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Biden vows to pay farmers to plant cover crops and put land in conservation

The government will help farmers mitigate climate change by paying them to "put their land in conservation" and plant cover crops, said President-elect Biden, providing some details on his campaign call to offset greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. The sector accounts for roughly 10 percent of emissions nationwide.

Farm groups cheer, progressives lament return of Vilsack to USDA

President-elect Joe Biden's selection of Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary angered farm and food activists who feuded with Vilsack during the Obama years and had hoped for a progressive agenda under Biden. The largest U.S. farm groups welcomed Vilsack on Wednesday as an experienced leader for the recovery from the trade war and the pandemic.

Dean Foods seeks to get back money paid to dairy farmers before bankruptcy

Hundreds of dairy farmers nationwide fear they could owe substantial sums to the bankrupt dairy processor Dean Foods after the company sent out letters attempting to claw back payments made to farmers in the months preceding the company’s Chapter 11 filing last year. Dean’s actions have been harshly criticized by farm groups and, for some, underscore the dangers of a heavily consolidated dairy industry that leaves farmers with few processing options.<strong> (No paywall) </strong>

Coronavirus package boosts SNAP benefits by 15 percent

A bipartisan Senate coronavirus relief package would increase SNAP benefits by 15 percent through April and provide additional funding for WIC and food donations to food banks, according to a summary released on Wednesday.

First USMCA challenge is over dairy quotas

The Trump administration said it was challenging Canadian quotas on dairy imports as unfair to U.S. milk producers. The challenge, announced on Wednesday, was the first under the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

Biden chooses moderate Vilsack to return as agriculture secretary

Tom Vilsack, agriculture secretary throughout the Obama years, is President-elect Biden's choice to lead the USDA and U.S. agriculture through the recovery from a trade war and the Covid-19 pandemic. A former governor of Iowa, Vilsack was a top backer of Biden in rural America during the fall campaign and would come to the Biden administration with friendly relations with lawmakers and farm groups.

USDA should push for rural broadband, worker safety, say former ag secretaries

While the pandemic and climate change will be at the top of the agenda in the Biden administration, the USDA should pursue full access to broadband service in rural America, said three former agriculture secretaries on Tuesday. One of them, Mike Espy, also said the USDA should refuse to buy products from meat processors who fail to protect workers from the coronavirus.

A Biden possibility: Tom Vilsack as three-term agriculture secretary

Coronavirus outbreaks at two California chicken plants

In Puerto Rico, 40 percent suffer food insecurity with no end in sight

Even before the pandemic, Denise Santos was struggling to get food to in-need families in Puerto Rico. As president of the Banco de Alimentos de Puerto Rico, the island’s largest food bank, she had spent the years that followed Hurricanes Irma and Maria—which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017—working to fight hunger. Then, in January, a massive earthquake hit, unleashing thousands of smaller temblors that left thousands of families homeless, and destroyed infrastructure. Two months later, the pandemic struck. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>

Small share of coronavirus package for food aid and farmers

The final coronavirus aid package of the year would direct 3 percent of its $900 billion in funding to food assistance and relief for agricultural producers, according to its Democratic and Republican sponsors. "It's a deal that must come together," said one of the sponsors, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, on Sunday.

Good year for grain-farm income despite pandemic

The typical Midwestern grain farm could generate more than twice as much income this year as in 2019, thanks to higher market prices and large federal payments, said two University of Illinois analysts. The outlook for the new year is much more dour, especially without new stopgap payments.

First Black chairman of House Ag will fight climate change, rural-urban split

Rep. David Scott of Georgia soundly defeated a California rival in a vote among majority-party Democrats on Thursday to become the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Scott, who represents a suburban Atlanta district with 313 farms, pledged to tackle an array of issues, most prominently climate change and the rural-urban split, in the new session of Congress opening on Jan. 3.

Not looking to run USDA, says Peterson

House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson threw cold water Thursday on suggestions that he should be agriculture secretary in the Biden administration. "There's plenty of people out there that want the job," he told reporters, adding that he was "not looking for a full-time, four-year job" after 30 years in Congress.

Record-high ag subsidies to supply 39 percent of farm income

Despite the effects of the pandemic and the trade war, U.S. farm income this year will be the highest since 2013 because of the largest federal payments ever — $46.5 billion, triple the usual amount, the government said on Wednesday. Think tank analysts said farm income would fall in 2021 with the expiration of Trump-era bailouts, but the drop-off will be lessened by the ongoing rally in commodity prices and increased ag exports.

Biden: Fast on broadband, slow on China

President-elect Joe Biden supports greater broadband access and more funding for rural healthcare, and says he will not immediately remove President Trump's tariffs on Chinese products, according to a column in the New York Times on Wednesday.

Congress sends grain standards bill to Trump

The House gave final congressional approval to the Grain Standards Reauthorization Act on a voice vote on Wednesday and sent the bill to the White House for President Trump's signature.

Farmers growing skeptical of victory in Sino-U.S. trade war

American farmers were dogged supporters of President Trump's trade war with China, accepting as "patriot farmers" the pain of retaliatory tariffs in the belief Beijing would be forced to alter its trade practices. But they are becoming skeptical of victory: Only half of them believe the trade war will be resolved to their benefit and even fewer believe China will meet its "phase one" commitments negotiated with the Trump administration.

A novel approach to deforestation may also offer a pandemic safety net

A novel conservation group in western Borneo offers healthcare services and training in sustainable farming to curb illegal logging. In the process, the group may have come up with a blueprint to stop diseases from making the deadly leap between wildlife and people, Brian Barth writes in FERN's latest story produced with Popular Science. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>

Farmworker advocates challenge H-2A pay freeze in court

In a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of trying to suppress wages, farmworker groups asked a federal judge to set aside a Labor Department rule on pay to agricultural guestworkers that could cut their earnings by $170 million over a decade. The Labor Department rule, which indirectly affects wages for all farmworkers, is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 21.