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Category: Farming

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: India and New Zealand working on a comprehensive, mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement: Shri Piyush Goyal

    Source: Government of India

    India and New Zealand working on a comprehensive, mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement: Shri Piyush Goyal

    New Zealand Prime Minister and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal address CEOs of India and New Zealand

    I feel incredibly optimistic about the future of both the countries and India for us is a game changer:The Right Honourable Christopher Luxon, PM of New Zealand

    Posted On: 18 MAR 2025 5:41PM by PIB Delhi

    India and New Zealand are working to finalize a comprehensive and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement. Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, said this while addressing the CEOs of India and New Zealand in New Delhi today. The two countries had announced the launch of negotiations for an FTA earlier this week. The event today was attended by the Right Honourable Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hon’ble Mr. Todd McClay, New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Investment, Agriculture and Forestry, business leaders and senior officers of the two countries.

    Addressing the business leaders, Shri Goyal emphasized the immense potential for collaboration between the two countries. He articulated an ambitious vision for the India-New Zealand partnership, targeting 10x growth in bilateral trade over the next decade.

    Prime Minister of New Zealand, The Right Honourable Christopher Luxon, while addressing the forum, stated that businesses play a critical role in both economies and in strengthening bilateral relations. The Prime Minister further emphasized the need to explore new frontiers and sectors where New Zealand holds a competitive advantage. “I feel incredibly optimistic about the future of both India and New Zealand. India for us is a game changer. As a smaller country in the world, India is a really consequential relationship for us. We all recognize that there is a lot more that these two countries should be doing together. When we look at the trading relationship today at $3 billion, there’s a huge opportunity for us here,” he added.

    The Commerce Minister called on business leaders from both countries to contribute towards achieving this goal. “There are hardly any areas where we compete with each other, and the few areas of sensitivity can be navigated with mutual respect. Given our different levels of development, there are limitless possibilities for cooperation in agri-tech, dairy, food processing, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, critical minerals, forestry, horticulture, tourism, and sports,” he said.

    Discussing global challenges, Shri Goyal emphasized the importance of trusted partnerships. “The world is going through a lot of problems. A defining partnership between our two nations can serve as a model for how trusted partners work together. It’s not about the size of an economy; it’s about collaboration and shared values,” he said. He noted that India’s economy, currently at $4 trillion, is poised to grow to $30-35 trillion in the next 22-25 years, presenting immense opportunities for collaboration.

    Shri Goyal highlighted the role of tourism in fostering stronger relations between India and New Zealand. He praised the Prime Minister of New Zealand for his commitment to enhancing ties between the two nations and noted that their partnership could create significant economic opportunities. “Together, we can make a significant difference to our economies. Both countries will emerge as winners through this partnership,” he stated.

    Drawing a parallel with cricket, Shri Goyal described the partnership as “aggressive yet graceful, passionate but well-composed, and creating a strong innings.” He expressed confidence that India and New Zealand are ready to step up for a brighter future.

    The Minister underscored the importance of working with democracies where the rule of law prevails and businesses get fair opportunities. He mentioned the strong people-to-people linkages between India and New Zealand, citing Papatoetoe in Auckland as “Little India.” He expressed optimism about Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, stating that they would be vibrant and add more depth to the relationship.

    He also stressed the importance of education and research in bringing people closer, highlighting the potential of New Zealand’s innovation to reach the world through India. He suggested that manufacturing in India for global markets at competitive prices could take the partnership to greater heights.

    Speaking on connectivity, Shri Goyal reaffirmed India’s commitment to strengthening financial and digital linkages, as well as facilitating swift mobility of manpower and technical talent. He noted that India produces the highest number of STEM graduates annually, with 43% of them being women, showcasing the diversity and strength of India’s workforce.

    “Our two countries have decisive leaders, and India’s young, aspirational population of 1.4 billion, combined with New Zealand’s innovative spirit, will create a potent partnership that the world will look up to. Walking into the future while respecting the past—this perfectly captures the essence of our collaboration,” he concluded.

    ***

     

    Abhishek Dayal/ Abijith Narayanan/ Ishita Biswas

    (Release ID: 2112372) Visitor Counter : 61

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch Convenes International Business Leaders near Northern Border to Discuss Impacts of Trump’s Trade War 

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
    Welch: “I’m very disturbed about what is happening…how it’s affecting our families here in Vermont, how it’s affecting our businesses here in Vermont, and how it’s affecting the mutual cooperation that we had the blessing of enjoying for generations—between us and Canada. I am opposed to tariffs against our Canadian allies.”
    NEWPORT, VT — Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, convened Vermont and Canadian business leaders for a roundtable in Newport, Vermont —near the U.S.-Canada border—to discuss President Trump’s Trade War and how the Trump Administration’s reckless tariffs are hurting workers, families, and farmers.
    Senator Welch’s remarks from the beginning of the roundtable are included in-full below:  
    “We in Vermont really value both our friendship with Canadians, and our economic partnerships with Canada. I believe what’s happening here with the rhetoric from the Trump Administration and from these tariffs is very destructive—for you and for us.  
    “I don’t want to be a part of it. I want to be a part of doing everything we can to maintain the very cordial, friendly, economically mutually-beneficial relationships that we have. I can understand an appropriate place for a tariff, and Canada can make its own decisions about where it would be appropriate for you to have a tariff. I cannot think of why we would be having a tariff or trade war with our best neighbor. Your environmental standards — your labor standards — match or exceed ours, and that’s really important to you and it’s important to us.  
    “What I’m seeing with the tariffs is that they’re being imposed in a very arbitrary way. Not to mention that they’re on again, they’re off again.  
    “Every time I speak to any anybody in business on our side (and it’s really nice that we’re going to hear from the Canadian side of the border) one of the things that’s really essential is stability. No business, and frankly no family, can deal with, ‘yes, we’re on no, we’re off.’ Nobody can do that. And it is not, in my view, good for international relationships. It’s not good for business relationships. And it’s not even good for family, where there’s constant instability. You don’t know what the rules are—they keep changing.  
    “I’m very disturbed about what is happening from [the Trump] Administration and I’m disturbed from the perspective of how it’s affecting our families here in Vermont, how it’s affecting our businesses here in Vermont and how it’s affecting the mutual cooperation that we had the blessing of enjoying for generations, between us and Canada. I am opposed to tariffs against our Canadian allies. 
    “That’s just to set the stage of where I’m coming from, and it’s why I am so grateful that we have this joint meeting where we can talk about the real problems that are caused as a result of these tariffs. And mobilize as much support as we can to renewing that friendship, that business relationship, that economic relationship that we’ve had. So, thank you all for coming and [the Hon. Marie-Claude] Bibeau, I’m so, so delighted that you’re here. I want to turn it over to you after I expressed my gratitude for all the work you’ve done and your willingness to be here deep in the south reaches of Newport, Vermont.”
    Photos of the event are included below:
    Senator Welch was joined by the Hon. Marie-Claude Bibeau, Member of Parliament for Compton-Stanstead, and Vermont and Canadian business owners. Attendees included representatives from Newport Downtown Development; Built By Newport; Columbia Forest Products; Kingdom Brewing; Morrison Custom Feeds, Inc.; Kingdom Trails Association; Hill Farmstead Brewery; Vermont Brewers Association; Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development; Northeastern Vermont Development Association; Caledonia Spirits; Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association; Judd’s Wayeeses Farm; Khrome Product-Transport; Weidmann Electrical Technology; TRACK, Inc.; Larue; Motrec International; UTV Internationale; Ville de Sherbrooke; and the Sherbrooke Chamber of Commerce.  
    Nearly half of all U.S. imports—more than $1.3 trillion—come from Canada, China, and Mexico. Canada is the largest trading partner for 34 U.S. states, including Vermont. In 2024 alone, trade with Canada accounted for 35% of Vermont exports, 67% of our imports, and 56% of its total trade. One in four businesses in Vermont relies on trade with Canada.  
    In many cases, Vermont manufacturers buy imports from Canada to manufacture into products. Tariffs on Canada threaten business closures and job layoffs, higher homebuilding costs, increased costs of grain for farmers, and more expensive equipment for maple producers—among other costs that will get passed on to working families. 
    Senator Welch has blasted Trump’s tariffs and trade war, and shared stories from constituents about how President Trump’s economic policies have impacted their businesses, farms, and communities. This event follows a roundtable Senator Welch held in St. Albans in January and virtually in February where he heard from businesses and state and local leaders about the President’s threats to reignite a trade war. 
    Vermonters are invited to share how these tariffs will impact their lives and businesses by sharing their story on Senator Welch’s website. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Drone Federation India launch National Innovation Challenge for Drone Research (NIDAR) under SwaYaan initiative

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Drone Federation India launch National Innovation Challenge for Drone Research (NIDAR) under SwaYaan initiative

    NIDAR Launch Boosts Talent, R&D, and Skill Development in India’s Growing Drone Ecosystem

    NIDAR offers INR 40 lakhs prize pool and startup incubation, cloud Credits, software support and internship opportunities for student teams

    Posted On: 18 MAR 2025 8:56PM by PIB Delhi

    The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in collaboration with the Drone Federation India (DFI), launched the National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research (NIDAR) under the ‘SwaYaan – Capacity Building for Human Resource Development in Unmanned Aircraft Systems’ initiative. The event was held at Electronics Niketan, MeitY government representatives, industry experts, and students from across the nation through online video-conferencing mode.

    The challenge was formally inaugurated by Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, who unveiled the official concept video, launched the website and registration portal (https://nidar.org.in)and released the NIDAR Poster and RuleBook. In his address, Shri Krishnan emphasized the pivotal role of drones in transforming various sectors such as agriculture, disaster management, logistics, healthcare, and infrastructure and the need for taking the NIDAR program at a larger scale to contribute to India’s vision of becoming a global drone hub by 2030.

    Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE highlighted the need for taking the NIDAR challenges to engineering colleges across the country. He emphasized that academic institutions, startups and industries need to collaborate. He highlighted the need for innovative collaboration and leading the way in drone technology.

    NIDAR under the project SwaYaan aims to inspire and engage India’s student and research communities to develop collaborative autonomous drones, addressing real-world challenges across two critical domains:

    • Disaster Management (Scout & Deliver Drones): Identifying and assisting survivors in disaster-affected areas using autonomous drones for scouting, communication, and parcel delivery.
    • Precision Agriculture (Scan & Spray Drones): Enhancing productivity and sustainability in agriculture through targeted interventions like crop health monitoring and precise pesticide/nutrient delivery.

    The challenge offers a total prize pool of INR 40 Lakhs along with opportunities for startup incubation, cloud credits, software support, and internships with India’s leading drone companies. Over 100 student teams from higher education institutions across the country are expected to participate, presenting innovative solutions aimed at addressing pressing challenges in agriculture and disaster response.

    The initiative is part of the Government of India’s broader effort to enhance entrepreneurship in academia and encourage applied research in drone technology. The Drone Federation India (DFI), a premier industry body representing over 550 drone companies and 5500 drone pilots, will support participating students by providing mentorship and industry exposure.

    The competition will be conducted in multiple phases, including technology presentation, business case presentation, and final operations, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of students’ technical and entrepreneurial capabilities.

    The event also featured participation from distinguished industry leaders besides students and professors from higher education colleges and technical institutions. Over 100 student teams from these institutions are expected to participate in this competition to build two collaborative autonomous drones for solving image-based detection and autonomous delivery.

    The launch of NIDAR marks a significant step towards nurturing talent and promoting research & development in India’s rapidly growing drone ecosystem. The competition is expected to enhance technical proficiency, problem-solving abilities, teamwork, and project management skills among participants, preparing them for impactful careers in emerging technology domains.

    About SwaYaan

    Capacity Building for Human Resource Development in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Drone & Allied Technologies)

    The SwaYaan initiative, approved by MeitY in July, 2022, focuses on capacity building for human resource development in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), including drones and related technologies. The project aims to train 42,560 participants, combining both formal and non-formal educational programs to create a skilled workforce in drone technology. The initiative is implemented through a hub-and-spoke model involving 30 premium institutions like IISc, IITs, IIITs, NITs, CDAC, and NIELIT. Five key work themes guide the project—Drone Electronics, GNC Algorithms Simulation, Aeromechanics, Drone Applications, and Allied UAS Technologies—ensuring specialized focus areas. To date, over 14,000 beneficiaries have been trained. Notable achievements include the launch of an M.Tech. in UAS Engineering at IIT Kanpur, initiation of multiple minor degree programs, and successful conduction of numerous bootcamps and workshops. SwaYaan engages industry partners through innovation challenges and industry meets, reinforcing the link between academic training and real-world application in drone technology. For further details, refer to https://swayaan.meity.gov.in)

    *****

    Dharmendra Tewari/ Navin Sreejith/ Shatrunjay Kumar

    (Release ID: 2112555) Visitor Counter : 46

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cherokee County man arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* chargesRead More

    Source: US State of South Carolina

    (COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Timothy Jared Vise, 45, of Cowpens, S.C., on six charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest. Investigators with the Attorney General’s Office, also a member of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.

     

    Investigators state Vise possessed files of child sexual abuse material.

     

    Vise was arrested on March 13, 2025. He is charged with six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

     

    This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

     

    Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.

     

     

     

    * Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. “Pornography” can imply the child was a consenting participant.  Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: ENCOURAGING FARMERS TO PARTICIPATE IN e-NAM PLATFORM

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 18 MAR 2025 6:12PM by PIB Delhi

    Many initiatives have been undertaken in order to encourage small and marginal farmers to participate in National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) for better realization of prices. Facility of online registration through e-NAM portal and through mobile app (available on Android and iOS platform) is provided. Training programmes are conducted in Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and toll-free number (18002700224) to assist farmers in registration & trading process.

    As agro produce of small and marginal farmers may be less on individual basis, collectivizing them as Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) provides economies of scale. FPOs aggregate produce of member farmers and can access e-NAM through FPO trading module.

    As on 28.02.2025, 4392 FPOs have been on-boarded on e-NAM platform.

    Additionally, by using the farm gate module a farmer can offer his produce without physically travelling to the APMC.

    Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) are regulated by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act of the respective state. For online inter-state trade, enabling provisions to recognize the trading licenses of other states is required.

    Considering logistics challenges in promotion of Inter-State and Inter-mandi trade under e-NAM, Government has taken a decision to upgrade e-NAM platform as e-NAM 2.0, which will facilitate the onboarding of various logistic service providers. The objective of this initiative is to overcome logistic gaps and enable faster trade, reduced wastage and better farmer incomes.

    Based on requests received from State Government Departments/ State Agri. Marketing Boards, the tradable parameters for respective commodities are finalized.  As on 28th Feb, 2025, tradable parameters for 231 commodities were finalized for online auction on the e-NAM platform.

    It has been decided to upgrade the existing e-NAM platform to make it more efficient, robust, user-friendly, inclusive, scalable and open-network compliant. The main features of e-NAM 2.0 would be bank account validation, eKYC features using Aadhaar and onboarding of assaying, logistics and other value added service providers.

    This information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

    ******

     MG/KSR

    (Release ID: 2112409) Visitor Counter : 54

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: CROPS UNDER MSP

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 18 MAR 2025 6:10PM by PIB Delhi

    Government fixes minimum support prices (MSPs) for 22 mandated agricultural crops on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP), after considering the views of State Governments and Central Ministries/ Departments concerned. The details of increase in the cost of production and comparative details of the increase in cost of production and increase in MSP of various crops covered under MSP in the last five years is enclosed at Annexure-I.

     Government procures cereals and coarse cereals through Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other designated State Agencies to provide price support to the farmers.

    The estimates for procurement of wheat and paddy are finalized by Government of India (GoI) in consultation with State Governments and Food Corporation of India, before the commencement of each marketing season based upon estimated production, marketable surplus and agricultural crop pattern.

    States are allowed to procure coarse grains from farmers at MSP under central pool subject to the prior approval of GOI on the detailed procurement plan prepared by State Governments in consultation with FCI.

    Procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra is done under Price Support Scheme under Umbrella Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Anna data AaySanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA), in consultation with the concerned State Government as and when market price of these produce fall below the MSP. Procurement agencies under PM-AASHA Scheme are National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and National Co-operative Consumers’ Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF). The overall quantity of procurement by Central Government will be restricted to 25% of All India production of the commodity for that particular season/year.

    Cotton and Jute are also procured by Government at MSP through Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and Jute Corporation of India (JCI), respectively. There is no maximum quantity limit of purchase of produced jute and cotton from farmers.

    This information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

    ******

     MG/KSR

    Annexure-I

    All India Cost of Production and MSP all Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2020-21 & 2024-25

    Sl.

    No.

    A

    B

    C

    D=C-B

    E

    F

    G=F-E

    Kharif Crops

    Cost

    MSP

     

     

    2020-21

    2024-25

    Difference

    2020-21

    2024-25

    Difference

    1

    Paddy Common

    1245

    1533

    288

    1868

    2300

    432

    2

    Jowar

    1746

    2247

    501

    2620

    3371

    751

    3

    Bajra

    1175

    1485

    310

    2150

    2625

    475

    4

    Ragi

    2194

    2860

    666

    3295

    4290

    995

    5

    Maize

    1213

    1447

    234

    1850

    2225

    375

    6

    Tur(Arhar)

    3796

    4761

    965

    6000

    7550

    1550

    7

    Moong

    4797

    5788

    991

    7196

    8682

    1486

    8

    Urad

    3660

    4883

    1223

    6000

    7400

    1400

    9

    Groundnut

    3515

    4522

    1007

    5275

    6783

    1508

    10

    Sunflower

    3921

    4853

    932

    5885

    7280

    1395

    11

    Soyabean(Yellow)

    2587

    3261

    674

    3880

    4892

    1012

    12

    Sesamum

    4570

    6178

    1608

    6855

    9267

    2412

    13

    Nigerseed

    4462

    5811

    1349

    6695

    8717

    2022

    14

    Cotton(Medium Staple)

    3676

    4747

    1071

    5515

    7121

    1606

     (In Rs./Qtl.)

    All India Cost of Production and MSP all Rabi Crops for Marketing Season 2021-22 & 2025-26

     

    Sl.

    No.

    Rabi Crops

    Cost

    MSP

     

     

    2021-22

    2025-26

    Difference

    2021-22

    2025-26

    Difference

     

    1

    Wheat

    960

    1182

    222

    1975

    2425

    450

     

    2

    Barley

    971

    1239

    268

    1600

    1980

    380

     

    3

    Gram

    2866

    3527

    661

    5100

    5650

    550

     

    4

    Masur (Lentil)

    2864

    3537

    673

    5100

    6700

    1600

     

    5

    Rapeseed & Mustard

    2415

    3011

    596

    4650

    5950

    1300

     

    6

    Safflower

    3551

    3960

    409

    5327

    5940

    613

     
                       

     (in Rs./Qtl.)

    All India Cost of Production and MSP of Copra (Milling) for Marketing Season 2021 & 2025.

    (In Rs./Qtl.)

    Sl.

    No.

    Crop

    Cost

    MSP

     

    		  

    2021

    2025

    Difference

    2021

    2025

    Difference

    1

    Copra (Milling)

    6805

    7721

    916

    10335

    11582

    1247

     

    All India Cost of Production and MSP of Jute for Marketing Season 2021-22 & 2025-26.

    (in Rs./Qtl.)

    Sl.

    Crop

    Cost

    MSP

    No.

    		  

    2021-22

    2025-26

    Difference

    2021-22

    2025-26

    Difference

     

    1

    Jute

    2832

    3387

    555

    4500

    5650

    1150

     
                       

     

    ****

    (Release ID: 2112407) Visitor Counter : 64

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Agri-food imports from the USA – E-000999/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-000999/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Daniel Buda (PPE)

    The President of the USA bemoans his country’s trade deficit with the European Union, especially in the area of agri-food products, and has called for the EU to buy more US products. The main barrier to this, though, are the differences in food safety rules, as the EU bans imports of US products that have been treated with hormones or hazardous pesticides or which are genetically modified. Similarly, Europe’s farmers are reluctant to engage in unfair external competition with products that are produced to lower standards, making it all the more complicated to resolve this trade dispute.

    How will the Commission safeguard the European Union’s food safety standards in the context of trade agreements with the United States, given the significant regulatory differences as regards the use of hormones, pesticides and genetically modified organisms in imported foodstuffs?

    Submitted: 7.3.2025

    Last updated: 18 March 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hoeven: USDA Releases Details on $10 Billion in Market-Based Disaster Assistance, Begins Accepting Applications March 19

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven

    03.18.25

    Senator Secured Funding in Year-End Legislation to Help Producers Recover from Challenging Markets

    Click for video and audio.

    WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun accepting applications for the $10 billion in market-based assistance that he worked to secure as part of the year-end legislation in December. Hoeven has been working with Agriculture Secretary Rollins to implement and quickly deliver the assistance, encouraging USDA to utilize a streamlined application process to help ensure an efficient and timely process. At the same time, the senator continues his efforts to secure a new farm bill that makes needed investment in the farm safety net to help prevent the need for future ad-hoc disaster assistance.

    Details of the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) are as follows:

    • USDA will send producers a pre-filled application based on 2024 acreage reporting data after program signup begins on March 19, 2025.
      • Producers who still need to submit their 2024 plant and prevent plant data may do so until the program deadline of August 15, 2025.
      • Applications may be submitted online or to local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices.
    • USDA aims to start releasing initial payments to producers by March 21, which will come to 85 percent of the total, with a supplemental payment to follow in the summer.
      • ECAP assistance will be based on acreage and calculated using a flat payment rate for the eligible commodity multiplied by the eligible reported acres.
      • For acres reported as prevented plant, ECAP assistance will be calculated at 50%.
    • Eligible commodities include wheat, corn, sorghum, barley, oats, soybeans, dry peas, lentils, chickpeas, canola, flax and sunflower, among other crops. Only one application is required for all ECAP eligible commodities.

    “This $10 billion in assistance is an important step to help producers recover from the challenging markets and comes as part of our commitment to keep our farmers and ranchers in the game, whether they face natural disasters, challenging markets or trade disputes,” said Senator Hoeven. “We worked to ensure a streamlined process to provide producers with certainty and timely access to assistance. Pre-filled applications will be going out shortly, and Secretary Rollins has committed to getting the funds distributed as quickly as possible, with payments to start going out by March 21.”

    Additional information and resources are available to producers on USDA’s website here: https://fsa.usda.gov/ecap. Hoeven also continues working with USDA to advance the $21 billion in weather-related assistance for losses in 2023 and 2024, which includes $2 billion set aside for livestock producers, including those with losses due to wildfires.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Luján, Senate Democrats Demand USDA Reverse $1 Billion in Canceled Local Food Purchases for Schools, Farmers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
    Lujan, Schiff, Klobuchar, and Shaheen spearhead effort to stop “further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets”
    Anthony, N.M. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a group of 31 Senators demanding a reversal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cancelation of food purchase programs across the United States, warning of the harmful impacts this move will have on both families and American farmers. 
    In a letter led with U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the lawmakers said the reported $1 billion in canceled purchases by the USDA adds further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets. U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) also signed onto the letter.
    “We ask that you reverse the cancellation,” the Senators wrote. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation…poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.” 
    The purchases from American farmers fund food for food banks, schools, and child care centers in all 50 states, territories, tribal governments, and the District of Columbia.  
    The letter was also signed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Angus King (I-Maine), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeffrey Merkley (D-Ore.),  Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). 
    The full letter sent to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins can be found here and below: 
    Dear Secretary Rollins:  
    We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need. These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.  
    At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical. Notably, LFPA and LFS have benefitted producers and consumers by providing funding for purchases through all 50 states, four territories, and 84 tribal governments. Through LFPA and LFS, USDA has prioritized the procurement and distribution of healthy, nutritious, domestic food. It has also taken an important step towards igniting rural prosperity by expanding and strengthening markets among farmers and rural economies. As of December 2024, the programs had supported over 8,000 producers, providing increased marketing opportunities.  
    Most importantly, we ask that you reverse the cancellation of LFPA and LFS. We also ask that you provide a thorough and complete update on USDA’s implementation of LFPA and LFS, including answers to the following questions:  
    1.        What is the status of reimbursements for entities that have agreements with USDA through LFPA and LFS? What is the last date for which states, territories, and Tribes received reimbursements for food purchases under LFPA and LFS?  
    2.        Has the Administration conducted any assessments of how these program cancellations will impact producers and recipient organizations (e.g., food banks, schools, child care centers)? If so, please provide a copy of any such assessments.  
    We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.  
    Please provide responses to the information requested in our questions no later than Friday, April 4. Thank you for your attention to this urgent and important matter.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rosen, Cortez Masto Joins Colleagues in Demanding Trump Administration Reverse Major Cuts to Food Assistance for Schools

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

    WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) joined Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and 29 of their colleagues in demanding the Department of Agriculture reverse its cancellation of food purchase programs across the United States, warning of the harmful impacts this move will have on both families and American farmers. Nevada utilizes these federal funds to support the state’s food bank network and school nutrition programs by purchasing local foods from farmers and producers in Nevada, benefiting students, families, and the local economy.
    “We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need,” wrote the Senators. “These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.”
    “At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” they continued. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country.”
    The full letter can be found HERE.
    Senators Rosen and Cortez Masto have been vocal opponents of the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut critical programs Nevadans rely on all while trying to give further tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. The Senators have pushed multiple Departments under the Trump Administration for detailed, public information regarding the impacts of President Trump’s federal funding freeze, hiring freeze, and terminations on Nevada – including to the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and the General Services Administration. Earlier this year, Rosen and Cortez Masto urged the Department of the Interior to immediately cease its freeze of Inflation Reduction Act funding for the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Reverend Warnock, Colleagues Push Back on Proposed Cuts to Disaster Programs Helping Georgians Recover From Helene

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock – Georgia

    Senator Reverend Warnock, Colleagues Push Back on Proposed Cuts to Disaster Programs Helping Georgians Recover From Helene

    In a new letter, Senator Reverend Warnock led 42 of his colleagues in an effort to push back against U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner’s proposed cuts to disaster recovery programs

    HUD disaster recovery programs help rebuild houses and small businesses, repair roads and bridges, restore clean drinking water service, and invest in workforce development for Georgians who’ve lost jobs

    Georgia is scheduled to receive $256 million under the HUD program for Helene and Milton recovery

    The cuts would reduce the number of employees at the HUD office responsible for getting disaster relief directly to Georgians and Americans from 936 to 150 – an 84% reduction

    The proposed cuts come as Georgia and several other states throughout the Southeast are in the midst of the recovery process following Hurricanes Helene and Milton

    Senator Reverend Warnock recently called for the Trump Administration to distribute federal disaster assistance for Georgia farmers that Congress secured after Hurricane Helene

    Senator Reverend Warnock has been outspoken on aimless cuts to key government agencies, departments, and federal programs that hardworking Americans rely on

    Senator Reverend Warnock, lawmakers: “The CDBG-DR [disaster recovery] program is critical to our states’ ability to recover from natural disasters, and it is essential that HUD distributes funding as quickly and efficiently as possible”

    Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) led an effort with 42 of his Senate colleagues pushing back on U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner’s proposed cuts to crucial disaster recovery programs that are under the umbrella of HUD.

    The cuts would reduce employees at HUD’s office of Community Planning and Development, which administers the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, a crucial pot of funding that helps impacted communities with disaster recovery following extreme weather events like hurricanes. Under this program, Georgia is scheduled to receive $256 million for Helene and Milton recovery, which would likely be in jeopardy due to the cuts.

    This disaster relief work includes rebuilding houses and small businesses, repairing roads and bridges, restoring water services, and investing in workforce development for Georgians who’ve lost jobs. The proposed employee reduction at HUD is roughly 84%, a massive drop from 936 to 150, and would likely impede the hurricane recovery process in Georgia.

    “Communities across the country experienced significant natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. States across the South—including Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia—were devastated by Hurricanes Milton and Helene,” wrote the Senators. “CDBG-DR provides states, cities, counties, and Tribes with funding to support recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters.”

    The news of the proposed cuts comes as Georgia is still in the midst of the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene. Senators Warnock and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) recently called for the Trump Administration to distribute federal disaster assistance for Georgia farmers that Congress secured after Hurricane Helene.

    “Specifically, you [Secretary Turner] stated that “one of [your] top priorities” as HUD Secretary would “be to ensure that the disaster recovery funding passed by Congress gets out to communities swiftly” and “into the hands of Americans who have been impacted by recent disasters.”  Your statements indicated a strong commitment to providing our disaster-impacted communities with the resources they need, but we are concerned that recent actions at the Department have not matched that verbal commitment,” the Senators continued.

    “We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to the workforce and contracts involved in disaster recovery oversight, and reinstate any recently terminated probationary staff,” the lawmakers concluded.

    In November of last year, Senator Reverend Warnock, Congressional Appropriators, and Governor Brian Kemp requested $3 billion in CDBG-DR funding for Georgia’s recovery from Hurricane Helene. Additionally, Senator Warnock has pushed back on several efforts, spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency, to aimlessly cut key government agencies, departments, and federal programs that hardworking Americans rely on. Senator Warnock fought back against cuts to Medicaid in the tax bill proposed by Washington Republicans, spoke out when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was effectively closed, and most recently warned Georgians of the impact when the announcement of five Georgia Social Security Administration offices would be closed.

    Read the letter HERE and below.

    Dear Secretary Turner:

    We write today regarding our concerns that recent actions taken by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are hampering our states’ ability to access Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds, and could degrade the ability to recover from both current and future disasters. The CDBG-DR program is critical to our states’ ability to recover from natural disasters, and it is essential that HUD distributes funding as quickly and efficiently as possible. We request additional information on your plans to ensure that communities continue to receive the resources they need to rebuild.

    Communities across the country experienced significant natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. States across the South—including Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia—were devastated by Hurricanes Milton and Helene, while Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Illinois experienced severe storms. States in the Northeast— including Vermont and Massachusetts —faced life-threatening floods, while states in the West —including California, Washington State, and Hawaii—saw catastrophic wildfires.

    CDBG-DR provides states, cities, counties, and Tribes with funding to support recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters. In December 2024, Congress appropriated $12 billion in emergency supplemental CDBG-DR funding. During your confirmation process, you made clear that, if confirmed, you would prioritize getting our constituents CDBG-DR funding as quickly as possible. Specifically, you stated that “one of [your] top priorities” as HUD Secretary would “be to ensure that the disaster recovery funding passed by Congress gets out to communities swiftly” and “into the hands of Americans who have been impacted by recent disasters.”  Your statements indicated a strong commitment to providing our disaster-impacted communities with the resources they need, but we are concerned that recent actions at the Department have not matched that verbal commitment.

    For years, the HUD Office of Inspector General listed disaster recovery oversight as a top management challenge at HUD, noting the need for systems and staff to keep pace with increases in CDBG-DR funding, as well as the need to build the capacity of CDBG-DR grantees. The latest Top Management Challenges report highlighted multiple ways in which HUD has made “meaningful progress,” largely due to the investment Congress has made over the years to support staff, systems, and capacity building. Over the last week, however more than one thousand HUD employees (13% of HUD’s workforce) were fired or accepted the Administration’s deferred resignation offer – including staff supporting the CDBG-DR program. Furthermore, according to recent reports, HUD “plans to discharge 50% of its overall workforce”, and the Office of Community Planning and Development, which is responsible for supporting disaster recovery efforts, is targeted for a staggering 84% cut.  Should such cuts move forward, it is unclear how the Department will continue to ensure the efficient delivery of CDBG-DR funds so our states and communities can continue to rebuild after devastating disasters. 

    HUD has also postponed previously scheduled trainings designed to help grantees understand CDBG-DR program requirements, and it is not clear when those trainings will resume.  Moreover, continued uncertainty on whether and the extent to which HUD may change the current Universal Notice governing the latest allocations from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025 (Public Law 118-158) could cause additional delays. At least one grantee has already started accepting public comments on their draft action plan. Any major deviations from current requirements could be a huge setback for communities, adding months to recovery efforts. 

    We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to the workforce and contracts involved in disaster recovery oversight, and reinstate any recently terminated probationary staff.

    To help us better understand the current status of the CDBG-DR program and your plans to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of CDBG-DR funds for our states and others across the country, we request information to the following questions no later than Monday, March 24, 2025:

    1. All grantees who received allocations from Public Law 118-158 have been using the CDBG-DR Universal Notice to develop their action plans.
      1. Do you intend to make changes to the Universal Notice?
      2. If so, how will HUD do that in a way that is minimally disruptive to the grantees whose actions plans are underway and to avoid delaying assistance?
      3. What is HUD’s timeline for reissuing the second allocation notice for Public Law 118-158 funding that was posted to the Federal Register for public inspection on January 21, 2025 but withdrawn on January 22, 2025?
    1. How many HUD employees were responsible for supporting the implementation of the CDBG-DR program, including the delivery of recently appropriated supplemental funding, on January 20, 2025? Please delineate by field versus headquarters and employee status (e.g., career, conditional, term, etc.).
    1. How many HUD employees are responsible for supporting the implementation of the CDBG-DR program, including the delivery of recently appropriated supplemental funding, on[March 17, 2025]? Please delineate by field versus headquarters and employee status (e.g., career, conditional, term, etc.).
    1. What additional plans, if any, does the Department have to further reduce the number of HUD employees responsible for implementing the CDBG-DR program?
    1. What analyses, if any, has HUD conducted to assess the impact of any proposed or implemented workforce reductions on the Department’s ability to implement CDBG-DR funding? Please provide copies of any written communications, analyses, and other documentation on how workforce reductions could impact the CDBG-DR program produced between January 21, 2025, and [March 17, 2025].
    1. What services, such as trainings and the provision of technical assistance, was HUD providing to CDBG-DR grantees on January 20, 2025?
    1. What services, if any, is HUD currently providing to CDBG-DR grantees? What changes, if any, have occurred to the services provided to CDBG-DR grantees since January 20, 2025?
    1. What additional plans, if any, does the Department have to alter the available services provided to CDBG-DR grantees? 
    1. Have any contracts related to the CDBG-DR program been terminated since January 20, 2025, as a result of the ongoing review of the ongoing reviews of HUD programs?  If so, please detail which contracts, the reason for termination, and the plan for addressing the contracted work, if applicable.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Announces DGX Spark and DGX Station Personal AI Computers

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC — NVIDIA today unveiled NVIDIA DGX™ personal AI supercomputers powered by the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform.

    DGX Spark — formerly Project DIGITS — and DGX Station™, a new high-performance NVIDIA Grace Blackwell desktop supercomputer powered by the NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra platform, enable AI developers, researchers, data scientists and students to prototype, fine-tune and inference large models on desktops. Users can run these models locally or deploy them on NVIDIA DGX Cloud or any other accelerated cloud or data center infrastructure.

    DGX Spark and DGX Station bring the power of the Grace Blackwell architecture, previously only available in the data center, to the desktop. Global system builders to develop DGX Spark and DGX Station include ASUS, Dell, HP Inc. and Lenovo.

    “AI has transformed every layer of the computing stack. It stands to reason a new class of computers would emerge — designed for AI-native developers and to run AI-native applications,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “With these new DGX personal AI computers, AI can span from cloud services to desktop and edge applications.”

    Igniting Innovation With DGX Spark
    DGX Spark is the world’s smallest AI supercomputer, empowering millions of researchers, data scientists, robotics developers and students to push the boundaries of generative and physical AI with massive performance and capabilities.

    At the heart of DGX Spark is the NVIDIA GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, optimized for a desktop form factor. GB10 features a powerful NVIDIA Blackwell GPU with fifth-generation Tensor Cores and FP4 support, delivering up to 1,000 trillion operations per second of AI compute for fine-tuning and inference with the latest AI reasoning models, including the NVIDIA Cosmos Reason world foundation model and NVIDIA GR00T N1 robot foundation model.

    The GB10 Superchip uses NVIDIA NVLink™-C2C interconnect technology to deliver a CPU+GPU-coherent memory model with 5x the bandwidth of fifth-generation PCIe. This lets the superchip access data between a GPU and CPU to optimize performance for memory-intensive AI developer workloads.

    NVIDIA’s full-stack AI platform enables DGX Spark users to seamlessly move their models from their desktops to DGX Cloud or any accelerated cloud or data center infrastructure — with virtually no code changes — making it easier than ever to prototype, fine-tune and iterate on their workflows.

    Full Speed Ahead With DGX Station
    NVIDIA DGX Station brings data-center-level performance to desktops for AI development. The first desktop system to be built with the NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip, DGX Station features a massive 784GB of coherent memory space to accelerate large-scale training and inferencing workloads. The GB300 Desktop Superchip features an NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPU with latest-generation Tensor Cores and FP4 precision — connected to a high-performance NVIDIA Grace™ CPU via NVLink-C2C — delivering best-in-class system communication and performance.

    DGX Station also features the NVIDIA ConnectX®-8 SuperNIC, optimized to supercharge hyperscale AI computing workloads. With support for networking at up to 800Gb/s, the ConnectX-8 SuperNIC delivers extremely fast, efficient network connectivity, enabling high-speed connectivity of multiple DGX Stations for even larger workloads, and network-accelerated data transfers for AI workloads.

    Combining these state-of-the-art DGX Station capabilities with the NVIDIA CUDA-X™ AI platform, teams can achieve exceptional desktop AI development performance.

    In addition, users gain access to NVIDIA NIM™ microservices with the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, which offers highly optimized, easy-to-deploy inference microservices backed by enterprise support.

    Availability
    Reservations for DGX Spark systems open today at nvidia.com.

    DGX Station is expected to be available from manufacturing partners like ASUS, BOXX, Dell, HP, Lambda and Supermicro later this year.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and register for sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Pearlina Boc
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-562-275-5781
    pboc@nvidia.com  

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting or offering NVIDIA’s products and technologies; by putting the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell Superchip on every desk, and at every AI developer’s fingertips, NVIDIA empowering millions of people to shape the future of AI; and with new DGX AI supercomputers, software providers, government agencies, startups and researchers being able to prototype, fine-tune and run large AI models — transforming the way they work and create are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, Connect-X, CUDA-X, DGX, DGX Station, NVIDIA Grace, NVIDIA NIM and NVLink are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a1933d3b-32bd-450a-88f9-cd3df95857e1

    The MIL Network –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: First Farmers Financial Corp. Declares Record Dividend

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Converse, Indiana, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — First Farmers Financial Corp. (OTCQX Banks; FFMR), the parent company of First Farmers Bank & Trust Co., announced that on March 18, 2025, the Board of Directors approved a record quarterly cash dividend of $0.49 per share, payable on April 15, 2025, to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2025. This quarterly dividend represents a 2.1% increase over the $0.48 dividend declared in March 2024.

    First Farmers Financial Corp is a $3.2 billion financial holding company headquartered in Converse, Indiana.  First Farmers Bank & Trust has offices throughout Carroll, Cass, Clay, Grant, Hamilton, Howard, Huntington, Madison, Marshall, Miami, Starke, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vigo and Wabash counties in Indiana and offices in Coles, Edgar, and Vermilion counties in Illinois. First Farmers Financial Corp is traded on the OTC Markets Group, Inc. “OTCQX” exchange under the ticker symbol: FFMR  

    The MIL Network –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Blackwell RTX PRO Comes to Workstations and Servers for Designers, Developers, Data Scientists and Creatives to Build and Collaborate With Agentic AI

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC — NVIDIA today announced the NVIDIA RTX PRO™ Blackwell series — a revolutionary generation of workstation and server GPUs redefining workflows for AI, technical, creative, engineering and design professionals with breakthrough accelerated computing, AI inference, ray tracing and neural rendering technologies.

    For everything from agentic AI, simulation, extended reality, 3D design and complex visual effects to developing physical AI powering autonomous robots, vehicles and smart spaces, the RTX PRO Blackwell series provides professionals across industries the latest and greatest compute power, memory capacity and data throughput right at their fingertips — from their desktop, on the go with mobile workstations or powered by data center GPUs.

    The new lineup includes:

    • Data center GPU: NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition
    • Desktop GPUs: NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition, NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell
    • Laptop GPUs: NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell, NVIDIA RTX PRO 3000 Blackwell, NVIDIA RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell, NVIDIA RTX PRO 1000 Blackwell and NVIDIA RTX PRO 500 Blackwell

    “Software developers, data scientists, artists, designers and engineers need powerful AI and graphics performance to push the boundaries of visual computing and simulation, helping tackle incredible industry challenges,” said Bob Pette, vice president of enterprise platforms at NVIDIA. “Bringing NVIDIA Blackwell to workstations and servers will take productivity, performance and speed to new heights, accelerating AI inference serving, data science, visualization and content creation.”

    NVIDIA Blackwell Technology Comes to Workstations and Data Centers
    RTX PRO Blackwell GPUs unlock the potential of generative, agentic and physical AI by delivering exceptional performance, efficiency and scale.

    NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell GPUs feature:

    • NVIDIA Streaming Multiprocessor: Offers up to 1.5x faster throughput and new neural shaders that integrate AI inside of programmable shaders to drive the next decade of AI-augmented graphics innovations.
    • Fourth-Generation RT Cores: Delivers up to 2x the performance of the previous generation to create photoreal, physically accurate scenes and complex 3D designs with optimizations for NVIDIA RTX™ Mega Geometry.
    • Fifth-Generation Tensor Cores: Delivers up to 4,000 AI trillion operations per second and adds support for FP4 precision and NVIDIA DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation, enabling a new era of AI-powered graphics and the ability to run and prototype larger AI models faster.
    • Larger, Faster GDDR7 Memory: Boosts bandwidth and capacity — up to 96GB for workstations and servers and up to 24GB on laptops. This enables applications to run faster and work with larger, more complex datasets for everything from tackling massive 3D and AI projects to exploring large-scale virtual reality environments.
    • Ninth-Generation NVIDIA NVENC: Accelerates video encoding speed and improves quality for professional video applications with added support for 4:2:2 encoding.
    • Sixth-Generation NVIDIA NVDEC: Provides up to double the H.264 decoding throughput and offers support for 4:2:2 H.264 and HEVC decode. Professionals can benefit from high-quality video playback, accelerate video data ingestion and use advanced AI-powered video editing features.
    • Fifth-Generation PCIe: Support for fifth-generation PCI Express provides double the bandwidth over the previous generation, improving data transfer speeds from CPU memory and unlocking faster performance for data-intensive tasks.
    • DisplayPort 2.1: Drives high-resolution displays at up to 4K at 480Hz and 8K at 165Hz. Increased bandwidth enables seamless multi-monitor setups, while high dynamic range and higher color depth support deliver more precise color accuracy for tasks like video editing, 3D design and live broadcasting.
    • Multi-Instance GPU (MIG): The RTX PRO 6000 data center and desktop GPUs and 5000 series desktop GPUs feature MIG technology, enabling secure partitioning of a single GPU into up to four instances (6000 series) or two instances (5000 series). Fault isolation is designed to prevent workload interference for secure, efficient resource allocation for diverse workloads, maximizing performance and flexibility.

    The new laptop GPUs also support the latest NVIDIA Blackwell Max-Q technologies, which intelligently and continually optimize laptop performance and power efficiency with AI.

    With neural rendering and AI-augmented tools, NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell GPUs enable the creation of stunning visuals, digital twins of real-world environments and immersive experiences with unprecedented speed and efficiency. The GPUs are built to elevate 3D computer-aided design and building information model workflows, offering designers and engineers exceptional performance for complex modeling, rendering and visualization.

    Designed for enterprise data center deployments, the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition features a passively cooled thermal design and can be configured with up to eight GPUs per server. For workloads that require the compute density and scale that data centers offer, the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition delivers powerful performance for next-generation AI, scientific and visual computing applications across industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, retail and media and entertainment.

    In addition, this powerful data center GPU can be combined with NVIDIA vGPU™ software to power AI workloads across virtualized environments and deliver high-performance virtual workstation instances to remote users. NVIDIA vGPU support for the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPU is expected in the latter half of this year.

    “Foster + Partners has tested the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition GPU on Cyclops, our GPU-based ray-tracing product,” said Martha Tsigkari, head of applied research and development and senior partner at Foster + Partners. “The new NVIDIA Blackwell GPU has managed to outperform everything we have tested before. For example, when using it with Cyclops, it has performed at 5x the speed of NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPUs. Rendering speeds also increased 5x, allowing tools like Cyclops to provide feedback on how well our design solutions perform in real time as we design them and resulting in intuitive yet informed decision-making from early conceptual stages.”

    “Early evaluation of the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell technology by GE HealthCare’s engineering team has found the potential for up to 2x GPU processing time improvement on reconstruction algorithms, which could lead to significant benefit to customers,” said Rekha Ranganathan, senior executive and general manager of platforms and digital solutions at GE HealthCare.

    “NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition GPUs enable incredibly sharp and photorealistic graphics,” said Jeff Hammoud, chief design officer at Rivian. “In conjunction with a Varjo XR4 headset and Autodesk VRED, the system delivered the level of crispness necessary for immersive automotive design reviews. With NVIDIA Blackwell support for PCIe Gen 5, we used two powerful 600W GPUs via VR SLI, allowing us to achieve the highest pixel density and the most stunning visuals we have ever experienced in VR.”

    “The 96GB memory and massive AI processing power in the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition GPU has boosted our productivity up to 3x with AI models like Llama 3.3-70B and Mixtral 8x7b, the NVIDIA Omniverse platform and industrial copilots,” said Shaun Greene, director of industry solutions at SoftServe. “We’ve seen immediate performance improvements and, using workstations, can now handle AI workloads that were previously only possible in the cloud or on rack servers — unlocking new possibilities for interactive demos and production workloads in retail, manufacturing and industrial edge applications.”

    RTX PRO GPUs run on the NVIDIA AI platform and feature larger memory capacity and the latest Tensor Cores to accelerate a deep ecosystem of AI-accelerated applications built on NVIDIA CUDA® and RTX technology. With everything from the latest AI-based content creation tools and new reasoning models, such as the NVIDIA Llama Nemotron Reason family of models and NVIDIA NIM™ microservices unveiled today, inferencing is faster than ever. And with over 400 NVIDIA CUDA-X™ libraries, developers can easily build, optimize, deploy and scale new AI applications, from workstations to the data center or cloud.

    Enterprises can fast-track their AI development and deployments by prototyping locally with an NVIDIA RTX PRO GPU and the NVIDIA Omniverse™ and NVIDIA AI Enterprise platforms, NVIDIA Blueprints and NVIDIA NIM, which gives access to easy-to-use inference microservices backed by enterprise-level support. They can also run these applications at scale on the ultimate universal data center GPU for AI and visual computing, delivering breakthrough acceleration for the most demanding compute-intensive enterprise workloads with the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition.

    Availability
    The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition will soon be available in server configurations from leading data center system partners including Cisco, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and Supermicro.

    Cloud service providers and GPU cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and CoreWeave will be among the first to offer instances powered by the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition later this year. In addition, the server edition GPU will be available in data center platforms from ASUS, GIGABYTE, Ingrasys, Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT) and other global system partners.

    The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition will be available through global distribution partners such as PNY and TD SYNNEX starting in April, with availability from manufacturers, such as BOXX, Dell, HP Inc., Lambda and Lenovo, starting in May.

    The NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000, RTX PRO 4500 and RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell GPUs will be available in the summer from BOXX, Dell, HP and Lenovo and through global distribution partners.

    NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell laptop GPUs will be available from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Razer starting later this year.

    To learn more about the NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell GPUs, watch the GTC keynote and register to attend sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21. Plus, explore extended-reality demos running on RTX PRO Blackwell GPUs at the XR Pavilion at The Tech Interactive museum.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Pearlina Boc
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-562-275-5781
    pboc@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting or offering NVIDIA’s products and technologies; and bringing Blackwell to workstations and servers taking productivity, performance and speed to new heights, accelerating AI inference serving, data science, visualization and content creation are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, CUDA, CUDA-X, NVIDIA NIM, NVIDIA Omniverse, NVIDIA RTX, NVIDIA RTX PRO and vGPU are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at:
    https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/155918f9-2121-4220-9f20-6b968e34a460

    The MIL Network –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Dynamo Open-Source Library Accelerates and Scales AI Reasoning Models

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GTC — NVIDIA today unveiled NVIDIA Dynamo, an open-source inference software for accelerating and scaling AI reasoning models in AI factories at the lowest cost and with the highest efficiency.

    Efficiently orchestrating and coordinating AI inference requests across a large fleet of GPUs is crucial to ensuring that AI factories run at the lowest possible cost to maximize token revenue generation.

    As AI reasoning goes mainstream, every AI model will generate tens of thousands of tokens used to “think” with every prompt. Increasing inference performance while continually lowering the cost of inference accelerates growth and boosts revenue opportunities for service providers.

    NVIDIA Dynamo, the successor to NVIDIA Triton Inference Server™, is new AI inference-serving software designed to maximize token revenue generation for AI factories deploying reasoning AI models. It orchestrates and accelerates inference communication across thousands of GPUs, and uses disaggregated serving to separate the processing and generation phases of large language models (LLMs) on different GPUs. This allows each phase to be optimized independently for its specific needs and ensures maximum GPU resource utilization.

    “Industries around the world are training AI models to think and learn in different ways, making them more sophisticated over time,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “To enable a future of custom reasoning AI, NVIDIA Dynamo helps serve these models at scale, driving cost savings and efficiencies across AI factories.”

    Using the same number of GPUs, Dynamo doubles the performance and revenue of AI factories serving Llama models on today’s NVIDIA Hopper™ platform. When running the DeepSeek-R1 model on a large cluster of GB200 NVL72 racks, NVIDIA Dynamo’s intelligent inference optimizations also boost the number of tokens generated by over 30x per GPU.

    To achieve these inference performance improvements, NVIDIA Dynamo incorporates features that enable it to increase throughput and reduce costs. It can dynamically add, remove and reallocate GPUs in response to fluctuating request volumes and types, as well as pinpoint specific GPUs in large clusters that can minimize response computations and route queries. It can also offload inference data to more affordable memory and storage devices and quickly retrieve them when needed, minimizing inference costs.

    NVIDIA Dynamo is fully open source and supports PyTorch, SGLang, NVIDIA TensorRT™-LLM and vLLM to allow enterprises, startups and researchers to develop and optimize ways to serve AI models across disaggregated inference. It will enable users to accelerate the adoption of AI inference, including at AWS, Cohere, CoreWeave, Dell, Fireworks, Google Cloud, Lambda, Meta, Microsoft Azure, Nebius, NetApp, OCI, Perplexity, Together AI and VAST. 

    Inference Supercharged
    NVIDIA Dynamo maps the knowledge that inference systems hold in memory from serving prior requests — known as KV cache — across potentially thousands of GPUs.

    It then routes new inference requests to the GPUs that have the best knowledge match, avoiding costly recomputations and freeing up GPUs to respond to new incoming requests.

    “To handle hundreds of millions of requests monthly, we rely on NVIDIA GPUs and inference software to deliver the performance, reliability and scale our business and users demand,” said Denis Yarats, chief technology officer of Perplexity AI. “We look forward to leveraging Dynamo, with its enhanced distributed serving capabilities, to drive even more inference-serving efficiencies and meet the compute demands of new AI reasoning models.”

    Agentic AI
    AI provider Cohere is planning to power agentic AI capabilities in its Command series of models using NVIDIA Dynamo.

    “Scaling advanced AI models requires sophisticated multi-GPU scheduling, seamless coordination and low-latency communication libraries that transfer reasoning contexts seamlessly across memory and storage,” said Saurabh Baji, senior vice president of engineering at Cohere. “We expect NVIDIA Dynamo will help us deliver a premier user experience to our enterprise customers.”

    Disaggregated Serving
    The NVIDIA Dynamo inference platform also supports disaggregated serving, which assigns the different computational phases of LLMs — including building an understanding of the user query and then generating the best response — to different GPUs. This approach is ideal for reasoning models like the new NVIDIA Llama Nemotron model family, which uses advanced inference techniques for improved contextual understanding and response generation. Disaggregated serving allows each phase to be fine-tuned and resourced independently, improving throughput and delivering faster responses to users.

    Together AI, the AI Acceleration Cloud, is looking to integrate its proprietary Together Inference Engine with NVIDIA Dynamo to enable seamless scaling of inference workloads across GPU nodes. This also lets Together AI dynamically address traffic bottlenecks at various stages of the model pipeline.

    “Scaling reasoning models cost effectively requires new advanced inference techniques, including disaggregated serving and context-aware routing,” said Ce Zhang, chief technology officer of Together AI. “Together AI provides industry-leading performance using our proprietary inference engine. The openness and modularity of NVIDIA Dynamo will allow us to seamlessly plug its components into our engine to serve more requests while optimizing resource utilization — maximizing our accelerated computing investment. We’re excited to leverage the platform’s breakthrough capabilities to cost-effectively bring open-source reasoning models to our users.”

    NVIDIA Dynamo Unpacked
    NVIDIA Dynamo includes four key innovations that reduce inference serving costs and improve user experience:

    • GPU Planner: A planning engine that dynamically adds and removes GPUs to adjust to fluctuating user demand, avoiding GPU over- or under-provisioning.
    • Smart Router: An LLM-aware router that directs requests across large GPU fleets to minimize costly GPU recomputations of repeat or overlapping requests — freeing up GPUs to respond to new incoming requests.
    • Low-Latency Communication Library: An inference-optimized library that supports state-of-the-art GPU-to-GPU communication and abstracts complexity of data exchange across heterogenous devices, accelerating data transfer.
    • Memory Manager: An engine that intelligently offloads and reloads inference data to and from lower-cost memory and storage devices without impacting user experience. 

    NVIDIA Dynamo will be made available in NVIDIA NIM™ microservices and supported in a future release by the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform with production-grade security, support and stability.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote, reading this blog on Dynamo and registering for sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.

    About NVIDIA
     NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Cliff Edwards
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-415-699-2755
    cliffe@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting NVIDIA’s products and technologies and the benefits and impact thereof; industries around the world training AI models to think and learn in different ways, making them more sophisticated over time; and to enable a future of custom reasoning AI, NVIDIA Dynamo helping serve these models at scale, driving cost savings and efficiencies across AI factories are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein.

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA Hopper, NVIDIA NIM, NVIDIA Triton Inference Server and TensorRT are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e82546dd-6224-4ebb-8d5a-3476d18e97d0

    The MIL Network –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra AI Factory Platform Paves Way for Age of AI Reasoning

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Top Computer Makers, Cloud Service Providers and GPU Cloud Providers to Boost Training and Test-Time Scaling Inference, From Reasoning to Agentic and Physical AI
    • New Open-Source NVIDIA Dynamo Inference Software to Scale Up Reasoning AI Services With Leaps in Throughput, Faster Response Time and Reduced Total Cost of Ownership
    • NVIDIA Spectrum-X Enhanced 800G Ethernet Networking for AI Infrastructure Significantly Reduces Latency and Jitter

    SAN JOSE, Calif., March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NVIDIA today announced the next evolution of the NVIDIA Blackwell AI factory platform, NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra — paving the way for the age of AI reasoning.

    NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra boosts training and test-time scaling inference — the art of applying more compute during inference to improve accuracy — to enable organizations everywhere to accelerate applications such as AI reasoning, agentic AI and physical AI.

    Built on the groundbreaking Blackwell architecture introduced a year ago, Blackwell Ultra includes the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 rack-scale solution and the NVIDIA HGX™ B300 NVL16 system. The GB300 NVL72 delivers 1.5x more AI performance than the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72, as well as increases Blackwell’s revenue opportunity by 50x for AI factories, compared with those built with NVIDIA Hopper™.

    “AI has made a giant leap — reasoning and agentic AI demand orders of magnitude more computing performance,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “We designed Blackwell Ultra for this moment — it’s a single versatile platform that can easily and efficiently do pretraining, post-training and reasoning AI inference.”

    NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra Enables AI Reasoning
    The NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 connects 72 Blackwell Ultra GPUs and 36 Arm
    Neoverse-based NVIDIA Grace™ CPUs in a rack-scale design, acting as a single massive GPU built for test-time scaling. With the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72, AI models can access the platform’s increased compute capacity to explore different solutions to problems and break down complex requests into multiple steps, resulting in higher-quality responses.

    GB300 NVL72 is also expected to be available on NVIDIA DGX™ Cloud, an end-to-end, fully managed AI platform on leading clouds that optimizes performance with software, services and AI expertise for evolving workloads. NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™ with DGX GB300 systems uses the GB300 NVL72 rack design to provide customers with a turnkey AI factory.

    The NVIDIA HGX B300 NVL16 features 11x faster inference on large language models, 7x more compute and 4x larger memory compared with the Hopper generation to deliver breakthrough performance for the most complex workloads, such as AI reasoning.

    In addition, the Blackwell Ultra platform is ideal for applications including:

    • Agentic AI, which uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multistep problems. AI agent systems go beyond instruction-following. They can reason, plan and take actions to achieve specific goals.
    • Physical AI, enabling companies to generate synthetic, photorealistic videos in real time for the training of applications such as robots and autonomous vehicles at scale.

    NVIDIA Scale-Out Infrastructure for Optimal Performance
    Advanced scale-out networking is a critical component of AI infrastructure that can deliver top performance while reducing latency and jitter.

    Blackwell Ultra systems seamlessly integrate with the NVIDIA Spectrum-X™ Ethernet and NVIDIA Quantum-X800 InfiniBand platforms, with 800 Gb/s of data throughput available for each GPU in the system, through an NVIDIA ConnectX®-8 SuperNIC. This delivers best-in-class remote direct memory access capabilities to enable AI factories and cloud data centers to handle AI reasoning models without bottlenecks.

    NVIDIA BlueField®-3 DPUs, also featured in Blackwell Ultra systems, enable multi-tenant networking, GPU compute elasticity, accelerated data access and real-time cybersecurity threat detection.

    Global Technology Leaders Embrace Blackwell Ultra
    Blackwell Ultra-based products are expected to be available from partners starting from the second half of 2025.

    Cisco, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo and Supermicro are expected to deliver a wide range of servers based on Blackwell Ultra products, in addition to Aivres, ASRock Rack, ASUS, Eviden, Foxconn, GIGABYTE, Inventec, Pegatron, Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), Wistron and Wiwynn.

    Cloud service providers Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and GPU cloud providers CoreWeave, Crusoe, Lambda, Nebius, Nscale, Yotta and YTL will be among the first to offer Blackwell Ultra-powered instances.

    NVIDIA Software Innovations Reduce AI Bottlenecks
    The entire NVIDIA Blackwell product portfolio is supported by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The NVIDIA Dynamo open-source inference framework — also announced today — scales up reasoning AI services, delivering leaps in throughput while reducing response times and model serving costs by providing the most efficient solution for scaling test-time compute.

    NVIDIA Dynamo is new AI inference-serving software designed to maximize token revenue generation for AI factories deploying reasoning AI models. It orchestrates and accelerates inference communication across thousands of GPUs, and uses disaggregated serving to separate the processing and generation phases of large language models on different GPUs. This allows each phase to be optimized independently for its specific needs and ensures maximum GPU resource utilization.

    Blackwell systems are ideal for running new NVIDIA Llama Nemotron Reason models and the NVIDIA AI-Q Blueprint, supported in the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform for production-grade AI. NVIDIA AI Enterprise includes NVIDIA NIM™ microservices, as well as AI frameworks, libraries and tools that enterprises can deploy on NVIDIA-accelerated clouds, data centers and workstations.

    The Blackwell platform builds on NVIDIA’s ecosystem of powerful development tools, NVIDIA CUDA-X™ libraries, over 6 million developers and 4,000+ applications scaling performance across thousands of GPUs.

    Learn more by watching the NVIDIA GTC keynote and register for sessions from NVIDIA and industry leaders at the show, which runs through March 21.

    About NVIDIA
    NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in accelerated computing.

    For further information, contact:
    Kristin Uchiyama
    NVIDIA Corporation
    +1-408-313-0448
    kuchiyama@nvidia.com

    Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the benefits, impact, availability, and performance of NVIDIA’s products, services, and technologies; third parties adopting or offering NVIDIA’s products and technologies; Blackwell Ultra being able to easily and efficiently do pretraining, post-training and reasoning AI inference; and advanced networking being a critical component of AI infrastructure that can deliver top performance while reducing latency and jitter are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners’ products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the most recent reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

    Many of the products and features described herein remain in various stages and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The statements above are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as a commitment, promise, or legal obligation, and the development, release, and timing of any features or functionalities described for our products is subject to change and remains at the sole discretion of NVIDIA. NVIDIA will have no liability for failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of any of the products, features or functions set forth herein

    © 2025 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, BlueField, Connect-X, CUDA-X, NVIDIA DGX, NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, NVIDIA Grace, NVIDIA HGX, NVIDIA Hopper, NVIDIA NIM and NVIDIA Spectrum-X are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7bb5b0bf-daad-41dc-8d0f-d1706984d616

    The MIL Network –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Secretary Redding Visits 10th Generation Dairy Farm to Celebrate Pennsylvania’s Progress, Shapiro Administration’s New Investments Shaping Its Future

    Source: US State of Pennsylvania

    March 18, 2025 – Middletown, PA

    Secretary Redding Visits 10th Generation Dairy Farm to Celebrate Pennsylvania’s Progress, Shapiro Administration’s New Investments Shaping Its Future

    Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding celebrated National Ag Day with the Nissley family on their 10th-generation dairy farm in Middletown today to see some of the progress supported by the Shapiro Administration’s strategic investments in the future of their farm and farms like it across Pennsylvania.

    The Nissley family took advantage of a Pennsylvania Farm Vitality Planning Grant in 2024 to support the legal and business planning services they needed to keep their farm in the family. This February, the business received one of the first Pennsylvania Agricultural Innovation Grants to fund a feasibility study for an anaerobic digester to help them turn farm waste into energy to power the farm.

    “At Jubilee Dairy and family farms like it across Pennsylvania, we are seeing the results of our investments with and for our farm families,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “On kitchen tables, and in the businesses and communities that depend on family farms succeeding, we can see firsthand how Shapiro Administration investments with broad bi-partisan support are feeding Pennsylvania’s economic future, protecting our rich agricultural heritage, and preparing businesses, families, and communities to meet the challenges ahead.”

    LIST OF SPEAKERS:
    PA Agriculture Business Development Center Director, Stephanie Shirk
    PA Dept. of Agriculture Secretary, Russell Reading
    Jubilee Heritage Owner, Kendra, Nissley
    Future Farmers of America State Reporter, Evan Espenshade

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Gov. Kemp Appoints State DOL Commissioner

    Source: US State of Georgia

    ATLANTA – Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced his appointment of Bárbara Rivera Holmes as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor. Joined by her family and supporters, she will be sworn into office on April 4th and serve the remainder of the term won by Bruce Thompson in 2022, who sadly passed away last November.

    “Marty and I are proud to make this historic announcement and to congratulate Bárbara Rivera Holmes on her new leadership role that will benefit our entire state,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “As someone who has a proven track record of success in economic development and education, I know she will bring the same level of dedication to this position that she has to the people of Dougherty County and the surrounding area. I wish her continued success, both for her career and office, but especially on behalf of the hardworking people of Georgia.”

    “Marty, the girls, and I also want to thank Louis DeBroux and the leadership team at the Department of Labor who have kept the Department moving forward after the painful loss of Bruce Thompson last year,” Governor Kemp continued. “Their hard work and uninterrupted commitment to the people of our state will not be forgotten.”

    “Throughout my career, I’ve been committed to creating opportunities and building stronger communities by fostering partnerships and statewide alliances that drive job growth, tap into our state’s talent and enhance Georgia’s competitiveness,” said Bárbara Rivera Holmes. “I’m grateful to Governor Kemp for the opportunity to build on this work, pledging to always put Georgians first as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor. I look forward to working alongside my fellow constitutional officers and Team Georgia as champions of our great state.”

    “Bárbara is an excellent choice for Commissioner of Labor,” said former Governor Nathan Deal. “She brings years of experience in economic development, workforce, and higher education to the job. Bárbara will join a talented team helping ensure our state continues to be the best place for business, raise a family, and call home.”

    “I want to extend my congratulations to Bárbara Rivera Holmes on her appointment to serve as Georgia’s Labor Commissioner,” said Lt. Governor Burt Jones. “As we continue to mourn the loss of our dear friend and former Commissioner Bruce Thompson, we warmly welcome Ms. Rivera Holmes. Her role as the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, along with her extensive background in business and workforce development, make her a great fit to take on this important role. I look forward to working with her on key issues impacting Georgia’s businesses, workforce, and overall economic success.”

    “The Georgia House is incredibly excited to welcome Bárbara Rivera Holmes into her new role as Commissioner of Labor,” said Speaker of the House Jon Burns. “Her wealth of experience in economic development and small business advocacy will undoubtedly be invaluable as we continue our efforts to strengthen Georgia’s workforce in every corner of the state.”

    “Bárbara Rivera Holmes has been for many years a fierce advocate for Georgia’s workforce and economic development, and she’s been a strong partner in our fight to combat fraud and cybercrimes in Southwest Georgia and beyond,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “We’re proud to join in congratulating her on this historic appointment, and we look forward to continuing to work together to ensure that Georgia remains the best place to live, work, and build a business.”

    “I am thrilled to congratulate my friend and a Great Georgian, Bárbara Rivera Holmes, on her historic appointment to serve as Georgia Labor Commissioner,” said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper. “As a longtime resident of Albany, I know Bárbara has a deep understanding of Georgia’s No. 1 industry, and she knows that for Georgia’s farm families, agriculture is more than just a job or a hobby – it is our way of life. I’m excited to welcome Barbara to our fantastic team of Constitutional Officers, and I look forward to working together to deliver for Georgia farmers and consumers alike.”

    “With a long history of hard work and strong leadership, there is no doubt that Bárbara Rivera Holmes will create lasting, positive changes in our state,” said Insurance Commissioner John King. “She brings an incredible depth of experience and understanding of the challenges Georgians face, and I look forward to working with her to move Georgia towards a brighter future.”

    “I’ve known Bárbara Rivera Holmes for quite a while now and I congratulate her on her appointment,” Public Service Commission Chairman Jason Shaw said on behalf of his fellow Commissioners. “She is one of the true champions of South Georgia and the entire state. Her dedication to community service, economic development, and higher education will certainly provide her a solid base as she begins work as our newest Labor Commissioner.”

    “I commend Governor Kemp for appointing Bárbara Rivera Holmes as Georgia’s Labor Commissioner,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Her expertise in economic development has positively impacted many lives in Southwest Georgia, and I’m optimistic about her extending that success statewide. I also want to express my gratitude to Louis DeBroux for his leadership in continuing the work of our friend Bruce Thompson and working tirelessly to improve the lives of all Georgians.”

    “I wish to congratulate Bárbara Rivera Holmes on her historic appointment as Georgia’s Commissioner of Labor, and I look forward to the valuable perspective she’ll bring to the role as someone rooted in rural Georgia,” said State School Superintendent Richard Woods. “Education and workforce concerns are so closely intertwined, and I look forward to working with Commissioner Rivera Holmes to ensure a prosperous future for our students and our state as a whole.”

    “As a former regent for the University System of Georgia, Bárbara Rivera Holmes understands the university system provides talent flow for industry,” said University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue. “Combined with her longtime experience leading the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, she knows how to build community, solve business challenges, and partner with decision-makers, employers, and innovators. We look forward to working with her closely as she develops a workforce for Georgia’s future.”

    Bárbara Rivera Holmes is president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. She is also CEO of the Albany Area Chamber Foundation. Under her leadership, the organizations build economic opportunity, community, and a path forward for Albany’s future by solving businesses’ greatest challenges, working with decisionmakers to inform smart policy, and partnering with employers and educators to build a modern and adaptive workforce.

    Previously, she served as Vice President of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission (ADEDC), overseeing the development of its brand, marketing campaigns, and its successful business retention and expansion program which facilitates existing industry job creation and capital investment in Albany-Dougherty County.

    Prior to her work at the ADEDC, Holmes was the senior business writer with The Albany Herald, where she earned four Georgia Associated Press awards for excellence in journalism. In 2018, she was appointed by former Governor Nathan Deal to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and also served as co-chair of the Georgia Innovates Task Force to help design the state’s innovation blueprint. Earlier this year, Governor Brian Kemp appointed Holmes to the House Rural Development Council.

    A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Holmes is fluent in Spanish. She graduated as a double major from Florida Southern College, where she studied Journalism and Spanish. Holmes lives in Albany with her husband, David, and their daughter.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Luján Discusses Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid with Seniors, Hosts Roundtable on Needs of New Mexico Food Banks

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico)
    Santa Fe, N.M. – On Monday, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) visited the Mary Esther Gonzales Senior Center in Santa Fe to meet with seniors and discuss his efforts to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for New Mexicans from attacks by Elon Musk and the Trump administration. Senator Luján then traveled to Albuquerque to convene a roundtable at Roadrunner Food Bank to discuss the specific needs of New Mexico food banks and stakeholders and efforts to support New Mexicans in the Farm Bill.
    Mary Esther Gonzales Senior Center, Santa Fe, N.M.

    “It was an honor to meet with New Mexican seniors today and hear firsthand how vital programs like Social Security and Medicare are to their livelihoods. Standing up for our seniors is important to me, especially in the face of threats to programs that our seniors rely on. Elon Musk called Americans’ hard-earned benefits ‘the big one to eliminate’ and a ‘Ponzi Scheme.’ That’s unacceptable,” said Senator Luján.
    “Over 100,000 seniors in New Mexico rely on Medicaid, and 460,000 New Mexicans are covered by Medicare. Without Medicaid, most older adults who need help with daily activities would not be able to afford home-based or nursing facility care,”continued Senator Luján. “That’s just not right. I will continue fighting to protect our seniors against attacks from the Trump administration.”
    Roadrunner Food Bank, Albuquerque, N.M.

    “It was a privilege to meet with folks at Roadrunner Foodbank to learn more about the needs of our food banks, farmers, producers, and stakeholders. The Musk-Trump funding freeze and broad and indiscriminate firings across the federal government have devastated communities across America, leaving countless families uncertain where their next meal would come from. Foodbanks across New Mexico ensure families in need have access to nutritious meals. But now, Elon Musk, President Trump, and Congressional Republicans are threatening critical funding for nutrition support – putting New Mexico families at risk,” said Senator Luján.
    “As Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry’s Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research, I will continue to fight to protect programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP),” continued Senator Luján. “These programs are lifelines for thousands of New Mexicans, and gutting these resources hurts our families and threatens our communities and the economy,”
    “Taking aim at funding that supports community members struggling to get enough food to eat (particularly highly nutritious foods) and positively impacts local growers and producers is only accomplishing one thing: harming New Mexicans and Americans. If the goal is healthier communities, we should be investing in support for locally produced foods going to community members, not stripping away those programs and funds,” said Katy Anderson, Road Runner Foodbank VP-Strategy, Partnerships, and Advocacy.
    “The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) created an opportunity to implement an innovative approach to improving access to nutritious food through the food security network while strengthening the resilience of New Mexico’s local food system. For the first time, the food security network and the local agriculture community worked together to foster change—and it worked! The abrupt dissolution of this program harms everyone—producers, food banks, food-insecure individuals, and the critical relationships that sustain New Mexico’s communities,” said Jill Dixon, Executive Director of The Food Depot.
    “These cuts hurt farmers, and the adage is true as ever:  no farmers, no food.  The Local Food Purchasing program allowed local farms like ours to have predictable, meaningful contracts delivering the fresh healthy food we grow to food banks and schools, ensuring local food reached the people who need it most. Thanks to this highly successful program, NM farmers pivoted their crop plans and distribution strategies to feed our communities. Now, with funding cuts, crops are in the fields but won’t be able to reach the hungry children and families in our communities.  We must invest in programs that support farmers to keep farming, and keep local food accessible to everyone—not just those who can afford it,” said Juliana Ciano, Reunity Resources.
    “The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) is a perfect example of how a federal government investment puts ‘America First.’ Investing in skilled American ranchers and farmers, who use America’s natural resources to grow healthy, nutritious American beef and produce. Which in turn have stimulated growth in rural economies by creating more jobs and businesses to package and distribute this locally grown food into local markets that pay a ‘fair’ market price. This is a concept that is Making America Great Again. My hopes are that the LFPA program will be re-evaluated for funding because of the true value that it is bringing to rural economies and the well-being of Americans across the country,” said Manny Encinias, President of Trilogy Beef Community.
    “These cuts are really a shame, as during the last three years, New Mexico’s Regional Farm to Food Bank program has been a national standout, spending more than $3.6 million with small- and medium-scale producers, many of whom themselves live in low-income, low-access food areas,” said Denise Miller, executive director of the New Mexico Farmers’ Marketing Association.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: COLUMN: Walker: Week Nine Under the Gold Dome

    Source: US State of Georgia

    By: Sen. Larry Walker, III (R–Perry)

    We’re in the final stretch of the 2025 Legislative Session, and things are getting down to the wire. Last Thursday was Crossover Day, the last chance for bills to clear their first major hurdle. With less than 10 legislative days left, Senate Republicans are doubling down to push through real, commonsense legislation that puts Georgians first and stands up to the continued nonsense coming from the radical left.

    Over the next three weeks, we’ll work in House committees to get Senate bills across the finish line. That means defending Georgia values, making our communities safer, cutting bureaucratic red tape, and pushing back against the destructive policies that have left hard-working Georgians struggling to make ends meet. I’m proud to report that my bill, SB 35, made it through the House Committee on Insurance and is one step closer to becoming law. This legislation increases the number of days’ notice required to be given to a policyholder before the nonrenewal of their homeowners’ insurance policy, which helps Georgians maintain coverage and address any concerns with their provider. SB 35’s progress is a win for our district, and I’ll keep you updated as we get it over the finish line.

    On Thursday, the Senate took up the House’s budget recommendations for 2025-2026. Let’s be clear: this is your money. You work hard to put food on the table, and it’s our job to make sure the government isn’t wasting a single penny of it. Our Senate Appropriations Subcommittees focus on holding agencies accountable and making sure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. We’re cutting waste, prioritizing law enforcement and ensuring your kids can get their education safely.

    Beyond the budget, we ramped up committee work to pass meaningful, conservative legislation. I supported House Bill 182 in the Senate Committee on Insurance and Labor. This bill, originally introduced by Rep. Eddie Lumsden (R–Armuchee), would ensure that group life insurance policies cannot exclude active-duty service members solely based on that military status. Currently, an active-duty service member can get into an accident driving to the grocery store but lack coverage by group life insurance. This legislation streamlines insurance policies so that normal incidents affecting everyday Georgians will also be protected for the men and women actively serving our country. This is exactly the type of policy we need, emphasizing real solutions to real problems.

    I’m also carrying House Bill 81 to better support the mental health of our students. HB 81 allows Georgia to join the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists, making it easier for skilled professionals outside the state to fill the gaps in our schools. Many students lack access to mental health resources, particularly in rural areas, and this bill is a critical step toward improving the quality of care for students statewide.

    Finally, the Senate proudly welcomed our United States Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, to the State Capitol. Secretary Rollins held a round table with state legislators to hear about issues affecting Georgia’s farmers and ranchers, including H-2A policies, which govern the temporary agricultural employment of foreign workers. We also discussed President Donald J. Trump’s planned tariffs, with Secretary Rollins assuring our farmers that Georgia’s agricultural community will likely receive assistance to protect our state’s strong interstate and global trade relations. In combination with federal disaster relief soon headed to revitalize areas affected by Hurricane Helene, Secretary Rollins’ visit proves promising for the future of our rural communities, and I wish her the best in her new role.

    Whether it’s small business owners, law enforcement officers, or hard-working Georgians just trying to make a living, your voices are why I’m here. We need more of you stepping up, speaking out, and staying engaged because the fight for Georgia’s future isn’t just happening at the Capitol—it’s happening in our communities, our schools and at our kitchen tables.

    With just a few weeks left in this session, if you have concerns, ideas, or just want to know more about what’s happening under the Gold Dome, reach out. Your voice matters, and I’m here to make sure it’s heard.

    # # # #

    Sen. Larry Walker serves as Secretary of the Majority Caucus and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Insurance and Labor. He represents the 20th Senate District, which includes Bleckley, Dodge, Dooly, Laurens, Treutlen, Pulaski and Wilcox counties, as well as portions of Houston County.  He may be reached by phone at (404) 656-0095 or by email at Larry.Walker@senate.ga.gov.

    For all media inquiries, please reach out to SenatePressInquiries@senate.ga.gov.

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: What Trump could learn from the British and Irish trade war of the 1930s

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Richard Carr, Lecturer in History and Politics, Anglia Ruskin University

    The Blue Water Bridge border crossing connects Michigan in the US with Ontario in Canada. ehrlif/Shutterstock

    During his election campaign, US president Donald Trump claimed the word tariff is “more beautiful than ‘love’”. Now in office, Trump has targeted his closest neighbours and trading partners with those self same policies. He initially concentrated his levies on Canada, China and Mexico – two of which share land borders with the US – before implementing blanket tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports.

    History shows us the impacts these policies can have. In 1932, during Neville Chamberlain’s time as British chancellor, the country slapped what became 40% levies on key exports (including cattle, butter and other agricultural products) from the then Irish Free State. These were promptly met by Irish retaliation on British goods including coal and steel.

    A trade war ensued – and lasted in some form for almost six years.

    As with Trump today, raising tariffs is often partly about some other policy goal. As far as the British-Irish trade war goes, I show in my new book Britain and Ireland From the Treaty to the Troubles that the initial beef (pun intended) was over a decades-long debt obligation. These annuities, as they were known, were predominantly owed by Irish farmers to Anglo-Irish landowners, and were widely disliked.

    In early 1932 Éamon de Valera secured electoral victory in Ireland for his Fianna Fáil party, partly on the basis of refusing to hand over this money. At £5 million, it was a significant sum for a government that took in around £25 million annually.

    Instead, de Valera planned to use the annuities for domestic purposes. He wanted to reward his agricultural and working-class electoral bases principally in Ireland’s west, as well as win over new voters with the nationalist and anti-English nature of his message.

    The legality of the annuities dispute was ambiguous. But de Valera withheld the money, and to recoup the missing millions the British imposed tariffs and punitive quotas. This was swiftly followed by retaliatory measures from Dublin – just as Trump’s moves have seen reaction from abroad.

    The stakes were high. A massive 92% of Irish exports went to the UK, and civil servants in Dublin fretted about the knock-on effects. In the short term, they were right to. Exports of cattle, bacon and other goods collapsed, and emergency domestic subsidy was needed to plug the gap.

    Irish attempts to land a major trade deal with the US by way of compensation went nowhere, and Britain remained its key customer for decades.

    Yet, unlike Trump, de Valera had a clear end goal into which the tariff war fitted rather well. He wanted to retool Irish farming away from livestock towards crops, and invest in Ireland’s nascent industry elsewhere. This included expanding the country’s energy independence and kick-starting its manufacturing sector.

    The retained annuities and the increased political capital his government gained from the trade war both helped with these objectives.

    It took until about 1937, after two more election wins and a referendum victory for de Valera, for British leaders to accept that the Irish public broadly backed their leader. They realised that a bilateral agreement was necessary.

    The dispute was finally ended in April 1938. As the ink dried on a deal that saw tariffs dropped in exchange for a one-off payment from Dublin and the return of three ports to Ireland, the British media hailed the achievement of Chamberlain – now prime minister.

    But this reaction also tells us something. Initially, Chamberlain was portrayed as a genius who had clearly won. But then critics pointed to it being a rather better deal for de Valera (the £10 million one-off sum was nowhere near the £100 million the British had a nominal claim for).

    In this new stance, it had been a great deal precisely because Chamberlain had been so magnanimous. A terrible deal was actually a great deal. Some of that mentality could be seen in reactions to the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler a few months later.

    All told, the consequences had been significant. Perhaps 3% of the Irish economy was lost.

    In the meantime, Irish immigration to Britain consequently ticked up as people looked for work. Smuggling at the Northern Irish border ballooned, leading to additional costs to police a frontier where cattle were hurried across unmanned fields and rivers to avoid the tariff.

    Guinness even moved production to London in order to avoid future tariffs.
    gabriel12/Shutterstock

    Major Irish-based industry, including Guinness and Ford, moved operations to the London periphery (Park Royal and Dagenham respectively) to avoid any future duties. Although Ford kept some tractor production in Cork in the south of Ireland, for large parts of its European and imperial business the only way was now Essex.

    All this meant economic dislocation and diplomatic animosity at a point where the geopolitical outlook was troubled – not an unfamiliar story. Although Ireland remained neutral during the second world war – the ultimate show for de Valera of its independence – intelligence cooperation and the service of Irish men and women in the Allied war effort illustrated that the two countries just about muddled through.

    But today, tariffs provoking wider turmoil remains a big worry. As former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau noted, Trump’s actions are “a very dumb thing to do” and could lead to “exactly what our opponents around the world want to see … a dispute between two friends and neighbours”.

    Trump may also be wise to note that de Valera’s position was bolstered when he could claim that he was being bullied by a more powerful neighbour. In the past few weeks, the Canadian Liberal Party has surged back in the polls, partly on the back of the same dynamics. The little guy sometimes swings back.

    Richard Carr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What Trump could learn from the British and Irish trade war of the 1930s – https://theconversation.com/what-trump-could-learn-from-the-british-and-irish-trade-war-of-the-1930s-252128

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Grey Hills Man Charged with Assault After Threatening Family with Handgun

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBUQUERQUE – A Two Grey Hills man has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon following an alleged altercation with family members at a residence on the Navajo Nation.

    According to the criminal complaint, on February 28, 2025, James Smiley, Jr., 55, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, allegedly entered a residence within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation and threatened several family members with a small black handgun without provocation. Witnesses reported that Smiley discharged the firearm into the ceiling, pointed it at multiple individuals, and threatened to kill them. During the incident, Smiley allegedly stated that he was a felon and acknowledged that he would go to jail before leaving the residence.

    The incident lasted approximately 20 minutes, during which time the victims felt like hostages.

    Navajo Nation Police responded to the scene but were unable to make contact with Smiley that evening.

    Smiley, who was previously convicted of aggravated sexual abuse, battery upon a peace officer, and resisting or obstructing an officer, is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.

    Smiley will remain in custody pending trial, which has not been set. If convicted, Smiley faces up to 10 years in prison.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Holland S. Kastrin and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.

    The Farmington Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and Navajo Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mia Ulibarri-Rubin is prosecuting the case.

    A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: Why Canada must treat its food system as a matter of national defence

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Karen Foster, Associate Professor, Sociology and Social Anthropology and Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Rural Futures for Atlantic Canada, Dalhousie University

    Rising tensions between Canada and the United States have made increased military investment and a renewed focus on national defence all but inevitable.

    A recent Angus Reid poll found three in four Canadians want to see the country’s military strengthened in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada as the 51st state. In early March, former prime minister Justin Trudeau committed publicly to increasing military spending.

    While it makes sense for a country feeling vulnerable to invasion to look at recruiting new soldiers and increasing its arsenal, there is an additional facet of national defence that is too often overlooked: food preparedness.

    Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs are already “stoking a new nationalism” in Canadians and sparking interest in buying local, but food should be part of the national defence conversation, too.

    The double edge of globalization

    The globalization of food systems, in Canada and the rest of the world, has intensified since the Second World War. This has brought some benefits, such as year-round access to fresh produce, but it has also made Canada’s food systems vulnerable to the whims of its trading partners.

    Academics focused on food security and sovereignty have long raised concerns about import-dependence on key nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables.

    Even in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic shone a harsh light on food supply chains in Canada, research showed that the production of fresh produce was declining while imports were increasing.

    Now, faced with both a trade war and annexation threats, Canada must confront whether its domestic food systems can feed its population in a crisis — economic, political, environmental or otherwise.

    Food systems and national defence

    Trade-dependent countries worldwide are recognizing food security as a matter of national defence. Some, like Sweden, are making plans to take stock of the capacity and resilience of their food systems, and actively working toward a system that can sustain the lives of their citizens in a crisis.

    Sweden’s total goods trade accounted for 67 per cent of its GDP in 2023, compared to Canada’s 53 per cent. Despite its high level of trade dependence, Sweden has put food at the heart of the country’s total defence approach to national security.

    Total defence is a defence policy that emphasizes both traditional military activities and civilian activities, including their food systems.

    The Swedish government, in its defence resolution, states: “A well-functioning and robust food supply and personal preparedness of the civil population are ultimately a matter of survival and maintaining the will to defend.”

    This approach is not focused only on individual or household levels of preparedness — that is, whether people have enough in their pantries — but also includes the overall preparedness of the systems that produce, process and distribute food.

    Canada, with its heavy reliance on global trade and the U.S. as a primary trading partner, would do well to take note.

    Food sovereignty in Canada

    There are hundreds of scholars and thousands of community entities working to make Canada’s food systems more sustainable and resilient in the face of financialization, farmland consolidation and the globalization of supply chains.

    In Québec, for example, there is a growing movement to mobilize and empower producers, community entities, the agrifood sector, policymakers and additional stakeholders to build more resilient, territorial food systems across the province.



    Read more:
    Making our food fairer: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 12

    Canadian experts play a key role in global discussions on food systems resilience, with scholars contributing to the United Nations Committee on World Food Security’s Building Resilient Food Systems draft report. This report is designed to help countries make their food systems more resilient, equitable and sustainable.

    Yet Canada’s efforts are not co-ordinated, empowered or moving fast enough in the push for greater food sovereignty. The point is not to abandon trade, but to manage it more strategically.

    Both international and domestic markets are crucial for Canadian farmers, and many local companies are devoted to importing everyday goods like coffee, tea and bananas under fair trade and agroecological conditions.

    Trade relations, however, are about more than economics; they involve building political partnerships with Mexico, the European Union, Asian countries and beyond — something Canada needs now more than ever.

    Sweden has already recognized this. Its food preparedness strategy involves deepening co-operation with like-minded Nordic countries and collaborating around the supply, transport, stockpiling and testing of food.

    Crisis-proofing Canada’s food systems

    To ensure Canada can feed itself in a crisis, the government must invest in domestic production, processing and distribution infrastructure. This would create more efficient, connected local markets that removes some of the burden of buying local from individuals.



    Read more:
    Boycotting U.S. products allows Canadians to take a rare political stand in their daily lives

    The Canadian government must also promote diversification in production and export. Canada needs to move away from monoculture farming and toward more regional networks and agroecological approaches. These approaches are more resilient to both crops themselves and the diverse markets they open up, reducing Canada’s dependence on single trading partners like the U.S.

    Key agricultural policies such as the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership need to go beyond the long-standing focus on prioritizing export markets. They must also invest in infrastructure and partnerships in Canada to strengthen their support of Canadian producers, ranchers, fisheries and food system players at home, to help them work together at a regional scale.

    Correcting power imbalances in our food systems is also critical. Greater local and regional autonomy over how food is produced, processed and distributed would help with this. These strategies would make Canada less vulnerable to supply chain disruption.

    Countries like Sweden recognize these efforts as part of national defence — an approach Canada should consider.

    But while we fight annexation from the kitchen table, we must recognize it doesn’t start there; it starts at a higher level. Only better policy, infrastructure and systemic change can prepare Canada to be more proactive and resilient in the face of world crises — economic or otherwise.

    Karen Foster receives research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) as well as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). She is the director of the SSHRC/AAFC-funded Common Ground Canada Network.

    Alicia Martin is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the SSHRC/AAFC-funded Common Ground Canada Network.

    Gavin Fridell receives funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. He is a member of the Trade and Investment Research Project at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

    Kathleen Kevany receives funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, for the Food Impact Network research and knowledge mobilization for the handbook of sustainable diets; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for food waste prevention work, and Mitacs for internships on food procurement and food environment analysis.

    I am advised to Farm to Cafeteria Canada (F2CC) an NGO.

    – ref. Why Canada must treat its food system as a matter of national defence – https://theconversation.com/why-canada-must-treat-its-food-system-as-a-matter-of-national-defence-251118

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Grave of Missing Windsor Soldier of World War One Identified in Belgium

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 3

    News story

    Grave of Missing Windsor Soldier of World War One Identified in Belgium

    More than a century after his death, the previously unmarked grave of Corporal of Horse (CoH) Charles Edward Dean has finally been identified and marked.

    The headstone of Corporal of Horse Dean (Crown Copyright)

    A rededication service, organised by the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), also known as the ‘War Detectives’, was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) Bedford House Cemetery, Belgium, this morning (18 March 25). 

    JCCC Caseworker, Alexia Clark, said: 

    I am grateful to the researcher who originally submitted evidence suggesting the location of Charles Dean’s grave. In rededicating his grave today, we have reunited his mortal remains with his name, ensuring that his sacrifice will not be forgotten.

    Corporal of Horse Charles Edward Dean, 1877 – 13 May 1915 

    Charles Edward Dean was born in 1877 to James Albert Dean and his wife Fanny, in Wiltshire. James was a boiler maker, and Charles grew up with six siblings – four older and two younger. 

    In 1900 Charles joined the Household Cavalry, signing up for 12 years long service with the Life Guards on 9 March. He had been promoted to the rank of Corporal by the time he married Ada Josephine Taylor in Rotherhithe on 25 April 1908. Shortly after the wedding Charles and Ada moved to Windsor where they had four children together – Edward born in 1908, Ada in 1910 (who died in infancy), Elsie in 1912 and Charles who was born two weeks after his father’s death in May 1915. 

    Being a regular soldier, Charles was put into action quickly on the outbreak of war in 1914, and we know that the first detachment of the 2nd Life Guards sailed for Belgium on 6 October 1914. By May 1915 the Life Guards were in the Ieper (Ypres) area, digging trenches and receiving instruction on how to use gas masks, following the first use of gas in the area just a few weeks earlier. On the night of 12 -13 May they were tasked with relieving The Buffs from the trenches near Potijze. The Battalion War Diary is scant on information about what happened that night, but in total 35 men of the 2nd Life Guards lost their lives on these two days, Charles being one of them. Half of these men have no known grave to this day. 

    In July 1921 a casualty of the war was discovered by the teams looking for field graves. His resting place was not marked in anyway, but was near Crump Farm, between Potijze and Verlorenhoek. The team responsible for documenting the discovery of the body and ensuring his reburial could find nothing to identify him by name, so they recorded instead that he was an unknown Serjeant Major of the 2nd Life Guards – a description they derived from his clothing, the crown and chevrons on his uniform, and his numerals. Two other men from the 2nd Life Guards were also recovered from the same spot. All three were buried a few miles from where they were found at Bedford House Cemetery. Only one of the three was identified by name, Lance Corporal WH Butler who was carrying a disc with his name on it. The third man had only a numeral which meant he could be identified as a member of the 2nd Life Guards, but no rank could be attributed to him. 

    In 2020 a case was submitted to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in which a researcher claimed to have identified the unknown ‘Sergeant Major’. They correctly pointed out that this rank does not exist in the Household Cavalry, but that the same insignia can be attributed to the rank of Corporal of Horse. Research showed that only one man of this rank was missing in this area at this time, and as such he could be identified as Charles Edward Dean. 

    The service was supported by serving soldiers of the Household Cavalry.

    Captain Charles Carr-Smith, Musician Benjamin Kinch, Padre Thomas Sander & Captain Henry Tregear of the Household Cavalry (Crown Copyright)

    The service was conducted by the Reverend Tom Sander, Chaplain to The Household Cavalry. 

    The Reverend Sander said: 

    It is an honour to officiate at these services of rededication for fallen servicemen who gave their lives in the service of our country. In these services we unite their final resting place with their earthly name and, what was once known only to God, is now known in the sign of all. May their names be held in everlasting remembrance, and may they rest in peace and rise in glory.

    The headstone was replaced by CWGC. Director for the Central and Southern Europe Area at the CWGC, Xavier Puppinck, said: 

    We are honoured to mark the final resting place of Corporal of Horse Charles Edward Dean. We thank the researcher and all those involved who helped to confirm Corporal Dean’s previously unmarked grave. His sacrifice is now formally recognised with a new headstone, and we are committed to preserving his grave, along with those of his comrades, in perpetuity.

    Corporal of Horse Dean’s family stand with the Military Party behind his headstone (Crown Copyright)

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    Updates to this page

    Published 18 March 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: King, Colleagues Demand USDA Reverse $1 Billion in Canceled Local Food Purchases for Maine Schools, Farmers

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King is demanding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reverse its cancelation of food purchase programs for food banks, schools and childcare centers in Maine and across the United States. In a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins from King and a number of his colleagues, the Senators said the reported $1 billion in cancelled purchases by the USDA adds further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets. 

    “We ask that you reverse the cancellation,” the Senators wrote. “We have grave concerns that the cancellation…poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.” 

    In Maine, cancelation of purchases through USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS) puts more than $1.3 million in local food purchases for food-insecure Maine people at risk in Fiscal Year 2025. 

    “At Good Shepherd Food Bank, we use LFPA funding to purchase fresh local produce from dozens of Maine farmers,” said Heather Paquette, President of Good Shepherd Food Bank. “The reduction of these funds will have a significant negative impact on farmers who plan on this income continuity, and neighbors who benefit from this nutritious local produce. We appreciate [Senator King’s] consideration for reinstating this LFPA25 extension.”

    “The Maine School Nutrition Association would like to extend their gratitude and support of the letter that Senator King has sent to the USDA asking to reinstate Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS) funds,” said Caroline Trinder, Maine School Nutrition Association President Elect. “These funds have been beneficial to both our students and farmers, with 119 districts in all 16 counties in Maine buying local. School districts have been able to source local fish, beef, dairy, and produce from our farmers and fishermen here in Maine. This food provides our children healthy, minimally processed foods that we are proud to serve in our cafeterias! Thank you, Senator King, for advocating for our students and farmers!”

    The full letter sent to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins can be found here and below.

    +++

    Dear Secretary Rollins:  

    We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need. These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.  

    At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical. Notably, LFPA and LFS have benefitted producers and consumers by providing funding for purchases through all 50 states, four territories, and 84 tribal governments. Through LFPA and LFS, USDA has prioritized the procurement and distribution of healthy, nutritious, domestic food. It has also taken an important step towards igniting rural prosperity by expanding and strengthening markets among farmers and rural economies. As of December 2024, the programs had supported over 8,000 producers, providing increased marketing opportunities.  

    Most importantly, we ask that you reverse the cancellation of LFPA and LFS. We also ask that you provide a thorough and complete update on USDA’s implementation of LFPA and LFS, including answers to the following questions:  

    1.        What is the status of reimbursements for entities that have agreements with USDA through LFPA and LFS? What is the last date for which states, territories, and Tribes received reimbursements for food purchases under LFPA and LFS?  

    2.        Has the Administration conducted any assessments of how these program cancellations will impact producers and recipient organizations (e.g., food banks, schools, child care centers)? If so, please provide a copy of any such assessments.  

    We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.  

    Please provide responses to the information requested in our questions no later than Friday, April 4. Thank you for your attention to this urgent and important matter.  

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI USA: Nestlé USA Announces Voluntary Recall of a Limited Quantity of Lean Cuisine® and STOUFFER’S® Frozen Meals Due to Potential Presence of Foreign Material

    Source: US Department of Health and Human Services – 3

    Summary

    Company Announcement Date:
    March 17, 2025
    FDA Publish Date:
    March 18, 2025
    Product Type:
    Food & Beverages
    Reason for Announcement:

    Recall Reason Description
    Potential Contaminant – Wood

    Company Name:
    Nestle USA
    Brand Name:

    Brand Name(s)
    Stouffer’s

    Product Description:

    Product Description
    Frozen meals

    Company Announcement
    ARLINGTON, VA., March 17, 2025 — Nestlé USA is initiating a voluntary recall of a limited quantity of Lean Cuisine® and STOUFFER’S® frozen meals due to the potential presence of wood-like material.
    This recall is isolated to a limited quantity of batches of the following items: Lean Cuisine® Butternut Squash Ravioli, Lean Cuisine® Spinach Artichoke Ravioli, Lean Cuisine® Lemon Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry, and STOUFFER’S® Party Size Chicken Lasagna that were produced between August 2024-March 2025. These products were distributed at major retailers in the U.S. between September 2024-March 2025. This recall does not involve any other Lean Cuisine® or STOUFFER’S® products.
    We are taking this action after consumers contacted Nestlé USA about this issue, including one potential choking incident to date.
    Batch codes can be identified on the side of the product packaging. Please utilize reference images below and look for the ten-digit batch code prior to the best before date.
    Lean Cuisine® Butternut Squash Ravioli

    Batch Numbers: 

    Corresponding Best Before Dates: 

    4261595912

    OCT2025

    4283595912

    NOV2025

    4356595912

    JAN2026

    5018595912

    FEB2026

    5038595912

    MAR2026

    Lean Cuisine® Spinach Artichoke Ravioli

    Batch Numbers: 

    Corresponding Best Before Dates: 

    4311595912

    DEC2025

    5002595912

    FEB2026

    5037595912

    MAR2026

    5064595912

    APR2026

    Lean Cuisine® Lemon Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry

    Batch Numbers: 

    Corresponding Best Before Dates: 

    4214595511

    SEPT2025

    STOUFFER’S® Party Size Chicken Lasagna (96oz)

    Batch Numbers: 

    Corresponding Best Before Dates: 

    4262595915

    OCT2025

    4351595915

    JAN2026

    5051595915

    MAR2026

    5052595915

    MAR2026

    Consumers who have purchased these products should not prepare or consume the product and should return it to the retailer where it was purchased for a replacement or a full refund. For any further support needed, please contact Nestlé USA at (800) 681-1676 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. EST.
    We are actively investigating the source of the wood-like material. We are confident that this is an isolated issue, and we have taken action to address it.
    We are working with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on this recall and will cooperate with them fully.
    The quality, safety and integrity of our products remain our number one priority. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this action represents to both our consumers and retail customers.

    Company Contact Information

    Consumers:
    Nestle USA
    (800) 681-1676

    Product Photos

    Content current as of:
    03/18/2025

    Regulated Product(s)

    Follow FDA

    MIL OSI USA News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Global: The UK has closed its flagship sustainable farming scheme, choosing short-term cuts over long-term security

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Emma Burnett, Honorary Research Associate, TABLE, University of Oxford

    EMJAY SMITH / shutterstock

    The UK government’s decision to abruptly close all applications for its flagship nature-friendly farming scheme has shocked many of the country’s farmers and environmentalists.

    The sustainable farming incentive (SFI) is one of a series of schemes which pays farmers in England to nurture the soil and wildlife and improve water quality. It is far from perfect.

    People have criticised its complexity and lack of clarity, its financial viability or its impact on how farms operate and how this would change the balance between producing food and reaching environmental goals.

    It’s too early to tell if these critics were correct, but the SFI certainly provided some stability for British farmers after EU farm subsidies ended post-Brexit. It seemed poised to make some positive impact.

    The government says a revised version will be announced in the coming months, but it will be hard to regain the trust of farmers. The decision to close the scheme for now throws a stark light on a broader issue: the tendency to prioritise immediate financial needs over the long-term health of both the farming sector and the environment.

    This is a classic example of what economists call “future discounting”, and it’s a dangerous game to play when it comes to vital services.

    Essentially, future discounting means we value things more in the present than we do in the future. If you are promised £100 today, or £110 in two months, which would you take? Sometimes there’s no right or wrong answer – do what you think is right for you with that £100. But sometimes… well, sometimes there is a right answer.

    The value of now, the value of the future

    The SFI scheme offers vital support for sustainable practices that, while crucial, often require upfront investment. This includes cover cropping, for example, where a crop is grown simply to cover a field rather than to be harvested.

    Cover cropping can help rejuvenate soils and is good for insects, but there are costs attached to purchasing the seeds, sowing them, and missing out on income by not growing a commodity crop.

    Other investment examples might involve creating grassland or ponds and ditches to hold back rainwater and prevent floods. These things have an immediate impact on farm output and activities, but with an eye to longer-term benefit.

    Investment in soil health might lower yields in the short run, but should pay off in the long run.
    William Edge / shutterstock

    The sudden closure of the scheme creates an immediate financial vacuum for those who missed the (unannounced) window. Thankfully, farmers with existing agreements will continue within the scheme, and applications that had been submitted prior to the sudden closure will still be assessed.

    However, even for those who are currently enrolled, this about-face instils fear that support will be withdrawn in the years to come – long before something like an expanded woodland has come to fruition.

    The government says that it has run out of money for the current budget cycle. Rather than celebrating the fact that so many farmers want to be involved, want to do adopt better farming practices and act as custodians of nature, it instead panicked and shut people out.

    Too much demand for a nature-friendly future, not enough cold hard cash. And now we can see how the discounting works – the perceived urgency of cashflow today overshadows the long-term benefits of healthy soil, thriving biodiversity, and a resilient ecosystem.

    There are specific actions that SFIs are meant to support, including soil health, water quality, biodiversity and pest management. Each of these requires investment to manage, and to rectify when things go wrong (see the huge fines for water companies).

    For example, it is easier to address issues of water quality by supporting better land use – reduced agri-chemicals, more grassland, tree cover, and so on – than to treat poor water quality downstream.

    But farmers operate both within tight financial margins and on long time-scales. They need security of income to plan land use, including whether they can afford to implement alternative strategies. But they do want to. That’s why there’s been so much demand for SFIs.

    A false economy

    Sympathy could be rustled up for the government, trying to manage complex budgets in a complicated time. But it has made one misstep after another in relation to both food and farming (farmer protests over inheritance tax, for instance) and the environment (such as the planned Heathrow airport expansion)).

    So while immediate fiscal prudence is important, ignoring the long-term consequences of environmental degradation is a false economy. We have a responsibility to value the future as much as the present. Failing to do so will have serious consequences for our environment, our food security, and the well-being of future generations.

    Rather than discounting futures, we should be doing the opposite – negative futures discounting. It sounds upside-down, but it boils down to this: we should value the future more, not less.

    In particular, we should be focused on nurturing good farming and environmental protection. These should take centre stage as mission critical things that we need, and not just for now, but always.

    The sustainable farming incentive shutdown is another chance to reflect on the fact that farming and environmental sustainability are not luxuries, but necessities. We cannot afford to continually discount the future, sacrificing the future of farming and the environment for the sake of short-term finance. It’s time to re-evaluate our priorities.

    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Emma Burnett has previously received funding from sankalpa. She also works as a sustainability researcher for a whisky company.

    – ref. The UK has closed its flagship sustainable farming scheme, choosing short-term cuts over long-term security – https://theconversation.com/the-uk-has-closed-its-flagship-sustainable-farming-scheme-choosing-short-term-cuts-over-long-term-security-252326

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Security: Lackawanna County Man Sentenced to 96 Months’ Imprisonment for Theft of Major Artwork

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Thomas Trotta, age 49, of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on March 13, 2025, to 96 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a term of supervised release, and to pay restitution in the amount of $2,759,073, by U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion for one count of theft of major artwork.

    According to Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Trotta had previously pleaded guilty to one count of theft of major artwork, and admitted to stealing the following:

    • “Le Grande Passion” by Andy Warhol and “Springs Winter” by Jackson Pollock stolen in 2005 from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania;
    • Nine (9) World Series rings, seven (7) other championship rings, and two (2) MVP plaques all belonging to Yogi Berra, worth over $500,000 stolen in 2014 from the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey;
    • Six (6) championship belts, including four belonging to Carmen Basilio and two belonging to Tony Zale stolen in 2015 from the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York;
    • The Hickok Belt and MVP Trophy belonging to Roger Maris, stolen in 2016 from the Roger Maris Museum in Fargo, North Dakota;
    • The U.S. Amateur Trophy and a Hickok Belt awarded to Ben Hogan, stolen in 2012 from the USGA Golf Museum & Library;
    • Fourteen (14) trophies and other awards worth approximately $300,000 stolen in 2012 from the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York;
    • Five (5) trophies worth over $30,000, including the 1903 Belmont Stakes Trophy, stolen in 2013 from the National Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York;
    • Three antique firearms stolen in 2006 from Space Farms: Zoo & Museum in Wantage, New Jersey;
    • A 1903/1904 Tiffany Lamp stolen in 2010 from the Lackawanna Historical Society in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
    • “Upper Hudson” by Jasper Crospey, worth approximately $120,000, stolen in 2011 from Ringwood Manor in Ringwood, New Jersey;
    • Antique firearms worth over $150,000, stolen in 2011 from Ringwood Manor in Ringwood, New Jersey;
    • Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of gold nuggets stolen in 2011 from the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, New Jersey;
    • An antique shotgun worth over $30,000 stolen in 2018 from Space Farms: Zoo & Museum in Wantage, New Jersey;

    Trotta committed the above thefts as part of a larger, eight-person conspiracy.  After a month-long trial held earlier this year, co-conspirators Nicholas Dombek, age 54, of Thornhurst, Pennsylvania, Damien Boland, age 48, of Moscow, Pennsylvania, and Joseph Atsus, age 48, of Roaring Brook, Pennsylvania, were convicted of conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork, and interstate transportation of stolen property, as well as multiple related substantive offenses. They are presently pending sentencing.

    Three additional co-conspirators pleaded guilty pursuant to felony informations and were sentenced by Judge Mannion earlier this year. They include:

    • Dawn Trotta, age 53, of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork, and interstate transportation of stolen property;
    • Frank Tassiello, age 52, of Taylor, Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork, and interstate transportation of stolen property; and
    • Ralph Parry, age 47, of Springbrook Township, Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to three years of probation as well as a period of home-confinement for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment and disposal of major artwork, and interstate transportation of stolen property.

    After stealing the above-described items, the conspirators would transport the stolen goods back to northeastern Pennsylvania, often to the residence of Dombek, and melt the memorabilia down into easily transportable metal discs or bars.  The conspirators would then sell the raw metal to fences in the New York City area for hundreds or a few thousands of dollars, significantly less than the sports memorabilia would be worth at fair market value.

    Dombek burnt the painting “Upper Hudson” by Jasper Crospey, valued at approximately $100,000, to avoid the painting being recovered by investigators and used as evidence against the members of the conspiracy. The whereabouts of many of the other paintings and stolen objects are currently unknown, however, several antique firearms stolen from the Space Farms: Zoo and Museum and the Ringwood Manor Museum, both in New Jersey, were recovered by investigators.

    The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the New York State Police, the New Jersey State Park Police, the Newport Police Department (Rhode Island), the Fargo Police Department (North Dakota), the Chester Police Department (New York), the Exeter Borough Police Department (Pennsylvania), the Scranton Police Department, the Franklin Police Department (New Jersey), the Village of Goshen Police Department (New York), the Metropolitan Police Department (Washington, D.C.), the West Milord Township Police Department (New Jersey), the Montclair Police Department (New Jersey), the Saratoga Springs Police Department (New York), the Canastota Police Department (New York), the South Abington Police Department (Pennsylvania), the Bernards Township Police Department (New Jersey), the Salisbury Township Police Department (Pennsylvania), the Montclair State University Police Department (New Jersey) the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office (Pennsylvania), the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office (New Jersey), the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office (New Jersey), the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (New York), and multiple other local law enforcement agencies from across the country.   

    Assistant United States Attorneys James M. Buchanan, Jenny Roberts, and Sean Camoni prosecuted the case.

    # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Dmitry Patrushev: In 2025, 6.5 billion rubles are allocated for the construction, repair of hydraulic structures and cleaning of water bodies

    Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –

    Source: Government of the Russian Federation – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

    Dmitry Patrushev held a meeting on preparations for the flood and fire hazard period.

    Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev held a meeting on preparations for the flood and fire-hazardous period. The event was attended by all responsible federal agencies – the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Roshydromet, Rosvodresursy and Rosleskhoz, as well as heads of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

    “Due to the warm weather in the winter period, the flooding began earlier than usual this year. In general, the situation is stable now, but already at the end of March, the water level is expected to exceed critical marks in the east of the European part of the country and in the Southern Urals. In April, severe flooding is predicted in Siberia and the Far East. Let me remind you that this year 6.5 billion rubles have been allocated for the construction and repair of hydraulic structures, as well as the clearing of water bodies,” said Dmitry Patrushev.

    Taking into account the low-snow winter in the European part of the country, according to the forecast of Roshydromet, the water level may be lower than the values required for economic activity. Dmitry Patrushev instructed the owners to check the water intakes for readiness to operate at low water levels and, if necessary, to carry out measures to adapt the structures.

    The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that Rosvodresursy needs to optimize the operating modes of the Volga-Kama Cascade, as well as the Tsimlyansk Reservoir, where there are risks to normal water supply in the summer. It is important for Rosmorrechflot to plan navigation taking into account the forecast for water resource volumes and ensure the clearing of shipping lanes in the Volga and Don basins.

    In turn, the Ministry of Agriculture needs to check the functionality of drainage networks, and the Federal Agency for Fisheries needs to check the canals that supply water to fisheries enterprises.

    Regions will have to pay special attention to the condition of hydraulic structures, as well as abandoned objects, check the readiness of storm systems and under-bridge spaces, continue work on establishing flood zones and developing plans to protect these areas.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    MIL OSI Russia News –

    March 19, 2025

  • MIL-OSI: Growers Edge, Compeer Financial, and Evergreen Bank Group Partner to Deliver Rapid Input Financing Offering

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    JOHNSTON, Iowa, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Growers Edge, a technology firm that provides modern financial products and data-driven tools for agricultural retailers, manufacturers and lenders, today announced a new partnership with Evergreen Bank Group and Compeer Financial.

    Faced with low profit margins and high interest rates, agricultural retailers and manufacturers have embraced in-house input financing programs to increase wallet share and better serve their grower customers. In-house input financing helps retailers and manufacturers retain sales opportunities and valuable data, unlike other lines of credit (like local operating loans), which can be used elsewhere.

    Together, Compeer Financial, Evergreen Bank Group and Growers Edge provide funding liquidity and a partner branded SaaS platform that simplifies the application, credit decisioning, and loan management process. By empowering agricultural retailers and manufacturers to provide growers with instant financing decisions at competitive rates, the partnership helps growers manage risk and defer payment on new, innovative crop inputs.

    “Given the current state of the ag economy, input financing is a powerful sales tool,” said Andy Flores, Business Development Director at Growers Edge. “Our customer agronomists report that financing conversations are often initiated by growers. They’re willing to try new inputs, but they need their retailer partners to help mitigate the risk.”

    Aligned in their missions of supporting rural communities, Compeer Financial, Evergreen Bank Group and Growers Edge will also partner in the development of other financial products and new digital tools that help growers maximize output, achieve peace of mind and secure their economic futures.

    “This partnership brings financing options to farmers when and where they need it,” said Kelly Miller, Director of AgTech at Compeer Financial. “Growers Edge and Evergreen Bank Group understand the importance of making it easier for clients to do business in their local communities and Compeer Financial is proud to provide a cutting-edge option to do just that.”

    The landmark partnership follows a series of major achievements for Growers Edge. In addition to serving four of the top ten largest retailers in the country with the Crop Plan Warranty, Growers Edge has partnered with organizations like Nutrien, PepsiCo, Mondelez and Helena Agri-Enterprises to boost sustainable agriculture practices.

    In 2024, Growers Edge acquired AQUAOSO Technologies, which offers its services under the Agcor brand and provides mapping, data, and analytics software for agricultural lenders, and expanded its farmland valuation tool to cover more than 144 million acres of land across nine states. Earlier this year, Growers Edge announced it protected over 1 million acres of American farmland from downside risk through its crop plan warranty program.

    To request an input financing platform demo from Growers Edge and request a term sheet, go demo at Growers Edge.

    About Growers Edge

    Growers Edge provides modern financial products and data-driven tools that help forward-thinking agriculture retailers, manufacturers, and lenders reduce their growers’ risks and costs when adopting newer innovative solutions and practices. The company’s crop plan warranties and input financing solutions are trusted by dozens of retailers and manufacturers to assist hundreds of growers affordably purchase their products and guarantee yields on over one million acres of cropland.

    About Compeer Financial

    Compeer Financial is a member-owned Farm Credit cooperative serving and supporting agriculture and rural communities. The $33.1 billion organization provides loans, leases, risk management and other financial services throughout 144 counties in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Based in the Upper Midwest, Compeer Financial exists to champion the hopes and dreams of rural America, while providing personalized service and expertise to clients and the agriculture industry.

    About Evergreen Bank Group

    Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Oak Brook, IL, Evergreen Bank Group is a leading tech-savvy community bank serving the greater Chicago area and beyond. In addition to its retail and commercial banking services, Evergreen is a national leader in niche lending markets, including collector car, powersports, and manufactured housing loans. With a focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences through innovative digital platforms, Evergreen is redefining community banking for the modern era.

    Media Contact
    Sergut Dejene
    sergut@propllr.com

    The MIL Network –

    March 19, 2025
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