Items Tagged with 'Screwworm'

The cost of borrowing money is in focus as the Federal Reserve is set to release details of its latest meeting on Wednesday. The minutes will provide hints on if the central bank is inclined to raise interest rates any time soon. Thirty-one cases of screwworm have been found in the U.S., though only 17 are active, according to the latest data from USDA. 

President Donald Trump made the biggest pitch for year-round E15 since his first term, calling on Congress to include the pro-ethanol measure in a nearly $88 billion legislative package to fund a raft of items, including the Iran war and $11 billion in financial aid for farmers. Members of Clean Fuels Alliance America gathered on Capitol Hill this week to stress the need to pass legislation to expand biomass-based diesel use in ocean-going vessels. 

 As policy watchers await a draft farm bill from the Senate Agriculture Committee, lawmakers also need to focus on passing year-round E15, weighing in on California’s Proposition 12, and getting more economic aid into the hands of crop growers, American Farm Bureau Federation’s John Newton says. The Trump administration’s record-high biofuel-blending rules are a clear economic win for rural America, says Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen.

A New Mexico dog confirmed with a case of New World screwworm last week is no longer believed to have traveled to Mexico, New Mexico Agriculture Secretary Jeff Witte says. As Senate Agriculture Committee leaders prepare to release farm bill text, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch says lawmakers need to focus on the growing economic reality that farmers are spending more to produce crops than they're earning. 

The Agriculture Department is putting $105 million into 40 research projects aimed at better equipping the U.S. to combat the spread of New World screwworm, the agency says. The National Corn Growers Association and 15 state corn organizations are calling on USDA to fund research supporting the full value of corn as a driver of new market opportunities and farm revenue.

President Donald Trump announced a “deal” with Iran Sunday involving the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Circularity Fuels says it has completed the world’s first end-to-end conversion of raw agricultural biogas into sustainable aviation fuel, putting the California startup closer to making SAF at a cost rivaling standard jet fuel.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the $1.3 billion fight against a potentially deadly livestock pest includes federal funds reallocated from a local food buying program. Rollins said USDA is “stretched” on using the Commodity Credit Corporation because the $30 billion annual cap has not been increased since 1987. 

 House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., is calling to broaden a U.S. temporary agricultural worker program under an early draft of a proposed ag labor bill.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to consider a farm bill during the work period between July 4th and August recesses, Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., says. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the nomination of Glen Smith to be undersecretary of agriculture for rural development along party lines, setting the stage for a Senate floor vote. 

It’s another big week as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins grapples with a threat to livestock, senators work on a farm bill, and President Donald Trump says he’s focused on ending war with Iran and lowering costs for ag producers and other Americans. A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction barring the Agriculture Department from withholding funding from a group of states through a terms and conditions framework that seeks to comply with Trump administration policies on gender, immigration and diversity.