News

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has awarded 24 grants totaling over $2.7 million to promote the development, cultivation, production and sales of specialty crops in North Dakota.

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has announced that $500,000 is available to fund Bioscience Innovation Grants.

Goehring speaks at Sen. Cramer’s WOTUS roundtable

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring spoke today at a Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule roundtable in Bismarck attended by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler and hosted by Sen. Kevin Cramer.

Goehring spoke of the impact the 2015 rule would have had on North Dakota. “Under the previous definition of a traditionally navigable water (TNW), there were only 5,100 linear miles of jurisdictional TNWs in North Dakota,” Goehring said. “The 2015 rule would have expanded federal authority to 85,604 linear miles in North Dakota.”

Goehring said that North Dakota, as a prairie pothole state, would have witnessed federal jurisdiction over 80 percent of the state.

The EPA finalized a repeal of the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule last month. A WOTUS rewrite has been underway since December of 2018 and the proposed rule is expected to be finalized later this year.

“Unlike the 2015 rule, the currently proposed rule was crafted with better input from stakeholders,” Goehring said. “We welcome the clarity and certainty a final rule will provide for states and landowners.”

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring applauded the announcement today of an agreement on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

BISMARCK, N.D. - The Bioscience Innovation Grant Fund Committee will meet at 3 p.m., Monday, Sept. 30, in the North Dakota Department of Agriculture’s 6^th floor conference room at the State Capitol.

BISMARCK, N.D. – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring applauded the initial U.S.-Japan trade agreement signed today by President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in New York. The agreement provides market access for certain agricultural and industrial goods, as well as digital trade. Negotiations continue for a more comprehensive agreement with Japan to address remaining barriers. 

BISMARCK – Students across North Dakota will dine on food products from their own state on Thursday, Sept. 19, during the 18^th Annual Agriculture in the Classroom School Lunch Day.

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring applauded the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement today that it has finalized a repeal of the 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. A WOTUS rewrite has been underway since December of 2018 and the proposed rule is expected to be finalized later this year.

BISMARCK – Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) has been confirmed in Emmons County in south central North Dakota. A crop scout brought a suspect sample to the local North Dakota State University Extension office, who submitted samples for DNA analysis to the National Agricultural Genotyping Center, where it was confirmed as Palmer amaranth.

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring was elected President of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) today at their annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Goehring will serve as NASDA’s 2019-20 President and will host the 2020 NASDA Annual Meeting in Medora on August 30-September 2, 2020.