Greater focus on sustainable food and ag carries global benefits — Vilsack
As a step to expand the global food supply and mitigate global warming, countries should spend more money on climate-smart food and agriculture innovations and use public-private partnerships to speed the adoption of promising practices, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday. As examples, he cited the international AIM for Climate initiative and the Biden administration's climate-smart agriculture project.
Agriculture adviser Rod Snyder leaves EPA on Wednesday
Rod Snyder, the first director of EPA's agriculture and rural affairs office, said on Monday that he was leaving the agency after nearly three years as its agriculture adviser. EPA administrator Michael Regan said farmers, ranchers, and rural communities "will always have a seat at EPA's table" thanks to Snyder's influence.
Ag trade deficit tops $15 billion with four months to go
The U.S. agricultural trade deficit was a record $17 billion in fiscal year 2023 and is certain to break records again this year, according to preliminary federal data released on Monday. The cumulative deficit totaled $15.2 billion at the end of May, with four months remaining in fiscal year 2024.
Larger-than-average ‘dead zone’ is forecast for Gulf of Mexico
Based on streamflow and nutrient runoff from the Midwest and Plains, federal scientists forecast a "dead zone" of 5,827 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, 50 percent larger than last year and three times bigger than the 2035 target for reducing nutrient pollution. This year's dead zone would be the equivalent of 3.7 million acres, or 14 percent of the farmland in Illinois.
Report: Farm policies fuel grasslands destruction, undermine climate and biodiversity goals
The U.S.’s grasslands are critical habitats for pollinators and birds and hold vast amounts of carbon in their soils. But our agricultural policies — particularly the Renewable Fuel Standard and crop insurance subsidies — are incentivizing the rapid destruction of these ecosystems, the World Wide Fund for Nature said in a report published Monday. (No paywall)
Vilsack says innovation key to fighting climate change, food insecurity
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday touted new investments and partnerships to address climate change and food security through agricultural innovation. Speaking at the opening of the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) Summit, he said the initiative has secured more than $13 billion in public and private investments for climate-smart agriculture, reflecting what he called a “global appetite to accelerate innovation.” (No paywall)
Climate a top issue despite turnover in House, says Vilsack
Food and agriculture will play an ever-larger role in climate negotiations on the world stage, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack after participating in the UN climate summit underway in Egypt. Global warming also will be a top issue for the U.S. farm sector, he said, notwithstanding skeptical views among some Republican lawmakers.
Report: Land use and farming have crucial role to play in avoiding climate catastrophe
A major UN climate report released on Monday lays out a broad array of strategies for limiting emissions and mitigating climate change. While the most critical priority is to quickly phase out the use of fossil fuels, the report outlined many opportunities to help limit climate change by altering how land is managed and food is produced. And, critically, most of these options are “available and ready to deploy,” the authors wrote. (No paywall)
Less food, more wildfires in North America with climate change
Global warming "is causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world," said a UN climate change report on Monday. Hotter weather and shifts in rainfall are likely to reduce food production in North America and are a risk to food security, said a fact sheet on climate change's impacts on the continent.
As globe warms, risk of agricultural drought rises, says climate report
Without immediate and broad-scale action to limit greenhouse gas emissions, global warming almost certainly will result in heat waves, changes in rainfall patterns and agricultural droughts, said a report by the UN climate change panel on Monday. Agricultural and ecological droughts were likely …
Agriculture linked to one-fifth of U.S. air pollution deaths
Air pollution is the largest environmental mortality risk in the United States, responsible for 100,000 premature deaths annually, and one-fifth of those deaths are linked to agriculture, said research published by the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. Scientists from five universities …
Trump trade rollercoaster heads back up but with conflicting claims
After a weekend in which Trump lashed out angrily at China, calling its leader "an enemy," Trump was making nice again at the end of the G7 meeting on Monday, praising Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "great man" and saying prospects for a trade deal looked brighter. Soybean prices rose on the news.
In new ag platform, Warren pledges to take on Big Ag
Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced her agriculture policy platform Wednesday, three days before she is set to participate in a Democratic presidential candidates’ forum in rural Iowa. The platform calls for curtailing consolidation in agriculture by breaking up big agribusiness companies, reversing agriculture mega-mergers, and more. (No paywall)
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.
‘Unusually early spring’ is rolling northward across U.S.
Spring officially arrives March 20, three weeks from now, but spring-like weather is arriving two to three weeks early in the southern United States and "is likely to keep rolling north," says the U.S. Geological Survey. The Interior Department agency, which links early arrival of warm weather to climate change, says the change in timing poses challenges for human health and for food production.
Deforestation gathers speed in Amazon basin
Nearly 2 million acres — 3,100 square miles — of forested land were cleared for agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon in the year ending July 2016, while Bolivia has cut down 865,000 acres, equal to 1,351 square miles, annually, says The New York Times. "A decade after the 'Save the Rainforest' movement forced changes that dramatically slowed deforestation across the Amazon basin, activity is roaring back in some of the biggest expanses of forests in the world," said the newspaper.
Dual challenge for agriculture: Fight climate change while adapting to it
Farmers, foresters, fishers and graziers generate one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gases, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in its annual State of Food and Agriculture report. FAO says the chief message of the 2016 edition is, "Agriculture must both contribute more to combating climate change while bracing to overcome its impacts."
Oil and gas is top methane emitter, not agriculture
The jokes about bovine belches melting the polar ice caps can be shelved for the moment, according to a new EPA annual report on U.S. greenhouse-gas production.