Tom Vilsack

Time is running out for Congress to agree on the new farm bill, now a year overdue, but a "common sense, reasonable, practical" package is still possible, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday, declaring himself an optimist. "I think there's better odds than not that we get it done," he said at a White House conference.

The USDA is arguing for broader farmer eligibility for a share of tax credits of up to $1.25 a gallon for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), said Agriculture Secretary Tom Viilsack on Thursday. Farm groups have called for a broader array of crops and farming practices to be included in the 45Z tax credit regulations now being formulated by the Biden administration.

After repeated delays, House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson said on Tuesday that his committee, "without a doubt, will mark up a farm bill before Memorial Day." Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee plan to release a farm bill framework soon after the House panel acts, but Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat, cautioned, "We haven't set an exact timeline" to move the bill.

The Agriculture Department, whose programs range from crop subsidies to public nutrition, would reform its operations to assure fair treatment of everyone under the recommendations of an administration-appointed commission, delivered in a final report on Thursday. Co-chair Ertharin Cousin said the goal was “to ensure equity becomes part of the DNA as well as the culture of this great organization.”

Ethanol will be included when the Biden administration spells out eligibility for lucrative tax credits for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and the incentives will reflect the impact of climate-smart farming practices, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told ethanol makers on Tuesday. "We're working very hard to make that happen, and I'm confident that it will happen."

The decades-long decline in the number of U.S. farms can be stanched by adopting climate-smart farming practices and crops, increasing biofuel production, and expanding local and regional marketing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the largest U.S. farm group on Monday. There are 2 million farms in operation today; the number of farms peaked at 6.8 million in the 1930s.

Farmers are clamoring to enroll in the USDA's climate mitigation programs, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday, while leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committees made it official: December is the new target for passage of the farm bill. The 2018 farm law expires on Sept. 30, but there is little peril until dairy subsidies terminate on Dec. 31, said House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson.

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)

The Biden administration cannot be trusted to spend tax dollars prudently, and Congress ought to block the USDA’s access to the $30 billion reserve fund it used to launch a climate mitigation initiative, said the chair of a House Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday. The Republican-controlled Congress restricted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s access to the fund for five years during the Obama administration.

Congress should build into the new farm bill pathways that will allow small and midsized producers to make a living from the land rather than having to rely on off-farm income, as is common now, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. In a speech to the National Farmers Union convention, Vilsack used the administration's initiatives to develop markets for climate-smart products, expand local meat processing and encourage local marketing of farm goods as examples of ways to create or increase farmers' revenue streams.

From its top officers down to its local offices, the Agriculture Department needs to institutionalize equity in its programs and its operations, said an administration-appointed commission on Tuesday after a year-long study of the USDA. Sometimes called "the last plantation" because of racial bias in its operations, the USDA has paid $3 billion since 1999 to resolve lawsuits by Black, Native American and Hispanic farmers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack bristled at the “notion of picking on SNAP” when millions of Americans are locked into low-wage jobs and need help buying food. “We never have that conversation,” he said on Thursday. Cuts to food stamps have become a frequent suggestion by conservative Republicans in Congress in debates over the farm bill or raising the debt ceiling.

The USDA said it would accelerate research into diet-related diseases on Monday as part of President Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years. "Precision nutrition," to fine-tune individual diets for health, will be one of the areas of study, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The pandemic exposed the weaknesses of a food system built around large-volume production and national supply chains, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. As a remedy, he said, the USDA would help independent processors start up or expand their operations and encourage local marketing.