Biden to announce $5 billion in funding for land stewardship and rural development
President Biden will open his administration’s “investing in rural America” blitz on a Minnesota farm on Wednesday with the announcement of $5 billion in funding for soil and water conservation, rural infrastructure, and economic development. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the $1.7 billion allotted for stewardship was the largest single-year injection of money ever into USDA conservation programs.
U.S. sugar import rules need an update
The government should replace outdated sugar import rules that guarantee higher revenue to domestic growers and drive up food costs, said the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday. “The program creates higher sugar prices, which cost consumers more than producers benefit, at an annual cost to the economy of around $1 billion,” it said.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Climate change triggers payouts: Drought, floods, heat waves, and cold snaps — all types of extreme weather linked to climate change — have led to nearly $119 billion in crop insurance payouts since 2001, equal to 73 percent of all such payments in the period. (Environmental Working Group)
Company expects pipeline success: The chief executive of Summit Carbon Solutions says the company’s proposed five-state carbon pipeline “has enough relevance and importance” to prevail despite landowner objections to its route and the slow-moving process of winning regulatory approval. (S&P Global)
Australian pest arrives: The tiny but destructive Queensland fruit fly, native to Australia, was discovered for the first time in North America in Ventura County, California, which is already under an agricultural quarantine because of the Asian citrus psyllid. (KCLU)
HPAI toll tops 60 million: Some 1.24 million birds in domestic flocks died from highly pathogenic avian influenza in October, pushing total U.S. deaths to 60.03 million birds since the outbreak began in February 2022. (USDA)
Reformer to retire: Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an advocate of farm program reform and sponsor this year of a bill to refocus the crop insurance program on small and midsize farms, said he would retire from Congress at the end of 2024. (Rep. Blumenauer)
