USDA
USDA will try again on update of biotechnology regulations
For the third time in a decade, the USDA is starting anew on modernizing its regulation of biotech plants. As part of the effort, the agency ditched a proposal that would have covered genome-editing techniques if the products created posed a plant pest or noxious weed risk.
Nominee for top USDA lawyer changes office rules
Steve Vaden is wearing two hats at USDA: He's the White House nominee to become the department's top lawyer, known as the general counsel, and he is effectively leading the legal shop as the principal deputy general counsel. Politico says morale "has plummeted" because Vaden "is enforcing workplace changes that have provoked unusually bitter labor negotiations" and because of his record in private practice defending state voter ID laws that were challenged as racially discriminatory.
USDA green-payment program covers 8 percent of U.S. farmland
Some 72 million acres of farmland are enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), 8 percent of all U.S. farmland and equal in size to Iowa and Georgia combined, says the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in a report. The CSP was the first program at USDA to provide an annual payment to producers who adopt conservation practices as part of their daily operations. The green-payment program is nearly three times larger than the better-known Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners to idle fragile land.
Organic board decides hydroponics, but not aeroponics, can be organic
For 15 years, USDA has allowed hydroponic crops to be sold as organic and, at a meeting this week in Jacksonville, Fla., the advisory National Organic Standards Board decided to let that practice continue. The board rejected, 8-7, a proposal to deny the USDA Organic label to hydoponics and aquaponics despite a long-running campaign to limit the label to plants grown in soil.
USDA to let states ‘test new and better ways’ to run food stamps
Declaring that states are the laboratories of innovation, the head of the federal government’s largest anti-hunger program said he will give states “the flexibility to test new and better ways to administer our programs.”
Clovis keeps White House job, gives up hope of being USDA chief scientist
From the first day of the Trump administration, Sam Clovis was the White House liaison to the USDA. Although he is keeping that job, he is abandoning a divisive bid to be USDA chief scientist. Withdrawal of the nomination highlights the startlingly slow pace of the administration in providing an executive team to help Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue put Trump policies into play.
EWG updates farm subsidy database, calls for limits on payments
Farm subsidy costs are higher than projected when the 2014 farm law was enacted, said the Environmental Working Group, urging Congress to reduce payments to the largest operators. "“If Congress is serious about reducing the deficit, reducing farm subsidies to millionaires would be a good place to start,” said EWG analyst Anne Schechinger.
Up is down in USDA forecast of 2018 ag exports
U.S. farm exports are headed uphill and downhill at the same time in the USDA’s quarterly forecast of overseas sales, the source of one-fifth of farm income. The agency forecast that exports will reach $140 billion in fiscal 2018.
Departing NOSB member supports ‘add-on’ organic label
Francis Thicke, who owns a certified organic dairy farm in Iowa, is ending his five-year term on the National Organic Standards Board with criticism of the influence of “big business” on the USDA organic program and with support for an add-on organic label that “represents real organic food.”
White House stands by Clovis for USDA chief scientist
President Trump supports the nomination of Sam Clovis to serve as USDA chief scientist despite court documents showing that his former campaign co-chair encouraged foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos to meet Russian officials surreptitiously, said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. The court documents put Clovis, the most controversial USDA nominee in 15 years, back into the public spotlight and may delay action on the nomination.
Farm income stabilizes after steep decline that began in 2013
U.S. farm income will tick upward this year, a sign of stability three years after the collapse of the commodity boom pushed income into a nosedive. Still, even with this year’s upturns, income will be a fraction of 2013’s peak, said the USDA.
Wheat Growers president resigns, may get USDA appointment in Kansas
Eight months after he was elected president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, David Schemm resigned to pursue, in NAWG's words, "other professional opportunities in his home state of Kansas." The High Plains Journal said Schemm "has reportedly been tapped to accept the position of Kansas Farm Service Agency executive director," but there was no official word.
USDA to extend ‘flexibilities’ for school food, maybe for years
In a Federal Register notice today, the USDA announced it will extend its “three flexibilities” for school menus — salt, whole grains, and flavored milk — into the 2018/19 school year. It will also invite comment on the “long-term availability of the flexibilities,” which Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue introduced at an elementary school on his sixth day in office.
Russia questions keep coming for Clovis
The lead Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to interview the USDA’s Sam Clovis, a co-chair of the Trump presidential campaign, about proposals that Trump representatives meet Russian government officials during the 2016 campaign.
Soybeans to tie corn in 2018 on way to becoming top U.S. crop
For decades, corn has been the most widely planted U.S. crop. But the era of “king corn” is ending and the reign of soybeans, the versatile oilseed and the more profitable crop, is dawning, said the Agriculture Department in its 10-year agricultural projections.
More meat: It’s what’s for dinner
Americans are going to eat a lot of meat in 2018 — 222.2 pounds per person, according to USDA projections that are based on the expectation of a comparatively strong economy that will give people more disposable income.
USDA kicks off twice-a-decade Census of Agriculture
The USDA will begin mailing questionnaires for the 2017 Census of Agriculture to producers this week, the first step in a survey conducted every five years to create what is the most complete USDA picture of the farm and ranch sector.
Perdue’s grade after six months as agriculture secretary: A*
On his first day at work, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told employees, "I don't cage too well." So it was apt that the peripatetic Perdue was on the road this week, speaking at the FFA convention in Indianapolis and touring the prairie pothole region of the northern Plains, when he reached his six-month mark at USDA. Ag leaders rate Perdue highly as an ambassador for agriculture and agree with his policy decisions.