bill. New opportunities for small and midsized farmers. And, the Spring
weather forecast. Those stories and more in This Week at USDA.
Secretary Vilsack says the hard work of implementing the new Farm Bill is just starting. He says
this farm bill is about all of America. It's about providing food security for all of America.
It's about providing affordable food to all of America. That creates flexibility with
paychecks for every person in America. It's about creating energy security.
Under the new Farm Bill, the Secretary says small and mid-sized farmers will get more
USDA resources to grow their operations. A mixed bag of weather across the nation this
spring as farmers head into fields for planting. I'm Brad Rippey, USDA meteorologist and here's
our Spring outlook. For the Midwest we anticipate that we'll see continuing cold and wet conditions
heading into the Spring of 2014, drier conditions expected across parts of the deep South and
continuing drought from California to the southern great plains. USDA issued an updated
export forecast. USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber says world demand for U-S crops is
stronger. We've made adjustments again this month in terms of our corn exports. We've
brought those up to one billion six hundred and twenty five million bushels. Up twenty
five million bushels. The soy exports, we took up twenty million bushels to one point
five three billion. Cotton exports are also up at two percent over the previous forecast.
That's all for This Week at USDA. Follow, tweet, and stay informed at USDA dot gov.