Climate mitigation gets $3 billion boost at USDA
More than $3 billion in USDA cost-sharing funds will be available to producers and foresters for climate mitigation projects in the fiscal year that begins this Sunday, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday.
U.S. accuses Agri Stats of illegally sharing meat company data
The analytics company Agri Stats has violated antitrust law for years by sharing information with chicken, pork, and turkey processors about their competitors’ costs, output, and prices, said the Justice Department in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. Processors used the reports to restrain production and raise prices to consumers, said the lawsuit.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Land barons, California floods: The Tulare Lake basin “operates more like a secretive fiefdom ruled by a handful of legacy farming clans than a publicly governed jurisdiction,” according to an investigation of this spring’s damaging floods. (Los Angeles Times)
China buys Ukrainian corn: Importers based in China, an ally of Russia, took advantage of low prices to buy as much as 1 million tonnes of corn from Ukraine, said traders, providing a financial boost to the war-torn country. (Reuters)
Crop insurance transparency: In a proposal that would overturn current law, a House bill would require the USDA to identify farmers who receive federally subsidized crop insurance and reveal the amount of subsidy each received. (Rep. Blumenauer)
Feds roast poultry processor: The operators of La Puente poultry processing plant in California will have to pay $1.2 million in back wages and damages after the Labor Department found they had denied overtime pay to 113 employees. (Department of Labor)
Clarifying civil rights rules: The USDA was among eight federal agencies to clarify in writing that the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s protections against discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin include religious affiliation. (USDA)
Record price for farmland: A 115-acre farm in west-central Missouri sold at auction for an average price of $34,800 an acre, the highest known price ever for U.S. farmland. (KMZU)
