‘Legitimate reason’ behind debt relief for minority farmers, says Vilsack The USDA will proceed with $4 billion in loan forgiveness for socially disadvantaged farmers despite lawsuits that want to add white farmers to the program, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday. The assistance is intended to address the cumulative… Continue reading

Farmers worried by possible new capital gains, estate tax liability Very few farm families pay estate taxes but almost all large-scale farmers are worried that changes in the tax code will increase their exposure to capital gains or estate taxes, said a Purdue University survey released on Tuesday. The poll… Continue reading

Before a USDA carbon bank, try some pilot projects, says climate alliance A few weeks ago, USDA climate adviser Robert Bonnie used a variant of “walk before you run” to describe the Biden administration goal of bipartisan support for climate mitigation in agriculture. On Monday, a sector-spanning coalition said the… Continue reading

Booker backs a food box program for fruits and vegetables Sen. Cory Booker, the new chairman of the Senate nutrition subcommittee, called for a permanent food box program to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to communities “in desperate need for healthy produce.” Booker also said $20 billion a year should… Continue reading

EPA is given 60 days to ban or modify rules for chlorpyrifos fter blasting the EPA for “13 years of interminable delay,” the federal appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday set a 60-day deadline for the agency to either ban agricultural use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos or set newer… Continue reading

Biden seeks full-scale summer food program for children Building on P-EBT benefits created in response to the coronavirus, President Biden proposed a vast expansion of the USDA’s summer food program on Wednesday that would be available to the 22 million children who eat school meals for free or at a… Continue reading

Trump-backed legal group sues for debt relief for white farmers With Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller as the plaintiff, a Trump-aligned legal group on Tuesday challenged the $4 billion debt-relief plan approved by Congress for Black and minority farmers, saying it was unconstitutional. “Americans of all races and ethnicities must… Continue reading

Transplanted USDA agencies will stay in Kansas City, says Vilsack Despite complaints the Trump administration needlessly uprooted them, two USDA research agencies will stay in Kansas City rather than return to the D.C. area, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. Child-hunger advocates hope Biden’s expansion of P-EBT becomes a… Continue reading

House Ag chairman: Use tax code to encourage purchases from Black farmers Black farmers “don’t have access to the same markets our white farmers have,” said House Agriculture chairman David Scott, but the tax code could put them on equal footing. Scott is working on legislation to offer tax incentives… Continue reading

Biden seeks 50 percent cut in U.S. emissions, sees farming as carbon frontier By deploying clean technology, the United States can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by the end of this decade, said President Biden at an Earth Day summit intended to spark global action on climate change…. Continue reading