Merrigan moves to sustainable foods post at Arizona State
Deputy agriculture secretary during the Obama era, Kathleen Merrigan was one of Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world" in 2010. Now, she is the first executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. She moved to Arizona State after working as executive director of sustainability at George Washington University.
Trump’s mid-term campaign map mostly omits Midwest
North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a farm bill negotiator, is a White House target for defeat in the mid-term elections but President Trump will generally steer clear of the Midwest and races involving other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Officials familiar with the president's plans said on Tuesday that North Dakota, where Heitkamp is in a tough race for re-election, is a likely Trump campaign stop on Tuesday but did not mention Indiana, where Joe Donnelly, another Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, is also in a toss-up race.
Pencil in September 5 for farm bill meeting
The Senate has a busy schedule for next month but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday there will be time to pass a final version of the 2018 farm bill. Farm bill negotiators are expected to meet on September 5, according to Capitol Hill sources, although the official line is, "We haven't announced a date yet."
Dicamba takes a toll again on neighboring fields, say weed specialists
Monsanto proudly says its low-volatility formulations of dicamba, coupled with cotton and soybean varieties genetically modified to tolerate doses of the herbicide, is an effective tool against invasive weeds. But weed scientists report that damage to neighboring fields and susceptible nearby crops is a recurring problem this year. "I have never seen a herbicide that has so easily and frequently slipped the leash," wrote Tennessee weed scientist Larry Steckel in Delta Farm Press.
Permanent fix needed for SNAP purchases at farmers markets
Far more than farmer revenue is at stake in the threatened loss of SNAP sales at 40 percent of U.S. farmers markets, said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition on Monday. "We believe that farmers’ ability to serve low-income families is not just important for their bottom line but also critical to genuinely healthy food systems," said the grassroots alliance in calling for a long-term solution that assures food stamp recipients can use their EBT cards to buy fresh foods at farmers markets.
Canada expects to be back soon at NAFTA negotiations
The three-corner negotiations for the new NAFTA have looked bilateral for a few weeks, because the United States has been meeting with Mexico. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canada expects to return to the talks very soon. Agriculture has been a stubborn and often over-looked issue for the nations. The Trump administration reportedly dropped a proposal for seasonal restrictions on imports of Mexican produce.
Tyson to buy fast-food supplier Keystone Foods in $2-billion deal
Tyson, the largest U.S. meat company, will buy Keystone Foods for $2.16 billion. Keystone's prior owner, Marfrig Global Foods, announced the brand was up for sale earlier this year. The deal will face regulatory review in at least the U.S. and China.
Maryland’s crab industry struggles in absence of temporary work visas
As a result of a Trump administration immigration policy, crab houses on the Eastern Shore of Maryland have been short on labor this summer. Midway through the crabbing season, some in the industry are losing customers and profits in what might be the new reality for an industry dependent on immigrant labor.
Top Republicans in House and Senate press on SNAP work requirements
A small group of negotiators will write the final version of the $87-billion-a-year farm bill in the weeks ahead, and they are under pressure from high-ranking conservatives in Congress to require millions of people to work at least 20 hours a week to qualify for food stamps. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said over the weekend that work requirements are "really important" in a booming economy.
Claim: Monsanto and EPA slowed a safety review of glyphosate
Officials within EPA worked to slow a safety review of glyphosate, the most widely used weedkiller in the world, in an apparent response to emails from Monsanto, which makes the chemical, said HuffPost. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of HHS, said in early 2015 that it planned to publish a toxicological review of glyphosate before winter of that year, but the review has yet to appear.
The bidding war begins for ERS and NIFA
Kansas City should be the new home of two agencies that USDA plans to move out of Washington, say three Missouri lawmakers, joining the expected bidding war for the 620 high-paying jobs that constitute the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. While the boost to a local economy is alluring, some researchers wonder if the relocation is part of a plan to slash the size and funding of the research agencies.
Five ways a new fish bill could hurt marine management
Republicans claim the House version of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a.k.a. the fish bill, would strike “a proper balance between the biological needs of fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen.” Environmentalists disagree. As the fight moves to the Senate, we look at five ways the House bill could damage fisheries management. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
What does the Monsanto verdict mean for thousands of pending cases?
Last week’s $289-million verdict against Monsanto was a stunner. How might it affect the more than 4,000 other plaintiffs facing off against the agrichemical giant on charges that the company’s popular herbicide Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a common cancer that will likely kill nearly 20,000 people in the U.S. this year? (No paywall)
Proposed SNAP changes ‘ignore participants’ dignity,’ says think tank
As House and Senate farm bill conferees try to resolve their differences over SNAP, the Berkeley Food Institute published a policy brief that shows how some proposed changes to the program would undermine the very things that make SNAP successful.
Public health experts call on farm bill conferees to reject SNAP work requirements
More than 200 health and medical professionals from across the country sent a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate agriculture committees urging the farm bill conferees to reject the House bill’s expansion of SNAP work requirements.
Stakeholders weigh in on Perdue’s relocation plan
Last week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced plans to move two key USDA agencies out of the Washington area. This week, the debate over the proposal, both pro and con, kicked off.
Wheeler ‘working very hard’ on year-round E15, says Grassley
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is “working very hard to find a solution” for the year-round sale of E15, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Grassley also said that an earlier proposal that would allow refiners to earn the credits called RINs for exports is “no longer on the table” at the EPA.
USDA to buy $50 million worth of milk
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it will buy $50 million worth of fluid milk for distribution to food assistance programs. The purchases would mark the first time that the agency has ever bought fluid milk under a 1935 law that enables the federal government to support farmers by buying up surpluses.
Anxiety mounts in farm country as details lag on Trump’s tariff-driven bailout
With commodity prices dropping and farm income projected to plummet, America’s farmers are growing increasingly anxious over the lack of specifics about how much money they’re going to get, and when they’re going to get it, from President Trump’s $12-billion bailout, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Farmer support for Trump continues to decline, new poll says
More than a third of farmers view President Trump less favorably than they did before the current trade war, according to a new poll by Farm Journal. The survey of 2,300 farmers also found that only a slim majority of those who supported Trump in the presidential election would vote for him again.