House Ag chair Peterson, a GOP target, runs for re-election
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, a conservative Democrat in a Republican-leaning district, announced he would seek re-election in November, saying he was worried rural America is being left behind. President Trump has endorsed a Republican challenger against Peterson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, in a contest that is regarded as a toss-up.
A shipping ‘standstill’ and herd culling if African swine fever is found
The USDA will move quickly to eradicate the African swine fever if the viral disease is discovered in the United States, said Agriculture Undersecretary Greg Ibach at the National Pork Industry Forum in Kansas City. The USDA would order a 72-hour nationwide "standstill" of hog shipments, as a step to prevent spread of the virus, and it would kill all infected and exposed hogs, potentially thousands of animals or more.
States are told to expand job training for SNAP recipients
The Trump administration said on Thursday that state agencies operating SNAP must expand their job-training activities for food stamp recipients as a way to help them earn more. The proposal was unveiled on the same day as a federal court hearing on a lawsuit to block a USDA regulation, set to take effect April 1, that ends SNAP benefits for 700,000 adults.
FDA mulls ‘risk-based’ approach to CBD products
Americans are consuming the cannabis derivative cannabidiol (CBD) in food, beverages, and supplements, and dosing their pets with it as well, but "there is still much that we do not know about ... potential risks," said FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn on Thursday.
Chance of trade war payments ‘less than 10 percent’
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the odds of a multibillion-dollar round of trade war payments to farmers this year are “less than 10 percent,” although a senior lawmaker said the payments may be "absolutely vital" for survival in the Farm Belt. China will turn to the U.S. market for soybeans “late this spring, this summer,” Perdue predicted during a House Agriculture hearing on Wednesday.
Voluntary, not mandatory, meat-origin labels, says Perdue
Despite interest among cattle activists, a return to mandatory country-of-origin labels on beef "is not going to happen unless we want to do a billion-dollar litigation damage with Mexico and Canada," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.
With agreements in hand, fewer farmers expect trade war payments
Farmers are optimistic about the resumption of trade with China and, as a result, fewer of them believe the Trump administration will send trade war payments to producers this year, said a Purdue University poll on Tuesday. Fewer than half of the producers contacted by the Ag Economy Barometer said they anticipated payments this year, compared to nearly six out of 10 last fall.
Fewer dairy farms as milk production rises
U.S. milk production is projected to top 220 billion pounds this year as a long-running structural shift puts production in the hands of fewer, but larger, dairies. At the same time, the USDA said there were 34,187 dairy herds licensed to sell milk in 2019, a drop of 9 percent from the previous year.
National Farmers Union elects new president; Perdue reassures on trade
The National Farmers Union elected Rob Larew, the organization’s senior vice president of public policy and communications, as president at its annual convention Monday in Savannah, Georgia. Larew will take the helm from outgoing president Roger Johnson, a former agriculture commissioner of North Dakota, who served in the role since 2009.
Red farm states end up in the black with tariff payments
A handful of farm states, mostly in the Midwest and Plains, emerge as net winners when the impact of retaliatory Chinese tariffs are weighed against the Trump administration's trade-war payments to farmers, say three university economists.
Scientists say lax regulation of chemicals in food packaging endangers human health
Nine months after U.S. regulators found an industrial “forever chemical” in chocolate cake at levels some 250 times higher than federal recommendations, nearly three dozen independent scientists from 11 countries are warning that inadequate global regulations of chemicals in food packaging pose a growing risk to human health.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
FDA: Coronavirus disrupts supply chain for U.S. animal drugs
Six firms are seeing disruptions in the supply chain because of Covid-19 that could lead to shortages of animal drugs for the U.S. market, said the FDA in an update. Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said USDA animal scientists are "looking for any kind of possibility, even vaccines, that may help" against the viral disease.
USDA offers $100 million to boost higher blends of biofuels
Grants totaling $100 million will be available to install or retrofit fuel pumps and storage tanks to handle higher blends of corn ethanol and biodiesel than now commonly offered, said the USDA, with details to be available by mid-spring. "USDA will continue to do its part to encourage the use of home-grown energy," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
New USDA leaders for civil rights and rural development
Devon Westhill will be sworn into office this week as USDA deputy assistant secretary for civil rights, effectively putting him in charge of an office that has not had a Senate-confirmed leader under President Trump. The USDA announced the appointment on Friday, the same day that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue named Bette Brand as deputy undersecretary for rural development.
Water reuse may become part of USDA programs
As part of an administration initiative, the USDA will consider including reused water, also known as recycled or reclaimed water, in its land stewardship and community development programs. "Water reuse is going to be how agriculture continues to increase productivity while decreasing our environmental footprint," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday.
Are foodborne-illness outbreaks getting worse, or is detection getting better?
From lettuce to cookies, avocados to cheesecake, the last few years have seen a number of high-profile food recalls. According to the CDC, an estimated 48 million Americans get sick each year from foodborne illnesses. But the question of whether such outbreaks are getting worse is complicated, due to a combination of improved detection technology, a looser approach to regulation, and growing consolidation in the food industry, as Leah Douglas reports in FERN's latest story, published as part of Time magazine's special issue on the Science of Nutrition.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Pork to replace soybeans on China’s shopping list
China can satisfy two objectives — filling a huge gap in its meat supply and complying with the "phase one" trade agreement with the United States — by buying American-grown pork, say two Iowa State University economists.
USDA to ease rules on hemp labs and destroying ‘hot’ crops
The government will allow farmers to destroy "hot" hemp fields themselves, rather than having to hire a contractor to do it, and will expand the number of laboratories that can test industrial hemp for THC levels, said Agriculture Undersecretary Greg Ibach on Wednesday.
With new bill, Pingree positions farming as a climate solution
The debate about how to address climate change hasn't always portrayed agriculture as a tool for mitigating the effects of excess carbon in the atmosphere. But a new bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Chellie Pingree brings farming into the climate spotlight with an ambitious goal of reaching net zero emissions in the agriculture sector by 2040.
Trump wouldn’t sign House ag labor bill, says Perdue
Despite strong and bipartisan House support for farm labor reform, President Trump is unlikely to sign a reform bill, now stalled in the Senate, if it reaches him, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.