House panel approves debt relief to minority farmers The House Budget Committee approved an estimated $ 4 billion of debt relief for minority farmers on Monday as part of a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Monday, with one member protesting that the aid was unfair. More adherents to voluntary climate mitigation The Food […]
House Ag panel will start with climate change With the resolution of a disputed election in New York State, the House Agriculture Committee is ready for action with climate change as its top issue. “Everything will tie into climate change,” says the committee chief of staff and the first hearing of the year will focus […]
USDA predicts robust farm income in 2021, aided by market rally U.S. farm income will be a strong $ 111.4 billion this year, 20 percent above the 10-year average, thanks to a recovery in crop and livestock revenue and larger than usual federal payments, said the USDA. Higher market prices, particularly for corn, soybeans, cattle […]
Vilsack confirmation is slowed by Senate fight over rules The Senate scheduled confirmation hearings for half a dozen of President Biden’s cabinet nominees this week but Tom Vilsack, seeking to become agriculture secretary for the second time, was not among them. The Agriculture Committee cannot consider his nomination until Senate Republicans and Democrats agree on […]
Farm sector rebounding but may need more aid, says Duvall The farm economy, battered since 2018 by a trade war and a pandemic, is rallying, though it is too early to declare a return to prosperity, said the president of the largest U.S. farm organization on Thursday, reserving judgment on whether more stopgap federal aid […]
After refusing to overturn election, five House ag panelists oppose impeachment Although they defied President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, five Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee voted on Wednesday against impeaching Trump for inciting the deadly mob attack on the Capitol last week. They said that impeachment was divisive and hasty, […]
Highest corn and soybean prices since commodity boom, says USDA U.S. farmers, who harvested some of their largest corn and soybean crops ever last fall, will reap the highest season-average prices for the crops since the heady days of the commodity boom that ended in worldwide surpluses seven years ago, said the government on Tuesday. […]
Big poultry processor to pay $ 75 million to resolve antitrust lawsuit Three months after a plea agreement with the government that included a $ 110.5 million fine, Pilgrim’s Pride, the second-largest U.S. poultry processor, said on Monday it would pay $ 75 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by its customers. Farm labor reform […]
Agriculture must be part of climate change negotiations, says Farm Bureau Although blamed for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture has a “great track record” through land stewardship and biofuels in mitigating climate change, says Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, in looking ahead to the Biden administration. “We must […]
Perdue demurs at cabinet sideline of Trump While the top Democrats in Congress threatened to impeach President Trump for the second time, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Thursday that he was not part of any discussions among cabinet members to sideline Trump by declaring him unfit to do his job. “Nor do I expect […]
With Democrats in charge, Stabenow to lead Senate Agriculture Committee Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who last year sponsored legislation to encourage farmer participation in carbon markets, is expected to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee for the second time in a decade now that the Democrats will control the Senate. Stabenow’s return to power was aided […]
Biden administration to oversee new coronavirus payments to farmers. Considering the time needed to convert legislation into action, the Biden administration will oversee the payment of most or all of the $ 13 billion in agricultural aid that was included in the latest coronavirus package, said Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey on Tuesday. Conservation group gives […]
Pandemic tops trade war in USDA payments to farmers In less than nine months, U.S. farmers and ranchers have collected a mammoth $ 23.5 billion in pandemic relief payments, said the USDA on Monday, more than matching the $ 23 billion spent by the Trump administration to mitigate the impact on agriculture of trade war […]
Countdown begins for compliance with GMO food-labeling rule Four years after the thunder in Congress over labeling foods made with GMO ingredients, the deadline for compliance with the USDA labeling regulation is in sight — the end of 2021 — despite complaints that the rule is riddled with loopholes that exempt many foods. Biden: U.S. […]
Abid for the USDA, not FDA, to regulate GE animals for food In a move celebrated by the hog industry, the Trump administration proposed on Monday to put the USDA in charge of regulating genetically engineered livestock and poultry, a duty now performed by the FDA. The Biden administration would make the final decision on […]
Coronavirus package allots $ 13 billion for crop and livestock producers Row crop farmers would see payments of $ 20 an acre and livestock producers would be compensated for animals culled during the pandemic under the $ 900 billion coronavirus relief bill that was unexpectedly challenged by President Trump on Tuesday, a day after Congress […]