Grab The Pulse of U-S Agriculture

Agri-Pulse is a weekly electronic newsletter from veteran agricultural journalist Sara Wyant that's available by subscription.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) June 23, 2005 -- Keeping current on key issues and events in the nations capital can be challenging for anyone in agriculture, especially when it comes to getting information from the inside track. A veteran agricultural journalist is trying to make that job a little easier with a weekly electronic newsletter called Agri-Pulse. Its a very quick read for people who are very busy and gives them a way of scanning the news headlines and understanding not only whats happened, but what it means to them and their businesses."

Sara Wyant has been in the business of farm policy reporting, editing and publishing for more than two decades. She originally published Agri-Pulse as a print newsletter for ten years, from 1985 to 1995, and this year was encouraged to start it back up again in an electronic format, e-mailed to subscribers once a week on Tuesdays. You might think thats a little different from a weekly that comes out every Monday or every Friday, but in Washington we know that most people work every Tuesday through Thursday with legislative sessions. So we come out every Tuesday with a heads up of whats going to happen this week and what people can expect, not only on Capitol Hill, but also with state legislatures, commodity organizations and farm and rural interests all around the country."

Wyant says her ag and rural policy background provides an experienced perspective for her readers. Thats a real value of the newsletter because Ive been in this business since 1980 and Ive covered Capitol Hill for a lot of that time. It really makes a difference in terms of understanding some of these issues. Weve been there, weve done that, and we can share with you political realities as well as the real opportunities."

The many topics Agri-Pulse is tracking include: the development of the 2007 Farm Bill, rural, conservation and environmental policy, renewable energy, and the impact of trade negotiations on farm programs. Wyant believes that the 2007 Farm Bill could be substantially different from previous farm bills as people take a broader look at the economic opportunities in rural America.

Besides the basic newsletter, Wyant provides in-depth coverage and special reports as a bonus to subscribers. I think theres a real opportunity to package things. We did a special report on 20 things that you should know about crop insurance and soybean rust. That report was an added value we provided to subscribers for free but offered for sale to non-subscribers." The most recent special report for subscribers analyzes the Conservation Reserve Program.

Agri-Pulse started up in February and Wyant says response and feedback have been extraordinary. For example, former Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter, who was very appreciative of an open letter that I wrote to Secretary Johanns, talks about how it is great to have someone with my experience and insight writing again on some of these issues. And he also sent along a subscription check."

Subscription information can be found at www.agri-pulse.com. For a free trial subscription (4 weeks), send your request to APFreetrial@aol.com.

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