Covid-19
As meat plants slow, U.S. will help growers kill livestock
The government offered to help livestock producers locate contractors skilled in killing herds or flocks of animals and to provide cost-share funding for their disposal because the coronavirus pandemic has shut down packing plants and reduced consumer demand. The National Pork Board held a webinar on Sunday that discussed step by step "emergency depopulation and disposal" of hogs.<strong>(No paywall)</strong
More coronavirus tests, broadband needed in rural America, say Senate Democrats
Covid-19 cases have been reported in more than two-thirds of rural counties, said a report by Senate Democrats, who called for nationwide rapid-response testing for the coronavirus and for expansion of high-speed internet to maintain commerce and healthcare in rural areas. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Cattle industry asks for no USDA limit on coronavirus aid
The USDA should abandon thoughts of a $125,000 or $250,000 per-person limit on federal payments to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on agriculture, said the cattle industry on Thursday. It was the first public challenge by a farm group to the Trump administration's plan to send $16 billion in cash to farmers and ranchers by June. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Hormel offers $500 Covid-19 bonus to steady workers
Up to $7 million will be paid in bonuses to "team members who continue to produce food during the Covid-19 outbreak," said Hormel Foods on Thursday. The money will be paid in July to employees at Hormel's meat and processed food plants and would follow a $4 million bonus paid in April. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
SNAP enrollment of 50 million possible if pandemic is as bad as Great Recession
The huge job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic — 22 million Americans out of work in just four weeks — may be followed by the highest SNAP enrollment ever as people seek help buying food. Participation would near 50 million people if the same portion of the population receives food stamps as during the Great Recession. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Mapping Covid-19 in meatpacking plants
FERN staff writer Leah Douglas has created a map of meatpacking and food processing plants where cases of Covid-19 have been reported. As of midday Wednesday, at least 11 meatpacking plants and two processed food plants have closed, and a total of 40 have reported cases of Covid-19. At least 1,950 workers are confirmed sick and at least 11 have died, the story says.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Cats in New York State are first U.S. pets infected with coronavirus
Two weeks after veterinarians confirmed Covid-19 in a tiger at the Bronx Zoo, the CDC and USDA said two cats in New York State were the first pets in the United States to be diagnosed with coronavirus infections. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Coronavirus forces California farmworkers to scramble for safe drinking water
Some 1 million residents of California farmworker communities have relied for years on bottled water because their tap water is tainted with nitrate and other agricultural pollutants. Now, as stores ration water to prevent hoarding during the coronavirus crisis, these residents are relying on friends and family, or driving many miles to bigger towns in search of water, reports Liza Gross in FERN's latest story. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
The supermarket of the future may be smaller and fresher
Farmworkers will be exempt from immigration restrictions
Agriculture eligible for coronavirus injury loans
Farmers to get up to $250,000 each in coronavirus cash, with more possible
Farmers will get cash payments of up to $250,000 apiece — possibly more, depending on the rules — to survive an estimated 20-percent drop in farm income this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump announced $16 billion in direct agricultural aid and said additional money might be be spent this summer to bolster the sector.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Hunger relief will come in the form of the ‘harvest box’
The government will spend $300 million a month to buy fresh produce, dairy and meat products that will be packaged into a box for food banks and other charities to give to hungry Americans, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Some $3 billion will be spent on purchases of surplus foods for donation in an initiative that resembles the "America's Harvest Box" idea promoted by Perdue for delivering a portion of SNAP benefits.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Two more states and D.C. are approved for online SNAP grocery purchases
SNAP recipients in West Virginia, North Carolina and the District of Columbia soon will be able to purchase groceries online as part of a pilot initiated a year ago to test the idea, said the USDA. With the approvals, 39 percent of SNAP recipients are in a state that is part of the pilot. Interest in the pilot has risen with concerns about limiting exposure to the coronavirus.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
A trip to the grocery is risky business for most Americans
One year of coronavirus relief could match two years of trade war aid
The government could spend $25 billion, or more, to help the farm sector survive the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic slowdown, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday. If that happens, the administration will have spent more than $50 billion in three years to mitigate the impact of catastrophic disease and trade war on U.S. agriculture. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Pork industry group says hog farmers are facing a crisis
New states in SNAP online pilot program going live this month and next
The newest states added to the Department of Agriculture’s SNAP online purchasing pilot program are planning to roll out the service by the end of April or mid-May, according to internal documents and news reports. Meanwhile, more states are eager to join the program as the coronavirus pandemic highlights disparities in food access. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>