A quarter of adults have eaten less or skipped meals because they lacked the money to buy food, said an antihunger group on Monday in calling for expansion of food assistance during the coronavirus pandemic. The largest U.S. farm group and a food bank network suggested that the USDA… Continue reading

  (AG Insider) Crop and livestock prices could tumble by as much as 12 percent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, pulling farm income down by $20 billion dollars, said the FAPRI think tank at the University of Missouri on Monday. “A lot of producers already are already in… Continue reading

USDA Unveils Tool to Help Rural Communities Address the COVID-19 Pandemic USDA’s COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide Lists Federal Programs That Can Help Rural Communities, Organizations and Residents Impacted by COVID-19   WASHINGTON, April 13, 2020 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today unveiled a one-stop-shop of federal programs… Continue reading

(AG INSIDER) Like firefighters and police officers, farmworkers have been deemed “critical infrastructure workers,” meaning they will stay on the job even as the pandemic grows. But despite their essential status and a persistent outcry from their advocates, many of their employers, as well as state and federal agencies, have… Continue reading

(AG Insider) In its first assessment since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, the government forecast lower prices for U.S. crops and livestock as a worldwide economic slowdown, the result of aggressive efforts to squash the virus, weakens the global appetite for food. The notable exceptions are wheat and rice,… Continue reading

  (AG Insider) Acting virtually overnight, the Trump administration  added California and Arizona on Wednesday to the list of states where SNAP recipients can purchase groceries online for home delivery, a step that could reduce their exposure to the coronavirus. Five dozen House Democrats urged the administration to go a… Continue reading

(AG Insider) The coronavirus pandemic punctured the Farm Belt euphoria of early 2020 and sent a Purdue University gauge of farmer confidence plunging by 28 percent in one month. Three-fourths of producers taking part in the monthly Ag Economy Barometer said they were worried about the impact on their farm’s… Continue reading

  (AG Insider) More than two dozen workers at a Tyson Foods pork plant were stricken with Covid-19, forcing the meatpacker to suspend operations at its mammoth plant in Columbus Junction in southeastern Iowa, the No. 1 hog state.   Tyson Foods announced the shut-down on Monday as the coronavirus… Continue reading

(AG Insider) Congress allotted $23.5 billion for agriculture in the coronavirus relief package, but “that amount of money will not sustain” the farm sector, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group.   The sector will need “a whole lot more [money] than was in the CARES Act,” said… Continue reading

(USA/ICNIRP) — The coronavirus pandemic and its ongoing consequences have given us all plenty to think about and worry about. But there’s one thing you can permanently take off your concern list: 5G has no causal connection to COVID-19, contrary to several recent misguided online rumors.   In fact, according… Continue reading