USDA awards $325 million to second round of climate-smart projects
The Biden administration will put $325 million into an additional 71 projects to develop climate-smart commodities and a money-making market for them, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. The initiative is part of President Biden’s goal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and to make America’s agricultural sector the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions.
Sales of antibiotics for food animals rise by 6 percent — FDA
Drug makers sold 11.1 million kilograms (24.5 million pounds) of antibiotics for use in cattle, hogs and poultry last year, up 6 percent from 2021, chiefly because of a large increase in sales of antimicrobials that are not considered medically important, said the FDA on Monday. Despite year-to-year fluctuations, like last year’s increase, sales are much lower nowadays than before the FDA banned the use of antimicrobials to encourage weight gain in livestock.
#Update
How food became a weapon in America’s culture war
It would have been easy to dismiss this new food fight as little more than a fashionable twist on routine political posturing. But as the conversation around food got bigger in the ’90s, the stakes also got higher. Mounting evidence that the American way of eating was causing serious health problems spurred talk of reform. Rather than engage with reformers, however, the right simply broadened its culture war around food, politicizing the debate in ways that had significant consequences, not only for public health but, eventually, for the nation’s response to climate change.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Organic needs ‘direct relief’: Two dozen senators and representatives asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “to find a targeted solution to provide immediate, direct relief” for organic dairy and poultry producers struggling with high prices and short supplies of feed. (Pingree)
Thompson sets listening session: Republican Rep. Glenn Thompson, the incoming chair of the House Agriculture Committee, invited lawmakers to a listening session at the Pennsylvania Farm Show on Jan. 7. (House Agriculture Republicans)
Small food-price impact: The dramatic increase in soybean oil prices, with the oil being used increasingly as a feedstock for biofuels, has a tiny impact on food prices because soy oil is a small part of the overall price of food at the grocery store. (Lusk)
Storm punctuates California drought: A storm dumped three to four feet of snow on parts of the Sierra Nevada and drenched most of California with rainfall, a boost to water supplies after three years of drought. (Los Angeles Times)
More bird flu outbreaks: Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza were confirmed in 11 states last week; the largest at a turkey farm with 105,000 birds in Iowa. Nationwide losses rose to 53.12 million birds. (USDA)
