Former education secretary joins calls for school food flexibility The Trump administration should immediately extend two waivers that allow schools during the coronavirus pandemic to serve meals at no charge to students, whether in the cafeteria, the classroom, or as grab-and-go meals at the curbside, said former education secretary Arne… Continue reading
China buys corn and soybeans ‘to keep me happy,’ says Trump The expected six-month review of the Sino-U.S. trade agreement failed to materialize on Saturday but President Trump expressed satisfaction with the increasing pace of farm export sales to China. During a news conference, Trump said, “China has been buying… Continue reading
Pence: ‘We have a ways to go’ in settling trade war with China In a speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Vice President Mike Pence pointed on Thursday to China’s promises to roughly double its purchases of U.S. farm exports as evidence that there is “no greater fighter on trade… Continue reading
‘Outstanding’ conditions point to bumper crops, huge corn and soy stockpiles U.S. farmers are looking at their largest corn crop ever and a near-record soybean harvest, with huge stockpiles of both crops persisting into fall 2021, said the USDA on Wednesday. Some 2.8 billion bushels of corn would remain in… Continue reading
USDA to release coronavirus reserve funds, makes more products eligible More than half a million farmers and ranchers will get a second round of coronavirus relief payments, worth an estimated $1.4 billion, said the Agriculture Department on Tuesday as it made dozens of additional commodities eligible for aid and gave… Continue reading
Crustaceans and oilseeds ahead of U.S.-China ‘phase one’ review China bought $188 million worth of U.S. soybeans on Monday, continuing a string of purchases that began last week, as the world’s two largest economies approach a six-month review of the “phase one” agreement that de-escalated the trade war. USDA’s… Continue reading
Pandemic aid is too constricted and too slow, ag groups and lawmakers tell USDA The USDA should immediately release the $1.4 billion of coronavirus payments it’s holding in reserve for farmers and change the rules — particularly on eligibility, payment limits and the deadline for applications — that are keeping… Continue reading
In pandemic year, cropland values in Farm Belt are steady to slightly lower The coronavirus pandemic may be the defining event of 2020, driving the United States into a recession and pummeling commodity prices, but cropland values in the Farm Belt have been relatively unaffected — stable to slightly softer,… Continue reading
Block dicamba until weedkiller is under control, says report The herbicide dicamba is too risky to use on row crops such as soybeans and cotton until independent research shows it won’t evaporate and harm nearby crops and plants, said a report from three conservation and environmental groups on Wednesday. Dicamba… Continue reading
Coronavirus fears ease, but many farmers expect a worse year financially An unusually large portion of U.S. farmers and ranchers expects worse financial performance on their farms this year than last, said a Purdue University poll released on Tuesday. And although producers are less worried by the coronavirus pandemic than… Continue reading
USDA News & Features Organic Food Features