U.S. should offer incentives for conservation practices – Report
Economic concerns are often a driving factor when farmers decide whether to adopt conservation practices such as cover crops or diversified crop rotations, said the AGree farm policy initiative in a paper released on Wednesday. The paper called for more coordination of conservation practices with the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance system.
Supreme Court rejects challenge of California animal welfare referendum
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to hear a meat industry challenge to California's voter-approved Proposition 12, which requires farmers to give sows, veal calves, and egg-laying chickens more room to move about and bans shipments of pork, veal, and eggs produced outside of California if the animals are housed in conditions that do not meet California's standards.
Moore will be first Black chief of the Forest Service
Randy Moore, a career USDA employee who now oversees 20 million acres of national forests in California, will be the first Black chief of the U.S. Forest Service in its 116-year history, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday.
Groups urge EPA to spell out RFS waiver rules
Farm and ethanol groups said they were confident the EPA will approve few exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard, but they urged the agency on Monday to state how it will run the program in the wake of last week's Supreme Court ruling on waivers.
Amazon agroforestry co-op shows how to farm sustainably in the rainforest
In remote northwestern Brazil, a group of farmers has set up a co-op that plants native fruit trees on exhausted former ranchland. In the process, the farmers are not only reforesting the area in a way that mimics the natural habitat, they’re earning about five times more per acre from their agroforestry plots annually than local ranchers are earning by clearing the forest to graze their cattle, says FERN's latest story, produced with National Geographic. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>
Trump administration tried to influence state responses to meatpacking plant outbreaks, documents reveal
Top staff at the Department of Agriculture, including former agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue, and at the Vice President’s office sought to influence how states responded to early outbreaks of Covid-19 in meatpacking plants last spring, a trove of documents reveals.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Rebuffed in court, ethanol makers look to EPA to limit RFS exemptions
The ethanol industry is optimistic the Biden administration will issue far fewer exemptions from the ethanol mandate than the Trump administration did despite a Supreme Court setback. Justices overturned, 6-3, an appellate court ruling that greatly restricted the eligibility of small refineries for "hardship" waivers from complying with the Renewable Fuel Standard.
USDA-FDA bill is blank check for SNAP, says GOP
The government is forecast to spend twice as much on SNAP this fiscal year — $114 billion — as it did before the pandemic, and the lead Republican on the House Appropriations Committee said Democrats wrote a blank check for food-stamp spending in the new fiscal year. Majority-party Democrats, meanwhile, said they wanted to make sure SNAP recipients receive their benefits.
Senate passes first-ever climate mitigation bill for agriculture
Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow was certain on Thursday that the House would follow the Senate in passing the first-ever climate mitigation bill for agriculture. Under the bill, the USDA would help farmers enter the carbon market, touted as the private enterprise way to earn money while combating climate change.
Infrastructure framework has $65 billion for universal broadband
President Biden said the $1.2-trillion infrastructure package negotiated with senators on Wednesday will "deliver high-speed internet to every American home" as well as repairing or rebuilding roads and bridges nationwide.
House, Senate bills boost rural energy funding fivefold
The USDA program that promotes rural renewable energy production and energy efficiency would see annual funding of $250 million along with a $1 billion injection to address a backlog in applications under companion Senate and House bills introduced Thursday.
Supreme Court rules against union access to farm property
On a 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a California labor law on Wednesday that allowed union organizers onto an agricultural employer's property to enlist farmworkers to join the union. The 1975 law was a legacy of Cesar Chavez, a founder of the United Farm Workers union.
USDA study finds SNAP participants have a hard time eating a healthy diet
Participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, face significant hurdles in putting nutritious food on the table each month, according to a USDA study released yesterday. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>
‘Oligopoly’ in cattle marketing demands action, say senators
With Sen. John Thune decrying an "oligopoly" in the beef industry, a handful of senators on Wednesday called for Congress to give cattle producers a fairer shake when they send their stock to market.
Crop insurance should be a starting point for 2023 farm bill, say farmers
Farmers from Georgia to California told a House Agriculture subcommittee on Wednesday that the foundation of the 2023 farm bill should be the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance system. They also expressed interest in the creation of a standby disaster relief fund.
Give retailers a cash incentive to sell E15, ethanol group asks Congress
Biofuels could play an important role in helping the nation reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impact of global warming, said an ethanol trade group on Tuesday, with an eye on upcoming infrastructure legislation. Growth Energy suggested the government pay retailers to lower the price of E15 to entice motorists to buy the higher-blend renewable fuel.
Food insecurity eases, but remains stubbornly high for Black and Latino households
Food insufficiency remains above pre-pandemic levels for all Americans, but among Black and Latino households the problem is particularly acute, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
Food production must change for nearly 1 billion threatened by climate – WRI
Nearly 1 billion people live in countries where food production is threatened by climate change, says the World Resources Institute in a report that advocates "transformative adaptation" or large-scale change. "Risks are especially high in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and small island developing nations and for vulnerable groups such as women, youth, indigenous peoples and people living in poverty, among others," said the report, "Food Systems at Risk," released on Wednesday.
Smithfield exaggerated meat-supply risk of pandemic, says lawsuit
Reinstate organic livestock rule, OTA asks judge