Rural

RSS

A stopgap-funding bill that will keep the government operating this fall includes a $10 billion expansion in agricultural disaster aid and temporarily extends authority for USDA’s livestock price reporting system.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announces plans to finance a series of large-scale projects on climate-smart farming and forestry practices. He's also tapping his Commodity Credit Corp. spending authority to promote drought resilience, combat African swine fever, and assist farms and schools with supply chain disruptions.

The huge budget reconciliation bill that Democrats are trying to agree on would reshape a large section of the farm bill ahead of schedule, angering farm-state Republicans who fear it will be difficult to alter the dramatically increased spending allocations for conservation programs.

Partially motivated by funding concerns, two prominent hemp-growing states recently decided to let the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulate hemp within their borders, and others are still in the process of deciding whether to hand over authority to USDA as the pilot programs authorized under the 2014 farm bill expire at the end of this year.

The four senators and two representatives representing the Dakotas are pressing the Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency to make a change to the crop insurance provisions for sunflowers.

An organization long opposed to increased consolidation in agribusiness is stepping up its efforts with a new campaign aimed at congressional leaders and the Biden administration.

Congressional Democrats have agreed on conservation and debt relief provisions that would immediately ramp up climate-focused conservation spending, including direct payments for cover crops, while also paying off loans for at-risk USDA borrowers.

It’s a huge week ahead on Capitol Hill. Congress must act to keep the government from shutting down when the new fiscal year begins on Friday.

The Agriculture Department is seeking members for an advisory panel on equity as it attempts to address long-standing barriers minorities have faced in accessing federal farm programs.

Agri-Pulse obtained a summary of the long-awaited $28 billion conservation plan that Democrats are circulating on Capitol Hill.