Small businesses have a crucial role to play in ensuring COVID-19 vaccines get into the arms of rural Americans, who have been less eager than their urban and suburban counterparts to get the shots, panelists said at a virtual summit Thursday.

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, tells Agri-Pulse he’s concerned that rural regions could be hit with a new surge of COVID-19 cases this fall if vaccinations continue to lag due to resistance to getting the shot.

In mid-March 2020, when restaurants and foodservice mostly shut down due to COVID-19, the livestock and dairy industries experienced unparalleled disruption.

The National Pork Producers Council says it plans to hold the World Pork Expo this year, marking the return of the event after a two-year hiatus due to a pair of global animal and human health concerns.

The Democratic-controlled House gives final congressional approval to a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package, setting the stage for many Americans to soon get $1,400 payments.

Democrats win Senate approval of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package after modifying some provisions to assuage party moderates but preserving historic debt relief for minority farmers that Republicans tried to strip from the bill.

A key Republican says the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Democrats are pushing through the Senate will lead to automatic cuts in farm programs and other forms of federal spending. Sen. John Boozman, the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, is referring to the Congressional Budget Office’s determination that the legislation would trigger the budget sequestration process under the 2011 budget law.

On Tuesday, Vilsack took part in a wide-ranging interview with Agri-Pulse from his home in Iowa, touching on subjects ranging from helping farmers through the COVID-19 pandemic to addressing the “cumulative effect of discrimination over a long period of time.”

An Agri-Pulse analysis shows that the Trump administration's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program payments were distributed more widely than traditional forms of government assistance although larger farms continue to receive the big share of the money.