USDA
U.S. heads for highest farm income in seven years
Thanks to a steady recovery, U.S. farm income this year will be the highest since 2013, the peak of the commodity boom, said the government on Wednesday. The USDA forecast net farm income, a broad measure of profits, at $96.7 billion this year, with higher crop and livestock revenue offsetting the end of two years of mammoth Trump tariff payments.
‘Tough year,’ says Perdue as USDA boosts trade-war payments to $14.5 billion
At the same time he saluted the de-escalation of the Sino-U.S. trade war, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Monday the release of $3.6 billion in trade-war payments to farmers and ranchers. The money will raise the total for Trump tariff payments to producers to mitigate the impact of retaliatory tariffs on 2019 production to $14.5 billion.
USDA has chronic data issues, experts say
Young farmers face heightened risks from climate change
Where Perdue sees ‘flexibility’ in school food, critics see junk food
On his sixth day on the job in 2017, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made chocolate milk safe for schools again, along with white flour and salt, in the name of regulatory flexibility. Those revisions to the school food program became final in late 2018. The USDA will propose a new round of "common-sense flexibility" for school meals this week, says Perdue. Skeptics said it will mean more pizza, burgers and fries and fewer servings of fruits and vegetables.
States ask federal court to stop Trump limits on food stamps
A Trump administration regulation that would eliminate food stamps for 688,000 people is being challenged in U.S. district court by 14 states and the District of Columbia. Their lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Washington, asks for the rule to be overturned as unlawful and for an injunction to keep it from taking effect on April 1.
When USDA stops paying rent, idled land usually goes back into crops
Digital shoppers face a barrage of pop-ups and promos for unhealthy food
Within a few years, the average U.S. household will spend $850 annually on food and beverage purchases over the internet, according to an estimate by Nielsen and the Food Marketing Institute. On Wednesday, a consumer group warned that digital grocers “are generally undermining Americans’ efforts to eat well” by flooding shoppers with pop-up ads and promotions for junk food.
USDA approves state hemp production plans
For all its cachet as a potential money-making crop for American farmers, industrial hemp ranked midway between safflower and flaxseed in plantings, with an estimated 230,000 acres in 2019, and industry leaders disagree whether 2020 will be a year of expansion or retrenchment. But the USDA is approving state plans to regulate hemp production and offering crop insurance for hemp growers, steps that could help establish the crop.
Poultry leads as U.S. meat consumption flies high
Trumps selects Lipps for long-vacant USDA nutrition post
USDA opens enrollment as Conservation Reserve grows for first time since 2007
The Conservation Reserve signup that opens on Monday could see landowners idle the largest amount of fragile cropland in years, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, although some analysts say lower government payment rates will hold down enrollment in the program.
Trump administration issues first of three rules to restrict SNAP access
Nearly a year after President Trump announced “immediate action on welfare reform,” his administration said on Wednesday that it would more stringently apply a 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, a step that would disqualify 688,000 recipients from the SNAP program.
FDA won’t endorse CBD as ‘generally recognized as safe’
In a potential blow to the hottest-selling hemp product, the FDA said it "cannot conclude that CBD (cannabidiol) is generally recognized as safe among qualified experts for its use in human or animal food" because a lack of scientific evidence. The warning came as USDA gathers public comment on a rule that opens the way for nationwide cultivation of industrial hemp in the new year.
Stronger-than-expected sales to China buoy US ag exports
Like fall harvest, USDA’s Crop Progress report will continue into December
The USDA traditionally shuts down its weekly Crop Progress report at the end of November because the growing season is over and the fall harvest is all but complete in most states. But this year, the USDA will continue to monitor the harvest, which is weeks later than usual, into December.
Earp ‘isn’t the right person’ to head USDA civil rights office, says House panel leader
Hemp farming may be more pioneer life than Wild West
For all its Gold Rush aura, hemp farming may be more like life on the frontier, where everything must be built from the ground up, said advocates of industrial hemp on Thursday. Hemp can require a lot of manual labor to keep weeds under control, it’s hard to find processors for the crop, and marketing networks are rudimentary.