USDA launches program promoting organic dairy products
Agriculture Undersecretary Jenny Moffitt announced a $15 million program to expand sales of organic dairy products to schools and youth programs on Monday. “Expanding access to a variety of organic dairy products in schools and community programs promotes healthy consumption habits and strengthens local dairy markets,” said Moffitt during a trip to southeastern Vermont.
One in six retail food dollars was spent on ‘natural’ food
Consumers spend more on foods labeled "natural" than for items with the "USDA Organic" seal on them, said three USDA economists who looked into usage of the word "natural" on food labels. They said scanner records and other data indicated that 16 percent of retail food expenditures were for foods labeled "natural."
USDA to publish organic enforcement rule — report
The largest update to the National Organic Program since its creation, the Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule, will be published as early as Wednesday, said The Packer. It said USDA confirmed on Tuesday that publication was imminent of the rule that has been under consideration since summer 2020.
USDA closes loopholes on origin of organic dairy livestock
U.S. ends organic recognition agreement with India
Disaster package asks $24 billion for agriculture
One fourth of the $99 billion in disaster aid requested by President Biden would be funneled through the USDA, with the bulk of the $24 billion devoted to offsetting lost crop production and reduced quality of crops. Agriculture deputy secretary Xochitl Torres Small was to testify in support of the request before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
USDA announces $235 million in disaster relief
Payments totaling $235 million are being issued this week to producers hit by natural disasters, including Hurricane Milton in Florida, said the Agriculture Department. The payments make up the bulk of $375 million in spending announced for various USDA programs on Wednesday.
Agriculture losses from Helene are significant, says Vilsack
The USDA will work with farmers and rural communities to help them recover from “significant” losses caused by Hurricane Helene, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. As an example, he said, “We’re working with crop insurance companies now to expedite payments so farmers will receive help in November, if not sooner.”
USDA says $3 billion available to offset 2022 disasters
Row crop and specialty crop growers are eligible for more than $3 billion from the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) to offset losses from natural disasters in 2022, said the USDA. Administrator Zach Ducheneaux of the Farm Services Agency said 2022 "was another year of weather-related challenges — for some, the third consecutive year or more in a row."
Senate Ag panelist Bennet coasts towards re-election as GOP threat fades
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, viewed as one of the most vulnerable senators at the start of the electoral season, is a safe bet for re-election, says political analyst Larry Sabato, because "the GOP is just not very competitive in Colorado this year." Similarly, Roll Call newspaper said Bennet, a member of the Agriculture Committee, "is now favored to retain his seat."
Republican dog fight may boost Sen. Bennet, hurt Grassley
Democrat Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, won the Senate race in Colorado in 2010 with a plurality of 48 percent in a seven-way race. Handicappers say Colorado will be one of the most competitive states this year yet Bennet's prospects are brightening - and could improve markedly due to Republican infighting.
Higher crop, flood insurance costs with climate change
The Government Accountability Office says cost of the taxpayer-subsidized crop and flood insurance programs could rise substantially in coming decades due to climate change.
Senators urge more market opening by Japan
Eighteen US senators sign letter to USTR Michael Froman saying United States should press Japan to increase market access for US farm exports.
Boozman calls for ‘significant’ farm aid this year
Congress should authorize "significant economic assistance" to farmers before the end of this year to offset lower commodity prices and high production costs, said the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday. "Federal assistance must support agricultural producers facing market losses and it needs to happen quickly," said Arkansas Sen. John Boozman with Congress scheduled to adjourn in three weeks.
Stabenow files farm bill with $2 billion in speedy payments
The government would send $2 billion to financially beleaguered farmers almost immediately under a mammoth farm bill proposed by Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on Monday — months sooner than the Republican-written bill awaiting a House vote. With only a few weeks left in the congressional session, Republican senators said Stabenow acted too late to enact a new farm bill, already 13 months late.
Scott, Boozman press for farm bill this year
The farm bill "isn't dead yet," said Georgia Rep. David Scott, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, on Monday, although time is running out for Congress to act this year. A spokesman said the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, was talking to "anyone he can to discuss how we can move the ball forward."
Big cane and beet output add up to record U.S. sugar production
U.S. sugar production will be the highest ever in the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, thanks to peak sugarbeet and sugarcane output, said a monthly USDA report. Production was forecast at 9.514 million tons, raw value, a nearly 4 percent increase from the current year.
A long wait for farm subsidies to arrive
The ongoing decline in commodity prices is expected to pinch farmer revenue, but a commonly proposed solution — higher crop support rates — would provide little immediate relief, said farm policy expert Jonathan Coppess on Thursday.
Food inflation dips lower, to 2.2 percent
Steaks, pork chops, and milk cost less than they did a year ago, said the Labor Department on Tuesday in reporting that grocery prices rose by 1 percent in the past 12 months. The overall food inflation rate, which includes groceries, carry-out food, and restaurant meals, was 2.2 percent, the lowest rate since May 2021.
Food inflation rate falls for 14th month in a row
The U.S. food inflation rate was 3.3 percent over the past 12 months, one-third of its peak in August 2022, said the Labor Department on Tuesday. The food inflation rate was down 0.4 points from the previous month's annualized rate of 3.7 percent and down for the 14th month in a row.
Food inflation rate is lowest in nearly two years
The U.S. food inflation rate, on the decline since last fall, has fallen to 4.9 percent, aided by the second month in a row of modestly lower prices for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, said the government on Thursday. It was the lowest food inflation rate since September 2021.
UK’s Johnson opens door to GMO foods from the U.S., as he seeks trade deal
Britain-EU break-up leaves farmers short of workers
The "Brexodus" — the British withdrawal from the EU — "is being felt particularly acutely in the agriculture industry, which relies heavily on manual laborers, especially from poor European countries like Romania and Bulgaria," says the New York Times. Thousands of foreign-born workers have left England, or have decided not to return to harvest-time jobs on farms or other industries.
British farmers urge EU to reauthorize glyphosate for ‘maximum period possible’
In a joint letter, British farm groups urged the European Union to reauthorize use of the weedkiller glyphosate "for the maximum period possible." The European Commission has proposed a five-year extension of the license for glyphosate, and an EC committee could discuss the future of the herbicide at a meeting expected on Thursday, said news site Farming UK.
Red light, green light: France rolls out color codes for food labels
French shoppers will be able to tell at a glance if food products are healthy or not under a voluntary "Nutri Score" color code for food products, ranging from a dark green "A," for the best foods, to a red "E," for the worst, says Euractiv. The ministries of health, agriculture and economy jointly introduced the plan, saying it would allow nutritional value to be weighed as easily as price at the grocery store.
DOE official: Carbon capture is key element in U.S. net-zero goal
Now an infant industry, carbon capture will play a significant role in achieving President Biden’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, said administration officials on Thursday. Senators from coal and gas states said the administration, after including incentives in the 2022 climate law, should unleash carbon capture projects.
California can do more to prepare for future floods, says think tank
As Golden State farmers brace for another rainy winter, a new report is urging state officials to aggressively prepare for wet years as much as it prepares for dry ones. Climate change is expected to fuel both more extreme droughts and more winter storms. And while California has made progress in managing drought conditions, it has a long way to go in managing floods. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
In California’s Central Valley, the ‘Big Melt’ might be less catastrophic than feared
California’s historic snowmelt is refilling the Central Valley’s Tulare Lake Basin and reviving what was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi, but state officials now expect the flooding will be less devastating than previously feared.
Report: Arizona must deploy a diverse range of strategies to solve water crisis
Arizona’s water crisis is getting worse, and on Wednesday, environmental groups warned that there’s no “silver-bullet” solution that can fix it. In a new report by the Water for Arizona Coalition, analysts urge the state to embrace a diverse range of water conservation and management strategies — and to start investing in them fast. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Trump again proposes large cuts in crop insurance
Three weeks after President Trump boasted of protecting crop insurance in the 2018 farm bill, the White House proposed a 31 percent cut in the federally subsidized program on Monday. The cuts, part of the administration's budget package for fiscal 2021, were proposed — and rejected by lawmakers — in previous years.
Trump proposes 33-percent cut in crop insurance
Five weeks after he told the largest U.S. farm group that he supports "a [farm] bill that includes crop insurance," President Trump asked Congress to slash the taxpayer-subsidized program by a third. The $26-billion cut over a decade was part of a fiscal 2019 budget package that called for the eradication of USDA's first green-payment program and for denial of crop subsidies and land stewardship payments to people with more than $500,000 in adjusted gross income.
CBO lists ways to carve savings out of costly crop insurance
As Congress expanded the role of crop insurance over the past couple of decades, the cost of the federally subsidized program tripled, to $9 billion annually over the past five years. The Congressional Budget Office says that if lawmakers are worried about costs, they could alter the program to cut outlays by 25 percent or more, with the likely consequence of reducing participation in the largest program in the farm safety net.
Crop insurance cut 36 percent in Trump budget
As Congress prepares to write a new farm bill, President Trump proposed a 36-percent cut in the federally subsidized crop insurance program over the coming decade, a far more sweeping set of reforms than what was proposed during the Obama era and rejected by farm-state lawmakers. Crop insurance is the largest of USDA's farm support programs at nearly $8 billion a year.
On Bangladesh shrimp farms, climate adaptation gone wrong
Since the 1980s, as rising seas and storm surges started pushing saltwater through the banks of tidal rivers and ruining their crops, rice farmers in Bangladesh, backed by the government, began shifting to shrimp farming. As Stephen Robert Miller writes in FERN’s latest story, published with The Guardian, “It was a way to adapt, and for a while it worked. Commercial shrimp, known as ‘white gold,’ has become one of the country’s most valuable export commodities.” <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
In Maine, residents rise up against industrial-scale aquaculture
A proposal by a Norwegian-owned company to build two massive salmon farms in the middle of a pristine bay next to Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine, has the community in revolt over fears that they will foul the water and ruin the local fishing and shellfish industries.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Environmentalists, fishermen protest bill to allow open-ocean aquaculture
Environmental advocates, fishermen, and residents of several states on the Gulf of Mexico appeared at a virtual hearing on Wednesday protesting a bill and other measures to expand ocean aquaculture. Under the new legislation, which is looking to settle a long-running debate over the future of aquaculture in the United States, fish farming would be allowed in federal waters.
Trump administration seeks overhaul of fishing industry with new executive order
As the coronavirus pandemic ravages the meatpacking sector, the Trump administration late last week made a major announcement about another essential food industry: seafood. With a late-afternoon executive order, the administration laid out a pathway for the approval of ocean aquaculture in federal waters, a controversial departure from existing policy that could reshape the country’s seafood production.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Sarasota officials oppose EPA aquaculture pilot project
The city commissioners of Sarasota, Florida, decided Monday to send a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency opposing an aquaculture pilot project that sought to farm fish about 45 miles off the city's coast. In the letter, signed by Sarasota mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch, the commissioners file "strong and formal opposition" to the project.
Blogger releases sensitive info about Malheur occupation
Prosecutors in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge investigation in Oregon are calling on a judge to order blogger Gary Hunt to remove sensitive material about the trial’s informants from his website Outpost of Freedom.
Zinke is no zealot, but ranchers and greens have much to worry about
Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican, is reportedly president-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the U.S. Department of the Interior. Zinke, who has both voted against the transfer of public lands to states and advocated for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund — a priority for sportsmen — is not as divisive a pick as other rumored contenders, such as oil-friendly Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin or former Alaska Gov. Sarah “drill baby drill” Palin. That said, environmentalists aren’t exactly cheering, either.
Malheur verdict: Fire bell or false alarm?
The acquittal of by federal jurors of seven leaders of the 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon is hailed, alternately, as a verdict for liberty or an invitation to anarchy. "Most onlookers blamed prosecutorial over-reach — that the government stretched its case too far to fit the events at the refuge — or to stumbles in the presentation of evidence," said the New York Times.
Let the show begin: Bundy trial starts this week
The trial for Bundy brothers, Ammon and Ryan, and six other defendants charged in the 41-day occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon starts today, reports High Country News.
GOP platform may support shifting federal land to states
The committee writing the party platform for the Republican National Convention gave its support to "legislation providing the timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to the states," says Oregon Public Broadcasting. "The language echoes some of the demands of the armed occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon earlier this year."