USDA to release coronavirus reserve funds – August 12, 2020

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 producers an additional two weeks, until September 11, to apply.

 

Derecho hit 10 million acres of crops in Iowa

Roughly four of every 10 acres of corn and soybeans in Iowa “was impacted” by a fast-moving, intense windstorm, said Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday. Radio Iowa quoted the governor as saying the estimate of 10 million acres affected “is really an early estimate. Some of the photos have just been devastating.”

 

TODAY’S QUICK HITS

Harris backs hazard pay for grocery workers: Five days before she was tapped as the Democratic candidate for vice president, California Sen. Kamala Harris and UFCW president Marc Perrone called on major grocery chains such as Kroger, Albertson’s and Whole Foods to “reinstate hazard pay for all of America’s grocery workers.” (CNN)

 

Organic land rents at a premium: Farmland that has gone through the three-year transition to organic row-crop production commands rental rates 25 percent, or $68 an acre, higher than conventional land, says a survey of organic farmers and landowners. (Mercaris)

 

Probe sought of U.S. actions at meat plants: The inspectors general of the Labor and Agriculture departments were asked by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet to review steps by the federal government to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at meat processing plants and how President Trump’s executive order to keep plants in operation may have affected the health and wellbeing of workers. (Bennet)

 

WFP flour shipment for Lebanon: The World Food Program will ship 50,000 tonnes of wheat flour to Lebanon to prevent food shortages following an explosion in Beirut that destroyed the country’s only grain silo, said a UN report. (Reuters)

 

Egg price-gouging alleged: New York state attorney general Letitia James filed a lawsuit alleging that Hillandale Farms, one of the largest U.S. egg producers, set exorbitantly high prices on eggs sold in New York City and to military installations in upstate New York during the worst of the coronavirus outbreak last spring. (New York Times)

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