Tackle hunger and diet quality at the same time, says Vilsack U.S. anti-hunger programs should address the twin challenges of nutrition — supplying enough food and encouraging diets built around healthy food — at the same time after decades of focusing on a lack of food for poor Americans, said… Continue reading

Meatpacking plants in the spotlight at House covid hearing Meatpacking, poultry, and agricultural workers have faced “devastating” conditions during the pandemic, in part due to a lax approach to worker safety by employers and federal regulators, advocates said on Tuesday at a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.   Farmers expect rapid… Continue reading

Equity commission will root out systemic racism in USDA programs, says Vilsack At the same time USDA announced its first-ever senior adviser for racial equity, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Monday that an equity commission would “identify and root out any systemic racism that may exist” in USDA programs…. Continue reading

‘One step closer,’ says Biden as aid bill moves to Senate A three-month extension of higher SNAP benefits and $4 billion in debt relief for minority farmers are in the hands of the Senate following a 219-212 vote by the House over the weekend. “We are one step closer,” said… Continue reading

We don’t have a day to waste’ on climate mitigation, says Vilsack U.S. agriculture faces a triple imperative — market, environment, and income — in responding to climate change, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday, his first day on the job. “We don’t have a day to waste on… Continue reading

The template for climate mitigation is soil conservation, says farm-enviro alliance The new era of climate mitigation on the farm would look like a beefed-up version of longstanding USDA conservation programs, augmented by a carbon bank that sets a floor price for carbon sequestration and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,… Continue reading

House panel approves debt relief to minority farmers The House Budget Committee approved an estimated $4 billion of debt relief for minority farmers on Monday as part of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Monday, with one member protesting that the aid was unfair.   More adherents to voluntary… Continue reading

You cannot do climate on the backs of the American farmer’ Farmers expect to be paid for climate mitigation, and not at the expense of the traditional farm subsidies, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group during a discussion of President Biden’s goal of an agriculture sector that… Continue reading

Record corn and soybean crops possible as farmers chase high prices Responding to strong exports and expectations of a U.S. economic recovery, farmers will plant 92 million acres of corn and 90 million acres of soybeans this spring, pointing to a record soybean crop and possibly the largest corn harvest… Continue reading

Pandemic boost for grocers: $6 billion a month When the pandemic closed schools and restaurants last winter, Americans went to the supermarket to stock up on food for the stay-at-home weeks. Grocery sales skyrocketed by 32 percent last March and have remained strong, averaging $6 billion a month above pre-Covid… Continue reading