USDA
Vilsack brings to-do list as he starts new stint as agriculture secretary
Boosted by a landslide confirmation vote in the Senate, Tom Vilsack will begin his second stint as agriculture secretary on Wednesday facing problems from the pandemic and climate change to rising hunger rates in America. His own list of goals is much longer and each item on it is a blockbuster.
Debt relief for minority farmers needs more thought, say critics
Record corn and soybean crops possible as farmers chase high prices
Responding to strong exports and expectations of a U.S. economic recovery, farmers will plant 92 million acres of corn and 90 million acres of soybeans this spring, pointing to a record soybean crop and possibly the largest corn harvest ever, said the USDA on Thursday. Chief economist Seth Meyer also said farm exports would be a record $157 billion this year, including the largest-ever exports to China of $31.5 billion.
Strongest farm outlook in years, say ag bankers
Sen. Baldwin to oversee USDA, FDA budgets
Urban Democrats join House Agriculture Committee
Although the House Agriculture Committee's name screams "rural," three of its new members are urban Democrats: Reps. Bobby Rush from Chicago, Ro Khanna from Silicon Valley, and Luis Correa from Orange County, California.
Growers back checkoff program for industrial hemp
House Ag panel will start with climate change
Justice for Black Farmers bill introduced in Senate
USDA seeks ways to ‘de-risk’ climate mitigation, says Bonnie
Farmers face significant expenses in adopting climate mitigation practices, and the Biden administration is pondering how to "de-risk those investments," possibly through a so-called carbon bank, said USDA climate adviser Robert Bonnie on Thursday. "Can we look at some new authorities to create some new financing mechanisms?"
Agriculture may be ‘first and best place’ for climate gains, says Vilsack
The Biden administration will work with farmers, ranchers and forest owners "to create new sources of revenue tied to their good climate practices," said agriculture secretary-nominee Tom Vilsack on Tuesday. With USDA's broad authority to aid farmers, he said he could launch carbon sequestration initiatives that soon would become a standard part of the federal farm program. <strong> No paywall </strong>.
USDA’s food box give-away called a model that can be improved
Schumer pledges speedy Senate action on Vilsack, other Biden nominees
Biden regulatory freeze halts USDA pandemic payments
As part of a government-wide regulatory freeze, the Biden administration has suspended payments while it reviews the $3 billion in pandemic aid to agricultural producers that was announced in the final week of the Trump administration, said the USDA on Thursday.
Vilsack: Get stuff done quickly
President Biden's nominee for agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, said he would arrive at the USDA with a "serious focus on getting stuff done quickly," considering the many challenges facing the department, from the pandemic to racial equity and rural development.
Confirmation hearing Feb. 2 for Vilsack
The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on Feb. 2 for Tom Vilsack, President Biden's nominee for agriculture secretary, said the panel's Democratic and Republican leaders on Wednesday.
Vilsack confirmation is slowed by Senate fight over rules
USDA withdraws proposals on poultry plant line speeds and SNAP
Ten RECs get $4.4 billion in New ERA clean energy funding
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $4.37 billion in grants and loans to 10 rural electric cooperatives on Thursday for clean energy projects that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.1 million tons a year. With the awards, the USDA has allocated nearly $9 billion of the $9.7 billion available in the Empowering Rural America program.