Kansas pilots an unusual technique to save its reservoirs from soil erosion
Kansas officials are in talks with the U.S Army Corps of Engineers about piloting a technique known as "water injection dredging" to keep one of the state's drinking water reservoirs from filling up with sediment — which is partly the result of soil erosion from farm fields along stream banks. Tuttle Creek Lake, which supplies drinking water to a third of the state's population including Topeka and Manhattan, Kansas, is already more than 50 percent full of sediment. The issue has forced the state to address the problem, which is not uncommon in reservoirs around the country.
White house sets hunger conference for Sept. 28
The Biden administration on Monday set a date of Sept. 28 for the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in Washington, D.C. The conference will be the first of its kind in more than 50 years.
As herring decline, tribes challenge Alaska’s respected fisheries program
Each spring, in Alaska's Sitka Sound, herring return to spawn, touching off a long-running clash between commercial fishers and the Tlingit tribe, whose subsistence harvest of herring roe has been going on for millennia, as Brett Simpson explains in FERN's latest story, published with The Nation.
Gov. Newsom won’t support farmworker union voting bill
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday he “cannot support” a bill that many farmworkers say would prevent their employers from intimidating them during union elections, disappointing the United Farm Workers union, which had launched a weeks-long march to the state capitol in support of the legislation.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Record subsidies but weaker ag sector during pandemic year
Farmers faced higher expenses and earned less money from their crops and livestock than initially expected in 2020, due to market disruptions caused by the pandemic, said a USDA Covid-19 working paper. By many standards, such as debt-to-asset ratio, the financial strength of the sector softened in 2020, despite $45.7 billion in federal subsidies — the largest ever — said USDA economists.
After relentless increases, food inflation rate stands still
Higher consumer demand and lower supplies are driving up pork and egg prices, but after increasing for six months in a row, the U.S. food inflation rate for 2022 is unchanged this month, said the USDA on Thursday.
Vilsack: We will act quickly on aid to financially distressed farmers
A congressionally created $3.1 billion debt relief program for financially distressed farmers who borrowed money through USDA programs could be in place within weeks, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. Speed is vital, he said, because a moratorium on debt collections and foreclosures could expire in October.
Thanks to war, wheat-soy double crop shines
Last spring, the Biden administration encouraged U.S. farmers to grow more wheat in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and said it would make crop insurance more widely available for growers who wanted to team winter wheat with soybeans. Now there’s another inducement: Double-crop wheat and soybeans would be more profitable in 2023 than standalone corn or soybeans, say university economists.
Report urges ‘radical systemic’ change in U.S. food and nutrition policy
With the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health weeks away, a broad group of advocates, academics and experts on Tuesday called for "radical systemic changes" in order to address food insecurity, diet-related disease and health inequities.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
USDA offers $100 million for biofuel infrastructure
The government will pay up to half of the cost of installing pumps, tanks and other equipment at gas stations and other retailers that want to sell higher blends of biofuels, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday. Projects would receive cost-share grants drawn from $100 million available through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIPP).
USDA extends WIC waivers for infant formula to Dec. 31
With shortages continuing in parts of the country, the USDA extended on Tuesday a series of waivers that give WIC households additional options for buying infant formula. The waivers were set to expire on Sept. 30 but now would run through the end of the year.
Organic transition package includes mentors, crop insurance subsidies
The Agriculture Department will spend $300 million on an initiative to help farmers transition to organic production and on "pinpointed" market development projects, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. It would be the single largest investment ever in organic agriculture by the USDA "and a big step in the right direction," said the Organic Trade Association.
Danone needs to do more, say organic dairy farmers
Organic agriculture groups challenged Danone North America on Monday to match the USDA commitment to support organic dairy farming in the Northeast. "We urge Danone to invest at least $20 million in this region, matching the USDA taxpayer investment to aid organic dairy farmers overcome this crisis," said six organic groups on the anniversary of Danone's decision to terminate contracts with 89 dairy farms in the region.
Pandemic amplified global rise in food insecurity
More and more people were going hungry or lacking reliable access to food even before Covid-19 hit in 2020, and "the main effect of the pandemic was to sharply increase the deteriorating trend in food security" in low- and middle-income nations, said an Iowa think tank. "Most of the increase in the number of food-insecure people from Covid-19 in 2020 was driven by large Asian countries, particularly India, Bangladesh and Pakistan."
Fewer hog farms, but far more hogs per farm
In the space of a generation, U.S. hog production has transformed, even if the Midwest, with Iowa foremost, is still the leader, said a new USDA report. There were half as many hog farms in the country in 2017 as there were in 1997, and the largest farms, often specialized operations, raised 93 percent of the pigs.
Bird flu slashes egg and turkey exports
While beef and broiler meat exports surged in the first half of this year, egg exports plummeted 38 percent, turkey 20 percent and pork 18 percent, said USDA economists. Eggs and turkeys "were negatively impacted by the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), according to the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook, issued monthly.
Analysis: As Colorado River dwindles, water expert says ag must reform
On Tuesday, the Interior Department’s new water restrictions for the Colorado River offered a warning: If stakeholders fail to make further cuts in usage, one of the nation’s most vital watersheds could face, according to assistant secretary Tanya Trujillo, “catastrophic collapse.” Robert Glennon, one of the country’s leading experts in water policy and law, discusses what it means and what comes next. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Despite stricter rules, thousands of complaints of dicamba damage, says EPA
A week before the 2020 presidential election, the EPA issued new instructions on the use of dicamba that it said would tame the notoriously volatile weedkiller. But complaints of damage to crops in nearby fields and to plants in parks, wildlife refuges, and residences continued to roll in, said the EPA on Thursday during a review of the herbicide.
Gala and Red Delicious reign, but watch out for Honeycrisp and Pink Lady
Apple growers are shifting toward varieties such as Honeycrisp and Pink Lady, although Gala and Red Delicious are still the industry’s powerhouses, accounting for nearly three of every 10 apples grown in America, said the U.S. Apple Association on Thursday.
Biogas incentives favor factory farms, critics say
Manure digesters are among the best-known ways for feedlots and dairy farms to capture greenhouse gas emissions and, in some cases, sell biomethane as a fuel. The climate, healthcare, and tax law signed this week by President Biden offers a new incentive to the biogas industry at the same time that the environmental credentials of on-farm digesters are being questioned.