Cattle industry asks for no USDA limit on coronavirus aid
The USDA should abandon thoughts of a $125,000 or $250,000 per-person limit on federal payments to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on agriculture, said the cattle industry on Thursday. It was the first public challenge by a farm group to the Trump administration's plan to send $16 billion in cash to farmers and ranchers by June. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Hormel offers $500 Covid-19 bonus to steady workers
Up to $7 million will be paid in bonuses to "team members who continue to produce food during the Covid-19 outbreak," said Hormel Foods on Thursday. The money will be paid in July to employees at Hormel's meat and processed food plants and would follow a $4 million bonus paid in April. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
SNAP enrollment of 50 million possible if pandemic is as bad as Great Recession
The huge job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic — 22 million Americans out of work in just four weeks — may be followed by the highest SNAP enrollment ever as people seek help buying food. Participation would near 50 million people if the same portion of the population receives food stamps as during the Great Recession. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Mapping Covid-19 in meatpacking plants
FERN staff writer Leah Douglas has created a map of meatpacking and food processing plants where cases of Covid-19 have been reported. As of midday Wednesday, at least 11 meatpacking plants and two processed food plants have closed, and a total of 40 have reported cases of Covid-19. At least 1,950 workers are confirmed sick and at least 11 have died, the story says.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Cats in New York State are first U.S. pets infected with coronavirus
Two weeks after veterinarians confirmed Covid-19 in a tiger at the Bronx Zoo, the CDC and USDA said two cats in New York State were the first pets in the United States to be diagnosed with coronavirus infections. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Coronavirus forces California farmworkers to scramble for safe drinking water
Some 1 million residents of California farmworker communities have relied for years on bottled water because their tap water is tainted with nitrate and other agricultural pollutants. Now, as stores ration water to prevent hoarding during the coronavirus crisis, these residents are relying on friends and family, or driving many miles to bigger towns in search of water, reports Liza Gross in FERN's latest story. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
The supermarket of the future may be smaller and fresher
Farmworkers will be exempt from immigration restrictions
Agriculture eligible for coronavirus injury loans
With half the ethanol industry offline, sales to drop $10 billion
More than two-thirds of U.S. ethanol plants are idle or running at reduced volumes in the greatest crisis the industry has ever seen, said a trade group leader on Monday. As a result of the coronavirus and reduced demand, The Renewable Fuels Association said in a report that ethanol sales could drop by $10 billion from the $23 billion expected year.
UN agency warns action needed to prevent ‘food crisis’
The UN International Fund for Agricultural Development committed $40 million to support farmers and rural communities in producing food during the coronavirus pandemic. "We need to act now to stop this health crisis transforming into a food crisis," said IFAD president Gilbert Houngbo. IFAD hopes to raise an additional $200 million from UN members, foundations and the private sector. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>
Ancient Southwest farming cultures faced extreme drought. Now it’s back.
Centuries ago, the Zuni people in the arid Southwest region of the United States developed a sophisticated farming culture, channeling water towards crops and breeding climate resilient seeds, reports Tim Folger, in FERN's latest story, produced with The Weather Channel. But that culture was also likely wiped out by a rare 50-year megadrought that may now be underway again in the West. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>
Farmers’ shift to soybeans won’t avert grain glut
Low market prices will deter farmers from planting as much corn as they planned a month ago, but a record corn crop is still on the horizon, said two Purdue University economists on Monday. The mammoth crop would create the largest corn stockpile since the late 1980s while the already-large soybean stockpile grow bigger still.
Farmers to get up to $250,000 each in coronavirus cash, with more possible
Farmers will get cash payments of up to $250,000 apiece — possibly more, depending on the rules — to survive an estimated 20-percent drop in farm income this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump announced $16 billion in direct agricultural aid and said additional money might be be spent this summer to bolster the sector.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Hunger relief will come in the form of the ‘harvest box’
The government will spend $300 million a month to buy fresh produce, dairy and meat products that will be packaged into a box for food banks and other charities to give to hungry Americans, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Some $3 billion will be spent on purchases of surplus foods for donation in an initiative that resembles the "America's Harvest Box" idea promoted by Perdue for delivering a portion of SNAP benefits.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Restore school ‘flexibilities,’ food directors ask USDA
On Wednesday, two days after a federal court overturned a Trump administration regulation on school meals, an association of school food directors asked Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for "quick action to restore school meal flexibilities."
Two more states and D.C. are approved for online SNAP grocery purchases
SNAP recipients in West Virginia, North Carolina and the District of Columbia soon will be able to purchase groceries online as part of a pilot initiated a year ago to test the idea, said the USDA. With the approvals, 39 percent of SNAP recipients are in a state that is part of the pilot. Interest in the pilot has risen with concerns about limiting exposure to the coronavirus.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Ethanol production hits another record low
For the second week in a row, U.S. ethanol production ran at record lows because Americans are driving less during the coronavirus pandemic. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
A trip to the grocery is risky business for most Americans
One year of coronavirus relief could match two years of trade war aid
The government could spend $25 billion, or more, to help the farm sector survive the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic slowdown, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday. If that happens, the administration will have spent more than $50 billion in three years to mitigate the impact of catastrophic disease and trade war on U.S. agriculture. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>