Congress to vote on making Summer EBT program permanent The Summer EBT program, which helps low-income families buy groceries for school-age children, would become permanent as part of the government funding bill unveiled on Tuesday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the program, which could aid 29 million children, was a… Continue reading

SNAP outlays climb to record level in must-pass spending bill House and Senate negotiators proposed a record $154 billion for SNAP this fiscal year in the government funding bill unveiled on Tuesday, an increase of nearly 10 percent from last year. The increase would provide the larger benefits generated by… Continue reading

Did you miss some news this week? Read on – we’ve made it easy to catch up! Here’s a collection of the top headlines in agriculture. Catch up on ag labor reform, carbon credit payments, Ukraine’s wheat harvest and more! 7 Ag Stories You Might Have Missed 1) Senator calls… Continue reading

Revise GMO corn decree or face U.S. challenge, Vilsack warns Mexico Ahead of a visit by Mexican government leaders, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday that the Biden administration was ready to challenge Mexico under North American trade rules unless it “rectifies” a presidential decree that would ban imports… Continue reading

USDA updated basis for SNAP calculations without peer review, says GAO report When the USDA increased SNAP benefits by 21 percent last year, it relied on a re-evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan that should have been subjected to peer review but was not, said a congressional agency on Wednesday…. Continue reading

Sen. Booker seeks substantial expansion of ‘food as medicine’ programs Congress should “substantially scale up” programs like a produce prescription and nutrition incentive program at USDA and create a food box program to provide locally grown produce to Medicaid participants, said Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday. “Food as medicine programs… Continue reading

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…. Continue reading

Farm bill should protect, strengthen crop insurance The incoming Republican chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said the new farm bill should protect the federally subsidized crop insurance program and “maybe we need to see about strengthening it.” In some cases, crop insurance could preclude the need for stopgap bailouts,… Continue reading

Critic of Biden climate program will head House Agriculture Committee With a farm bill fight brewing over President Biden’s climate agenda, House Republican leaders named Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson chair of the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday. Thompson, who wants to expand farm support, has accused the administration of acting… Continue reading

World faces ‘mass climate deaths from starvation’… By disrupting food production, climate change threatens “death from starvation on a scale that no living human today has ever witnessed,” said the head of an anti-hunger foundation during a panel discussion of malnutrition on Wednesday. Lake Erie fish safe to eat, but… Continue reading