North America can lead the world on climate mitigation, says Vilsack The agriculture ministers of Canada, Mexico, and the United States described national initiatives to boost productivity and slow global warming at the World Food Prize symposium on Thursday, with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack saying, “There’s a tremendous opportunity… Continue reading

Biden administration moves to block copper mine near Boundary Waters The Biden administration took the first step to quash a proposed copper mine near the popular Boundary Waters wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota on Wednesday with an inter-agency request to block mineral leases in the area for 20 years. It… Continue reading

Fortenberry is indicted on charges of lying about campaign donations A federal grand jury in Los Angeles charged Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, the senior Republican on the House panel that oversees USDA funding, with three counts of concealing information and making false statements during an investigation of an illegal $30,000… Continue reading

Farmworker safety agency is needed in California, says report The pandemic “simply became another life-threatening hazard” among many facing Indigenous farmworkers in California, said a report released on Monday. Based on surveys and interviews of more than 300 workers, the report called for the creation of a state agency dedicated… Continue reading

Pandemic brought 17-percent drop in school meals Federal waivers that allowed schools to hand out “grab and go” meals to students, and that made meals free to all students, were powerful tools in blunting the impact of the pandemic on food insecurity among children, said USDA economists. Although the number… Continue reading

With UAW on strike, Deere says, ‘We’ll keep running’ The world’s largest farm equipment maker, Deere and Co., said managers and other salaried employees would keep its factories operating in the face of a strike by 10,000 union workers. “We’ll keep running,” the company said on Thursday. More USDA nominees… Continue reading

Voluntary FDA guidelines would cut salt intake by 12 percent With Americans consuming 50 percent more salt than recommended, the FDA issued voluntary guidelines on Wednesday that would reduce sodium content in packaged and restaurant food, the major source of salt in the diet. The FDA said guidelines might “become… Continue reading

Surge in yields brings biggest U.S. soybean crop ever The U.S. soybean hit parade, with record production in 2016, 2017, and 2018, will continue this year with the largest crop ever, the government forecast on Tuesday with the harvest in full swing. A late-summer surge in likely yields per acre… Continue reading

Ag coalition proposes climate mitigation for $100 an acre At the same time farm-state lawmakers are trying to add $2 billion to $3 billion a year to USDA conservation programs, a coalition of farmers and ag groups says the price tag for climate mitigation on the farm should be much… Continue reading

Senate approves Stone-Manning as land management chief Tracy Stone-Manning, a long-time environmentalist, will serve as the first Senate-confirmed director of the Bureau of Land Management in more than four years, winning a party-line roll call on her nomination, 50-45. Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, said Republicans resorted to character… Continue reading