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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Georgia Rep. David Scott is one step away from becoming the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. The Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on Tuesday night selected Scott over California Rep. Jim Costa by a vote of 32-19.
Senators are privately discussing agricultural provisions in the next major coronavirus relief bill, which Republican leaders hope to get passed by the August recess.
Federal agencies are cutting travel and preparing to operate with staff disruptions because of the coronavirus outbreak, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue signaled that he’s open to expanding feeding programs if Congress gives him the legal authority.
Nearly three dozen farm groups and university researchers are calling on House and Senate appropriators to fund the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA), authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill but which has yet to receive any money.
The top regulator for the nation’s Farm Credit banks says while agricultural loan quality has deteriorated somewhat, it's too early to know whether producers will need additional Market Facilitation Program payments for 2020.
The House approved a pair of fiscal 2020 spending packages Tuesday that will provide a fresh infusion of disaster relief to farmers, extend the expired biodiesel credit to 2022 and bolster port inspections to protect U.S. agriculture for African swine fever and other threats.
House Democratic leaders are aiming to push through a stopgap spending bill this week after threatening a fight with the White House, and potentially with some of their own rural members, over a plan that could jeopardize farmers’ trade aid payments.
The House on Monday finally cleared a $19.1 billion disaster aid package that will benefit farmers and communities who suffered from a series of natural disasters stretching back nine months.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue suggested to lawmakers that his department could soften the definition of able-bodied adults who are subject to food stamp work requirements, but he declined to budge from a USDA reorganization plan to relocate two research agencies out of the nation's capital.
The Agriculture Department this week releases the eagerly anticipated 2017 Census of Agriculture, which will provide fresh clues to consolidation trends in farming and measure the growth of small-scale and urban production and beginning farmers.