USDA works on proposal to tighten SNAP eligibility rules
In a bookend to its proposal to toughen the time limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, the USDA is working on a regulation to reduce the number of people who are automatically considered for SNAP benefits because they receive welfare assistance.
Forest Service will tighten sexual harassment procedures in wake of new report
Trump: Trade talks may end with ‘a lot more’ corn to China
U.S. and Chinese officials opened their second consecutive week of negotiations to resolve the countries' trade war on Tuesday with President Trump saying the "very complex talks...are going very well." Trump told reporters at the White House, "We're asking for everything that anybody has ever even suggested. These are not just, you know, 'let's sell corn or let's do this.' It's going to be selling corn, but a lot of it, a lot more than anyone thought possible."
Agriculture remains an issue as Sino-U.S. trade talks resume
The White House is looking for additional progress in negotiations this week to resolve the Sino-U.S. trade war even as it cautions that “much work remains.” Agriculture is among the structural issues under discussion, according to the administration.
Q&A with Monica White: Black farmers’ role in the struggle for civil rights
In Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement, Monica M. White, assistant professor of environmental justice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, traces the history of black land-based social movements from the time of slavery to today’s urban gardens in Rust Belt cities. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Data consolidation threatens sustainable agriculture, says international panel
If you care about reducing pesticide use, promoting agricultural biodiversity, and supporting small farmers, then you should also care about who’s amassing agricultural data. That’s the message of a new report from a group of sustainable food policy experts. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Net farm income to rebound in 2019 as farmers pare expenses
After hitting a pothole in 2018, U.S. net farm income will recover this year under the combined effects of financial belt-tightening and rising crop prices, said the USDA on Thursday. It projected net farm income of $77.6 billion in 2019, which would be the highest total since the commodity boom collapsed in 2014.
Farmland values up slightly in Midwest, down a bit in Plains
Ag bankers in the Midwest say farmland values were steady overall in 2018 and rose by 1 percent in the final three months of the year, reported the Chicago Federal Reserve on Thursday in its quarterly AgLetter.
In two ways, lawmakers say ‘no’ to relocation of USDA research agencies
Congress is about to send USDA funding for the rest of the fiscal year to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. It will also send him an unambiguous, although nonbinding, message: Don’t move the Economic Research Service or the National Institute of Food and Agriculture out of Washington.
Breakfast in classrooms, universal access boost school breakfast count
Breakfast participation rates at U.S. schools rose in the 2017-18 school year, and a report issued Wednesday by the Food Research & Action Center attributed that increase to decisions by schools to serve breakfast in classrooms and to offer meals to all pupils free of charge.
Traceability a ‘critical piece’ of the food safety network, says the FDA
In a look back at last November’s recall of romaine lettuce, the FDA says that although “one farm cannot explain the entire outbreak,” it is now able to identify potential sources of E. coli contamination by using technology that can track foods from field to consumer.
Grassley wants a solo regulation for E15 by summertime
The EPA says it will approve sale of E15 — which contains 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline — before the start of the summer driving season, as promised by President Trump. To make sure the agency meets its goal, Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said on Tuesday the EPA should propose a stripped-down regulation devoted solely to the corn-based biofuel.
North Carolina poultry industry overtakes hogs in waste, report says
North Carolina has been grappling for years with the enormous quantity of waste produced by its hog farms. But the state has more than twice as many poultry farms, and the state must consider the impact of poultry waste when thinking about how to regulate the agriculture industry, says a new report from the Environmental Working Group.
Depopulation woven into parts of rural America
Some 35 percent of rural counties are losing population, many of them in the Great Plains, and an equal portion are growing, say two University of New Hampshire researchers who say the recession of 2008-09 continues to sap rural America. "Depopulation seemingly is now built into the demographic fabric of some parts of rural America," write demographer Kenneth Johnson and policy fellow Daniel Lichter. "Yet, depopulation is far from universal."
Farmers grill Perdue for details about resumed exports to China
During a day trip to North Carolina, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was thanked on Monday for the billions of dollars the Trump administration is sending to farmers to mitigate the impact of trade war with China. But he was also prodded for a resumption in exports.
Gottlieb announces ‘significant modernization’ for FDA regulation of dietary supplements
On the same day the FDA warned companies against hawking dietary supplements for Alzheimer's disease, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced "one of the most significant modernizations of dietary supplement regulation and oversight in 25 years." Three out of every four Americans take dietary supplements regularly, contributing to an industry worth more than $40 billion.
Can Democrat presidential hopefuls win rural votes?
While the growing list of Democratic candidates for president is dominated by politicians from predominantly urban settings, some still have decent track records on agriculture and food issues. This policy experience could help them in rural communities, a weak spot for the party in 2016. But rural advocates caution that the candidates need to build on past proposals if they hope to steer rural voters away from Donald Trump and the GOP.
Potentially more profitable, cotton takes over soybean ground
Cotton growers plan to expand their plantings by a sharp 3 percent this spring, taking away land from soybeans, the most prominent casualty of the Sino-U.S. trade war, said the National Cotton Council over the weekend. Meanwhile, the USDA said the soybean stockpile will double in size by the time this year's crop is ready to harvest, creating the largest "carryover" ever.
Ag chairmen see low prices and trade war pressuring farm income
Persistently low commodity prices are pushing some farmers to the financial edge, said the chairmen of the Senate and House Agriculture committees on Thursday. "We are in a very tough spot," said Senate Ag chairman Pat Roberts. The House Ag chairman, Collin Peterson, said "we are not in crisis yet" but said that continued sour conditions would sap the finances of a growing number of farmers.
In Democrats’ Green New Deal, a nod to sustainable agriculture