USDA
Head of USDA’s National Organic Program steps down
Miles McEvoy, deputy administrator for the National Organic Program at the USDA, said he was stepping down Sept. 30 after eight years in the position, and moving back to his home state of Washington while he considers new opportunities.
Perdue announces new steps in USDA reorganization
Building on a controversial USDA reorganization rolled out in May, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced further steps to realign “a number of offices within the U.S. Department of Agriculture in order to improve customer service and maximize efficiency.”
Former Ag Secretary Vilsack says USDA science nominee lacks credibility
Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said President Trump’s nominee to head the USDA’s research division wouldn’t be a credible choice with the scientific community, according to Harvest Public Media. Trump nominated former conservative talk radio host and economics professor Sam Clovis to be the USDA’s chief scientist in July, setting off a wave of criticism.
U.S. food insecurity rate stable, which means millions still go hungry
An estimated 12.3 percent of U.S. households were food insecure in 2016, essentially unchanged from 12.7 percent in 2015, the USDA Economic Research Service said. But the figures still mean that more than 41 million Americans, or 15.6 million households, don’t get enough food.
Iowa ag director choice to run USDA subsidy, stewardship, insurance programs
President Trump nominated Bill Northey, the Iowa agriculture secretary, to be undersecretary of agriculture for farm production and conservation, the No. 3 post at the USDA. The president also nominated Nebraska state agriculture director Gregory Ibach to be undersecretary for marketing and regulation.
Top Senate Democrat calls for withdrawal of ‘wildly unqualified’ USDA nominee
President Trump should withdraw the nomination of “wildly unqualified” Sam Clovis for USDA chief scientist “as a gesture to the American people that this administration is serious about rooting out the most hateful voices in our society,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a joint statement with Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
USDA mulls update of animal-welfare license rules; HSUS says data on mistreatment is hidden
The USDA is opening a 60-day comment period on potential updates to the license requirements for people who breed, sell, or exhibit animals for commercial purposes. At the same time, the Humane Society of the United States says the USDA’s new “search tool” for accessing animal-abuse records “is still virtually unusable.”
USDA nominee Clovis: same-sex marriage could lead to legalization of pedophilia
In the years before becoming co-chair of the Trump presidential campaign, Iowa college professor Sam Clovis, nominated to be the USDA's chief scientist, said homosexuality was a choice and that same-sex marriage could lead to legalization of pedophilia, reported CNN's KFile. The White House did not respond to a CNN request for comment and a USDA spokeswoman told the KFile, "The Supreme Court settled the issue in 2015."
Nominee for USDA chief scientist called climate change a con job
The White House nominee for USDA chief scientist, Sam Clovis, described President Obama as an aspiring dictator and climate change as a con job during a broadcast career in Iowa a few years ago, said CNN's KFile. The USDA had no immediate response. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said an earlier CNN report on Clovis' political views was part of a smear campaign against Trump nominees.
Perdue: Trump and I believe in Clovis
If there was any question of backing for Sam Clovis, nominated to be USDA chief scientist, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said, "I fully support the nomination" and "the president has confidence in his abilities." Perdue brushed aside questions whether Clovis, a college professor, has the credentials for the job.
USDA considers consolidating some offices with other departments
When "USDA" and "co-location of offices" appear in the same sentence, it usually means there's a proposal to consolidate USDA's local operations, particularly crop subsidy and land stewardship, into the same building. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue talked about co-location at the Iowa Ag Summit, but he meant a central location for handling permits from the USDA, Interior Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, reports Agri-Pulse.
U.S. cropland prices stable for fourth year amid ag sector slump
Farm income plummeted with the collapse of the commodity boom in 2013 yet cropland, usually a farmer's biggest asset and the foundation of a farm's financial health, is as valuable as ever, the USDA says. Producers are making enough money to pay their mortgages, aided in part by low interest rates on the loans, while the perennial hunger among farmers, ranchers and investors to buy land is bolstering prices on the national level, although the Midwest and northern Plains feel the pain of lower commodity prices.
Antitrust group decries ‘scandalous job swapping’ as JBS hires USDA official
The world's largest meat company, JBS, entwined in a corruption scandal in its home country of Brazil, hired as its global food security Al Almanza, who just retired as head of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. The Organization for Competitive Markets, which focuses on agricultural antitrust issues, called the hiring "the latest of the scandalous job swapping between government and the meat industry."
USDA nominee Clovis blogged about ‘race traders’ and called Obama a ‘Maoist’
President Trump’s nominee for USDA chief scientist described black leaders as “race traders” and called President Obama a “Maoist” in blogs produced a few years ago in conjunction with a radio talk show aimed at conservatives, said CNN. Clovis was co-chair of Trump’s presidential campaign, Trump’s liaison with farm groups and, since January, the White House’s chief political operative at USDA.
Oregon lawmaker says he’ll file an ‘outsider’ farm bill
Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregen easily qualifies as a farm bill outsider – he's part of the minority party in the U.S. House, represents the Portland area and is not a member of the Agriculture Committee. All the same, Blumenauer says he will soon file a farm bill that reins in excessive spending on crop subsidies and strengthens public nutrition programs.
Perdue plans farm bill tour heavy on farmers, light on consumers
Three days after canceling participation in a farm bill "listening session" called by the the House Agriculture Committee in Texas, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will launch a Midwestern "Back to Our Roots" tour of five Midwestern states to gather ideas for the 2108 farm bill and rural prosperity. The five-state tour has seven sessions with farmers and one, a visit to a Milwaukee-area farm that donates food to the poor, that deals with hunger in America.
California newspaper urges Senate rejection of USDA ‘anti-science blowhard’
President Trump's chief political operative at USDA, Sam Clovis, is unqualified to serve as undersecretary for research and should be rejected by the Senate, said the editorial board of the San Jose Mercury-News. At nearly the same time the newspaper labeled Clovis as "an anti-science blowhard," 22 U.S. farm groups asked the Senate Agriculture Committee for swift confirmation of Clovis, a co-chair of Trump's presidential campaign.
Clovis is most controversial USDA pick in 15 years
Facing a chilly reception from Capitol Hill, Sam Clovis is the most controversial selection for a senior USDA post since Iowa agribusinessman Tom Dorr in the opening days of the George W. Bush administration. Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Pat Leahy of Vermont have joined the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, in questioning Clovis's qualifications for an agriculture undersecretary post that includes serving as USDA's chief scientist.
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.