Items Tagged with 'USDA Rural Development'

The Animal Health Institute named Gene Harrington senior director of state affairs. Bob Ellison joined Agri-Pulse as managing editor. Scott Bennett joined Ceva Animal Health in the newly created role as director of public affairs and market access.

Jay Ivey joined CropLife America as a manager of federal government relations. President Donald Trump nominated Ted Cooke to lead the Bureau of Reclamation. Margaret Fogarty and Leigh Picchetti launched a consulting firm: Corkboard Communications. Western Skies Strategies hired Jenna Stanton as interim federal policy director.

Ag-backed packaging bill stalls * New wildfire smoke rules coming * USDA office closures proceeding, official says

President Donald Trump is proposing to slash non-defense spending by nearly 23% in a fiscal 2026 budget that contains $5 billion in cuts to USDA programs, including agricultural research, international food aid, conservation technical assistance to farmers, and rural development. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative is a clear winner in the White House plan. 

Basil Gooden, a former Virginia agriculture secretary who has been directing state operations for USDA Rural Development for the past two years, was nominated Monday by President Joe Biden to be the department’s new undersecretary for rural development.

Xochitl Torres Small, a former congresswoman and the granddaughter of farmworkers, was easily confirmed by the Senate Tuesday as USDA's new deputy agriculture secretary.