USDA
Sight, smell of hurricane damage ‘very impactful,’ says Perdue
A year after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico’s farmers still struggle
A year after Hurricane Maria caused thousands of deaths in Puerto Rico, the island's farmers are still struggling to come back, according to FERN's latest report, in partnership with On the Table, a farm-bill-focused podcast produced by NET, Nebraska public media. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Analyst: USDA overstated employee turnover to justify agency relocation
When Sonny Perdue announced he would move the Economic Research Service out of Washington, he said it would make it easier to recruit and retain qualified staff. But after a review of USDA data, a professional statistics group says the problem of staff turnover doesn't exist.
Senate Ag leaders question USDA’s authority to relocate agencies
In one of the few challenges by Congress to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's management of USDA, the Senate farm bill would restore the office of undersecretary for rural development, abolished last year by Perdue. Now, Perdue faces 12 pointed questions from Senate Agriculture Committee leaders, including what legal authority allows him to move a research agency with 330 workers into his executive office.
Show us the proof, Democrats ask Perdue
Four Democratic representatives, all members of the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, have called on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to justify his plan to move two USDA agencies out of Washington.
Food insecurity rates continue to fall, USDA report finds
National food insecurity continued to decline in 2017, according to a new report from the Department of Agriculture, and now affects 11.8 percent of U.S. households, down from 12.3 percent in 2016.
Senate confirms USDA and CFTC nominees
On Tuesday, the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee announced that three of President Trump’s nominees have received Senate approval to begin work at the USDA and the CFTC.
Vegetable prices rise but food inflation stays dormant
Thanks to declines in food prices in 2016 and 2017, grocery store prices will stand at a lower overall level at the end of this year than they were at the end of 2015, said the monthly Food Price Outlook. For the second month in a row, USDA raised its forecast of price increases for fresh vegetables but forecast a scant 0.5 percent rise in food prices for the year.
Industry proposal: USDA and FDA should share oversight of ‘cell-based’ meat
The U.S. meat industry and nascent competitor Memphis Meats agreed on a standard name — “cell-based meat and poultry” — for food produced from lab-cultured animal cells on Thursday and proposed joint FDA and USDA regulation of cell-based meat.
Stakeholders weigh in on Perdue’s relocation plan
Last week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced plans to move two key USDA agencies out of the Washington area. This week, the debate over the proposal, both pro and con, kicked off.
USDA to buy $50 million worth of milk
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it will buy $50 million worth of fluid milk for distribution to food assistance programs. The purchases would mark the first time that the agency has ever bought fluid milk under a 1935 law that enables the federal government to support farmers by buying up surpluses.
Wanted: Office space in a city with a ‘critical mass of intellectual capacity’
The Agriculture Department is willing to go far into the countryside to find office space for two agencies that it wants to move out of Washington. The new headquarters can be near an airport with as few travelers as Salina, Kansas, or Sidney, Montana, but it must have robust internet service, a "critical mass of intellectual capacity" to tap for its workforce, and an overall high quality of life, according to a USDA announcement appearing today.
Perdue takes control of USDA’s economics agency
The Economic Research Service, the USDA’s self-described “honest broker of economic information,” is being placed under the control of the agency’s top political appointee, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The move, announced on Thursday, would make the ERS part of the office of Perdue’s chief economist.
Final fruit of USDA suit: A fund for American Indian agriculture
The landmark 1999 Keepseagle class-action lawsuit against the USDA for systemic discrimination in its farm lending programs resulted in tens of millions of dollars in payments directly to Native American farmers and ranchers for mistreatment. One of its most lasting legacies may be the endowment of the Native American Agriculture Fund with $266 million left over from the 2011 settlement of the case, said the lead attorney in the case on Monday.
Revenue insurance now available for milk producers
The USDA announced a new insurance policy on Wednesday to shield dairy farmers from unexpected declines in revenue from milk sales. The insurance “will bring an extra level of support to a dairy sector that has been battered by losses over the past four years,” said the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Farm earnings improve when land and assets taken into account
The financial health of farms is commonly demonstrated through its net income, or a farm household's financial losses or gains over the course of a year. According to those metrics, each year just over half of the U.S.'s 2 million farms report negative income. But a new report from the USDA's Economic Research Service uses a wider scope—including asset appreciation, unpaid labor, and tax benefits from farming—to assess the economic state of the country's farms in 2015.
New York taps controversial bonus program to preserve SNAP at farmers markets
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to ensure farmers markets can continue accepting SNAP benefits through the end of the market season relies on funding from a controversial federal program that rewards states for implementing SNAP with low error rates—and that lawmakers may eliminate in the next farm bill. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
At Pennsylvania hearing, dairy farmers testify about their struggling industry
On Tuesday, in Lairdsville, Pennsylvania, farmers gathered to discuss the current crisis in the dairy industry. They testified about the impact of falling milk prices, considered possible solutions, and expressed anger at federal policymakers’ spotty record of supporting the industry at a time when dairy farms across the country are going out of business.