Judge vacates Trump rule tightening SNAP time limits Pointing to the impact of the pandemic on the economy, a U.S. district judge vacated on Sunday a Trump administration regulation setting stricter time limits on SNAP benefits for able-bodied adults who do not work at least 20 hours a week. Chief… Continue reading

School meal programs have lost more than $483 million so far during the pandemic School meal programs have taken a massive financial hit during the coronavirus crisis, according to a new survey from the School Nutrition Association. The survey, which includes responses from school nutrition directors in 1,614 school districts… Continue reading

Pilgrim’s to pay $110.5 million fine in U.S. price-fixing investigation The second-largest poultry processor in the country, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., said on Wednesday that it will pay a $110.5 million fine as part of a plea agreement with the Justice Department, which is investigating price fixing in broiler chicken products…. Continue reading

Ethanol and China are flash points for Trump and Biden campaigns President Trump “sold out ethanol to Big Oil” by handing out dozens of exemptions from the ethanol mandate, said Iowa farmer Pam Johnson, speaking for the Biden campaign at a forum on Tuesday. “We haven’t abandoned the RFS and… Continue reading

Due to medical reasons, we have temporarily postponed the Farm Report. We will resume as soon as possible. Continue reading

Economic recovery depends on ‘the path of the virus’ — Fed official The U.S. recovery from the pandemic will depend in part on success in managing the coronavirus through steps such as therapeutics and a vaccine, the president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank told an agribusiness conference on… Continue reading

Consumers will pay higher meat prices through 2020 Grocery store prices for meat are declining after their springtime coronavirus surge, but more slowly than expected, meaning that shoppers will pay noticeably more at the meat counter this year than in 2019, said USDA economists. In the monthly Food Price Outlook,… Continue reading

Perdue unwilling to use SNAP to fullest during pandemic, says think tank Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue shows more enthusiasm for cutting SNAP enrollment than in making full use of food stamps to alleviate hunger during the pandemic, said the think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) on Thursday. SNAP enrollment… Continue reading

Ethanol backers prod administration to ‘finish the job’ A week after the EPA denied 54 retroactive waivers from the ethanol mandate, farm and biofuel groups urged the Trump administration on Wednesday to take additional steps to assure ethanol’s role in the U.S. fuel supply. Their checklist included release of the… Continue reading

Very large farms collect one-fifth of USDA’s coronavirus payments The average USDA coronavirus relief payment to farmers is less than $16,000 but the biggest operators are getting payments that are 22-times larger, said an environmental group on Tuesday in questioning the fairness of the $10 billion program. Meanwhile, lawmakers agreed… Continue reading