USDA agencies to collaborate on preservation of wildlife corridors
From the Forest Service to the Farm Service Agency, USDA agencies will work in concert to preserve wildlife corridors on public and privately owned land, said three senior officials on Monday. The collaboration would extend to state and tribal governments.
Seeded by USDA, climate-smart products speed to market, says Vilsack
Nearly four dozen climate-smart commodities, from beets and bourbon to corn and yogurt, are on the market two years after the USDA launched the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities project, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. The $3.1 billion public-private initiative, with 135 demonstration projects, is meant to encourage farmers to adopt climate-mitigating practices on working lands while creating a market for the products.
Distressed borrowers get $250 million in USDA assistance
Some 4,650 financially distressed farmers who owe money on USDA direct and guaranteed loans will share $250 million in payments from the government, said the Agriculture Department on Monday. With the assistance, "more than 4,600 producers across the country will see another production season," said Zach Ducheneaux, Farm Service Agency administrator.
USDA doubles its funding for climate mitigation projects
The Biden administration allotted $5.7 billion for climate mitigation work through USDA's conservation programs in the coming 12 months, double the amount offered in the just-ended fiscal year. There is record interest in USDA's stewardship programs "and we're confident that we can continue to get the support out to conservation-minded producers," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday.
USDA provides $1.7 billion to buy food for emergency assistance
The Agriculture Department will distribute $1.7 billion for the purchase of locally and regionally produced food for emergency food assistance, said Agriculture deputy secretary Xochitl Torres Small on Tuesday. Most of the money would flow through schools, childcare facilities, and food banks and some would go directly to emergency food providers.
Farm sector is in a downturn, say economists
After seeing record profitability in 2022, the U.S. farm sector is in a downturn for an indefinite period, said a band of agricultural economists on Monday. Congress could feel pressure to provide a bailout to buffer the decline in income, at the same time that producers try to pare their costs, they said at a conference sponsored by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City.
Drugs often used on livestock despite ‘raised without antibiotics’ label
Federal researchers found drug residues in one of every five cattle marketed as “raised without antibiotics” in samples collected last fall, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. The findings “underscore the need for more rigorous substantiation of such claims,” it said, in “strongly” encouraging — but not requiring — meat processors to routinely test for residues if they put a “no antibiotics ever” label on their meat.
Fertilizer projects get $35 million in USDA grants
Seven projects, from Oregon to New York, will receive a combined $35 million to expand independent domestic fertilizer production, with one-third of the money going to an aluminum sulfate producer in Virginia, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday.
USDA deregulates GM wheat, says it is safe to grow in U.S.
For the first time, the Agriculture Department approved cultivation of genetically modified wheat in the United States on Tuesday, deregulating a drought- and herbicide-tolerant variety developed by an Argentine company. A U.S. wheat industry official said it would be years before the HB4 wheat from Bioceres Crop Solutions was successfully commercialized in the country because of the need to gain acceptance on the domestic front and by wheat-importing nations.
Ag trade deficit to set back-to-back-to-back records
The U.S. food and ag trade deficit will soar to a record $42.5 billion in the fiscal year opening on Oct. 1, fueled by steadily growing consumer demand for imported fresh produce, alcohol, coffee, and sugar, said USDA economists on Tuesday. It would be the third year of largest-ever deficits while export sales, hobbled by the strong dollar, retreat from the record set in fiscal 2022.
Grasslands share of Conservation Reserve grows larger
An ever-larger share of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve will be devoted to grasslands — nearly 4 of every 10 acres — with the results of this year's signup for the long-term land stewardship program, said the Agriculture Department on Monday. With the new enrollments, the Conservation Reserve is near the 27-million-acre limit set by the 2018 farm law.
USDA plans one-year test of culled dairy cows for H5N1 virus
At the same time that the FDA said a second round of tests showed pasteurization kills the bird flu virus in dairy products, the USDA said it would test beef from culled dairy cows for the H5N1 avian flu virus for the coming year. Nearly $2 million has been paid to dairy farmers since July 1 as compensation for milk production lost to bird flu.
Bumper U.S. crops this fall will drive farm-gate prices lower, says USDA
Farmers will reap their largest soybean crop ever this year, and the third-largest corn crop, said the Agriculture Department on Monday in its first forecast of the fall harvest. The mammoth crops will outpace demand and drive down prices, it said. Corn and soybean inventories would balloon to the largest size in six years and weigh on commodity markets far into 2025.
Biden accelerated racial divisions, says Vance, using USDA as example
The Biden administration "certainly accelerated" federal bias in favor of racial minorities, said Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, on Sunday, arguing that the Agriculture Department "handed out farm benefits to people based on skin color" rather than on merit. The USDA recently sent $2 billion in payments to 43,000 farmers who suffered discrimination when they applied for USDA farm loans.
USDA to be more flexible on farm loans
The Agriculture Department will amend its farm loan rules, effective Sept. 25, to allow more flexibility in repayment terms for producers and to reduce the collateral required when they borrow money. “Implementing these improvements to our farm loan programs is the next step in our ongoing commitment to removing lending barriers,” said Zach Ducheneaux, administrator of the Farm Service Agency, on Wednesday.
Biden announces $2 billion in USDA discrimination payments
The government has issued $2 billion in payments to more than 43,000 farmers who suffered discrimination when they applied for USDA farm loans in the past, said President Biden on Wednesday. More than half of the recipients were producers in Mississippi and Alabama, who received a combined $905.5 million.
USDA awards $110 million to expand independent meat processing
Five dozen independent meat processors will receive a combined $110 million in grants to go into business or expand their processing capacity, including a new plant in Texas that would create 1,500 jobs, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday.
House Democrats sink pilot project to limit SNAP purchases
On a voice vote Wednesday, minority-party Democrats deleted from the annual USDA-FDA funding bill a pilot project to block SNAP recipients from buying “unhealthy foods.” Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee said the pilot project, authored by Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, was paternalistic and impractical.
Farm bill should insist on stewardship — Des Moines Register
"Congress needs to take the plunge" in the new farm bill and "insist on conservation practices where it has, up until now, asked for cooperation while dangling a bit of cash," said the Des Moines Register, published in the No. 1 corn and hog state. USDA's soil and water conservation programs traditionally have relied on voluntary cooperation from farmers, aided by cost-sharing funds, but progress is unacceptably slow, said the newspaper in an editorial.