Trump offers aid to lobster industry and a tariff threat to China
President Trump told the USDA on Wednesday to provide trade war relief to U.S. lobster fishermen and producers and threatened retaliatory tariffs on seafood from China if Beijing fails to buy massive amounts of U.S. food, agricultural, and seafood products this year.
A grassroots push for higher SNAP benefits
Coronavirus pay raise proposed for farmworkers
Think tank proposes dramatic expansion of conservation easements
Farmland values constrained by falling income, pandemic
Farmland values across the Midwest and Plains are steady or lower than they were last June under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic and fears of declining farm income, said the largest U.S. farm management and real estate sales company. (No paywall)
Farmworkers win rate hike from Driscoll’s supplier after walkout, petition
Farmworkers at a supplier for Driscoll’s, the largest berry distributor in the world, won a raise earlier this month — as well as some Covid-19 safety measures — following a series of actions demanding better pay and working conditions.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Covid-19 rages on among food system workers
While the nation starts to reopen unevenly, a new analysis of data collected by FERN since mid-April shows that the virus is spreading steadily among meatpacking, food processing, and farmworkers, and many states are experiencing multiple outbreaks in food and farm sectors. (No paywall)
Bee colony loss rate is second-highest ever
USDA offers few yardsticks for measuring its food-box program
For USDA, the most important number in its food-box giveaway program is how many boxes are donated — 18.4 million as of Friday, according to a tally on the homepage of the agency that runs the program. Officials declined to provide other details, such as the average cost of the boxes or how long the $3-billion initiative will be in operation.<strong>(No paywall)</strong
Juneteenth celebrated by African American farmers
For Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the emancipation of African American slaves in the United States, an organization known as A Growing Culture hosted a day-long internet broadcast on Friday featuring the voices of black farmers and gardeners and the fight in black communities for a just food system.<strong>(No paywall)</strong
House Ag panelist among lawmakers benefiting from PPP
SNAP rolls rose as coronavirus spread across U.S.
Food stamp enrollment climbed by 479,000 people, or 1.3 percent, in March, in the early days of combating the novel coronavirus and the economic slowdown that accompanied it, said the USDA. Experts have said the pandemic could result in the highest SNAP participation ever, topping the record of 47.6 million during fiscal 2013 during the slow recovery from the Great Recession.</strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Appellate court backs EPA on dicamba phase-out
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected an emergency motion for an immediate cutoff of farmer use of the weedkiller dicamba, a victory for the EPA plan to allow spraying of the herbicide on GE soybeans and cotton through July 31. The court voided EPA approval of versions of dicamba sold by Bayer, BASF and Corteva on June 3; a few days later, the EPA said farmers could use stocks already on the farm through the end of July.
Farm income, stressed this year, may drop sharply in 2021
U.S. farm income, under pressure this year from the trade war and coronavirus pandemic, could fall off a cliff next year when record-setting federal payments are due to end, according to early assessments. A plunge in income could be avoided by cost-cutting on the farm, a recovery in commodity demand, or a new multibillion-dollar round of federal aid, but they are not assured, say analysts.
China buys 1.11 million tonnes of U.S. soy in four days
Large sales of soybeans to Chinese buyers provide hope for "a robust demand recovery" this fall and into the new year, said economist Todd Hubbs of the University of Illinois on Monday, the same day that exporters reported the sale of 390,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery to China. In the space of four days, China purchased 1.11 million tonnes of the oilseed, worth $354 million.
In new fuel clash, oil refiners ask for 52 retroactive ethanol exemptions
Oil refiners are attempting to evade an adverse appellate court ruling by asking the EPA for retroactive exemptions from the ethanol mandate, said biofuel trade groups on Thursday. Refiners have filed 52 petitions for exemptions stretching as far back as 2011, potentially creating a chain of annual waivers that would allow them to seek exemptions now.
Survey: Unrelenting food insecurity during pandemic
One in five US households say they often or sometimes run out of food, a persistently elevated level of food insecurity as the nation faces its fourth month of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Covid Impact Survey. "Despite some public benefits in place, this is still very high," said Nick Hart, president of the Data Foundation, which launched the survey.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Boost SNAP benefits by 15 percent, groups ask Senate
An increase in SNAP benefits "must be part of an effective, comprehensive response to Covid-19," said 2,500 anti-hunger, medical, religious, labor, farm, and consumer groups in a letter to Senate leaders. Republican senators, who blocked recent proposals by House Democrats for higher SNAP benefits, are expected to decide soon whether to draft a new coronavirus relief bill. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Judge declares much of N.C. ag-gag law unconstitutional
A federal judge handed a victory late Friday to animal-welfare advocates when he declared that much of North Carolina’s ag-gag law violated the First Amendment’s free-speech provisions. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder’s ruling could also help employees who are trying to expose slaughterhouses that put their workforces at risk for Covid-19 infection, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Dicamba plaintiffs ask for immediate cutoff of weedkiller
The victors in a lawsuit against the weedkiller dicamba asked the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn an EPA decision that would let farmers use the herbicide until July 31. "Emergency relief is required to prevent off-field drift harms that will occur on millions of acres should spraying continue," said the coalition of farm and environmental groups in an emergency petition.