Agriculture

WASHINGTON — More than two dozen members of Congress are urging Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to ensure the funds set aside for rural broadband expansion make it to the most rural of areas. The bipartisan letter urging the department... Read More

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Russia’s war in Ukraine could mean changes for Ed Kessel’s farm along a quiet stretch of western North Dakota. Worldwide, farmers like Kessel are weighing whether to change their planting patterns and grow more... Read More

WASHINGTON — Russia’s unprovoked military assault on Ukraine is driving up the price American farmers pay for fertilizer. One of the little known facts about American agriculture is that while American farmers feed much of the world, the United States... Read More

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., makes no effort to hide her enthusiasm for her current job, undersecretary for rural development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Six months after her confirmation, the Democrat from Las Cruces, New... Read More

WASHINGTON — The USDA recently announced a $1 billion investment in pilot projects to support farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners that choose to implement climate-smart conservation practices. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is positioning the initiative as a way to... Read More

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A monthly measure of farmer sentiment rose last month, something it had only managed to do once before in all of 2021, according to Purdue University's Center for Commercial Agriculture and the CME Group. The two... Read More

A new White House council on U.S. economic conditions plans to hold its first meeting Friday, with participants to highlight at least 18 actions taken to help consumers and potentially lower prices. The council, an outgrowth of a July executive... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The United States Department of Agriculture announced on Thursday it would begin issuing new grant program applications for agricultural stakeholders funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Small businesses in certain commodity areas will be able to... Read More

FIREBAUGH, Calif. (AP) — As temperatures recently reached triple digits, farmer Joe Del Bosque inspected the almonds in his parched orchard in California's agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, where a deepening drought threatens one of the state's most profitable crops. Del... Read More

The California Farm Confinement Proposition, known as Prop 12, is set to become effective next year and could mean that pork suppliers lose access to California’s large market. The law will implement space requirements for chickens, calves, and hogs, such... Read More

America’s farmers are feeling the sobering pinch of weakened principal crop prices, but nevertheless remain cautiously optimistic about the financial conditions of their farms, a just- released industry barometer has found. According to the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved $14 million in investments Wednesday to fund 31 research projects dedicated to disease prevention in agricultural livestock.  The funding comes as a part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and... Read More

An Ag Economy Barometer report published Tuesday found a 21-point decline in the confidence of food producers in the United States for June. This solidifies a second month of waning optimism from record highs set earlier in 2021, and indicates... Read More

About 13,511 people, 146 farms and 72 businesses are about to see their daily activities transformed due to a $21 million investment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The money will be used to provide broadband internet service to Madison... Read More

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Biden administration plans to issue a new rule to protect the rights of farmers who raise cows, chickens and hogs against the country's largest meat processors as part of a plan to encourage more competition... Read More

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a recent report which showed that for 88% of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants there is a barrier to achieving a healthy diet throughout the month.  “It’s vital that the program helps enable participants... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Friday restored an exemption for small refineries from a federal law requiring them to blend increasing levels of ethanol and other renewable fuels into their products. The 6-3 ruling is a setback for biofuels... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Department of Agriculture is offering $55.2 million in competitive grants to help foster healthier beef and poultry industries, while also expanding opportunities for small and midsized processors to grow. The funding follows an announcement by the USDA... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Department of Agriculture is funding over $15 million in grant proposals directed at developing and expanding “the use of wood products, strengthening emerging wood energy markets and protecting community forests.” The grants will support 60 individual projects... Read More

This article is by Emma Bryce and was originally published by Anthropocene magazine. What would you be willing to pay, to ensure your food came from a farm that doubled up to protect biodiversity and mitigate climate change? That’s the... Read More

Four Midwestern dairy groups who saw their revenues plummet as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have proposed a new pricing plan they hope will create greater long-term stability in fluid milk pricing and reduce the chance of similar income... Read More

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has entered into an interagency agreement with the Forest Service to add up to 600 of its dams to NRCS’s Nationwide DamWatch® system. DamWatch is a web-based application developed... Read More

WASHINGTON — Just over a week after he was confirmed as head of the United States Department of Agriculture for the second time, Tom Vilsack doubled down on his efforts to solve both food and nutrition insecurity around the nation. ... Read More

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — After Gil Alexander's death left no active Black farmers in a historic Kansas community once home to hundreds, Alexander's nephew and his wife gave up their jobs in Arizona to try and save the family... Read More

WASHINGTON — Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has emerged as a leading candidate for secretary of agriculture in the Biden administration, reprising a role he held under President Barack Obama, according to people familiar with the nomination process. The people said that while Vilsack... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats made history on Thursday when the caucus voted to make Reps. Gregory Meeks, of New York, and David Scott, of Georgia, the first African-Americans to chair, respectively, the chamber's Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees. Meeks, who... Read More

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced in a release that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a critically needed fix to the 2018 Water Resources Development Act that would... Read More

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The Washington State Department of Commerce has announced $300,000 is available for grants to shellfish growers impacted by declining exports and restaurant sales due to COVID-19.  Local and global market demand for Washington’s world-renowned shellfish has dropped... Read More

On Wednesday, Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., was honored by the American Farm Bureau Federation with their prestigious “Friend of Farm Bureau” award, an honor bestowed on lawmakers in recognition of their agricultural efforts for their farming communities. To receive the... Read More

WASHINGTON – United States Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., received the “Friend of Farm Bureau” award from the American Farm Bureau Federation on Tuesday.  Spanberger, who serves on the House Agriculture Committee and as chair of the Subcommittee on Conservation and... Read More