Bills would allow CBD in supplements, foods, and beverages
Companion bills in the Senate and House would allow the hemp derivative cannabidiol, also known as CBD, to be used in dietary supplements, foods, and beverages, the bills’ four sponsors said on Thursday.
Aided by grassland signup, Conservation Reserve reaches enrollment limit
For the first time in more than a decade, the Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent in exchange for taking fragile cropland out of production, is full, thanks to surging interest in the Grassland CRP option, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. Grasslands will become the largest element in the reserve, with more than 9 million acres enrolled in the year ahead.
USDA and states to tackle anticompetitive practices
A new partnership between the USDA and 31 states will “help lower food costs for American families while also giving farmers and ranchers more and better options,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the White House on Wednesday.
U.S. gives $250 million to support Ukrainian agriculture
On the same day Russia aimed a "retribution" attack on the port of Odesa, USAID administrator Samantha Power announced an additional $250 million to support Ukraine's war-battered agricultural sector on Tuesday. The money, put into the U.S.-created Agriculture Resilience Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine), will help the nation's farmers produce, store, and export their agricultural products.
Farm bill ‘this year’ seems more likely than farm bill ‘on time’
Over the past couple of months, the common target for enactment of the new farm bill has become "this year," rather than the Sept. 30 expiration of the current law. Chairman Glenn Thompson of the House Agriculture Committee said on Tuesday that Sept. 30 was becoming uncomfortably close on the calendar.
Ukraine grain exports to suffer as Russia blockades Black Sea
The United States will work with allies to find new ways to get Ukrainian grain onto the world market following Russia's decision to effectively blockade its ports again, said an administration spokesman on Monday. Nonetheless, exports from Ukraine, a leading supplier of wheat, corn, and sunflower oil, are sure to decline with the demise of the year-old Black Sea grain agreement, he said.
With a second beef plant, Walmart raises concerns about vertical integration in cattle markets
Last month Walmart announced plans to open a plant in Olathe, Kansas, that will turn large cuts of beef into meatcase-ready steaks, filets, and more for its Midwest stores. This $257 million investment is the latest in Walmart’s efforts to build its own Angus beef supply chain, which began in 2019 when it partnered with processors and a ranching company to open its first case-ready beef plant in Georgia and launch an in-house Angus brand across the Southeast.<strong(No paywall)</strong>
Torres Small vows to help farms of all sizes succeed
Minutes after taking the oath of office on Monday, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small said the USDA should help farms of all sizes and types of production be successful. "That's why I'm so excited to have this job," said Torres Small, who received Senate confirmation last week for the No. 2 position.
What to feed ‘cultivated’ meat? Soybeans
The emergence of cell-cultured meat and plant-based meat substitutes may put some sizzle into soybeans, said a Purdue University paper. In particular, cell-cultured meat, when grown in a soy-based medium, uses more soybeans to produce a single unit of "cultivated" meat than go into producing a unit of beef.
Massachusetts animal welfare law is delayed again
With a lawsuit still unresolved, Massachusetts officials agreed in court to wait until Aug. 23 to enforce a state law that requires farmers to provide enough room for veal calves, breeding sows, and egg-laying hens to stand up, lie down, turn around or fully extend their limbs.
USDA seeks precision in measuring greenhouse gases and carbon reductions
As part of President Biden's goal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade, the USDA will spend $300 million to more accurately measure and verify GHG emissions and carbon sequestration by climate-smart agriculture, said the White House on Wednesday. Climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the project would help "the people on the front lines of the climate crisis to be part of the solution."
Senate confirms Torres Small as Agriculture deputy secretary
By more than a 10-to-1 margin, senators confirmed Xochitl Torres Small, the granddaughter of migrant farmworkers who became a lawyer and a U.S. lawmaker, as Agriculture deputy secretary on Tuesday. She is the first Hispanic to hold the No. 2 post at USDA, overseeing day-to-day operations at one of the largest federal departments.
High costs and softer markets weigh on outlook for farm economy
With interest rates sharply higher, farmers are increasingly relying on savings or tightening their belts instead of seeking bank loans to cover their expenses, according to ag lenders nationwide. “The outlook for the U.S. farm economy has moderated in recent months as risks of more limited profit opportunities have grown alongside softening in commodity markets and elevated production expenses,” said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
Consider alternatives to electric vehicles, say trade groups
The Biden administration should reconsider a proposed "tail pipe" rule that is projected to make electric vehicles (EVs) the best-selling new cars and pickup trucks by 2032, said an unusual alliance of 100 petroleum, ethanol, farm, and retail groups on Tuesday. The oil industry hinted at possible litigation over what one spokesman called "a de facto ban" on gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.
SNAP time limit could hit up to a million people
An estimated 500,000 people, more than 1 percent of current food stamp recipients, will be cut off SNAP beginning in October with the return of the 90-day limit on benefits for some able-bodied adults, said the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The figure may actually be closer to 1 million people, the group said.
Strong Senate support for Torres Small as Agriculture deputy secretary
President Biden's nominee for the No. 2 post at the Agriculture Department, Xochitl Torres Small, easily cleared a procedural hurdle on a 79-8 Senate roll call on Monday, opening the door to a confirmation vote expected on Tuesday. The granddaughter of migrant farmworkers, Torres Small would be the first Hispanic deputy secretary of the USDA.
Can Biden’s climate-smart ag program live up to the $3-billion hype?
This spring, the Biden administration began allocating $3.1 billion to hundreds of agriculture organizations, corporations, universities, and nonprofits for climate-smart projects. As Gabriel Popkin writes in FERN’s latest story, published with Yale Environment 360, “The USDA estimates that the 141 funded projects will, collectively over the project’s five-year lifetime, eliminate or sequester the equivalent of 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, on par with removing more than 2.4 million gas-powered cars from the road over the same period.”
Hot, dry, windy events on the rise in Kansas wheat fields
It’s been a record-breaking year for hot, dry, windy (HDW) events in the Midwest, with Kansas — the nation’s largest winter wheat producer — hit worse than any other state. The events, in which all three conditions occur simultaneously for a prolonged period, inevitably lead to drought and lowered grain yields. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Vilsack is confident agriculture will be first to net-zero emissions
Climate change is a worldwide challenge, but it also offers the opportunity to boost farm income for those who adopt climate-smart practices, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at a food and agriculture conference on Wednesday. “I can guarantee you farmers will embrace this,” he said. “I am truly confident. I think agriculture gets to net-zero before most of the major industries.”
Put the whole-field Conservation Reserve out to pasture, proposes analyst
Congress has a once-in-a-generation opportunity in the new farm bill to remodel the land-idling Conservation Reserve to focus on small tracts that merit attention and to encourage carbon capture on grasslands, said a farm policy expert on Monday. The reserve was created in 1985 to retire entire fields or even farms of fragile land from crop production, but those "general" enrollments have fallen steeply since 2007.