Banks and Farm Credit System institutions on Friday began taking applications from farmers and other small businesses for $349 billion in forgivable loans aimed at shoring up the economy during the COVID-19 crisis.

USDA’s Food Safety and inspection Service failed to explain why it did not consider worker safety in a 2019 rule allowing pork slaughter facilities to increase line speeds, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Drivers may be in short supply this spring without regulatory relief from the states and federal government, industry groups and some farmers are saying.

For all of you working on farms and ranches, you realize that the important work of producing food and feeding people never stops. It’s the same pattern for those in our packing plants, our truckers, our food workers and everyone along the supply chain from farm to fork.

Five federal employees, including a Food Safety and Inspection Service inspector, have sued the federal government for hazard pay for working during the coronavirus crisis.

The State Department agreed to accelerate approvals of H-2A farm workers by waiving interviews for many applicants, a move welcomed by agricultural groups who feared that embassy cutbacks amid the COVID-19 pandemic would leave farms without needed labor.

Some farm lenders are bracing for what could appear on the horizon as the human and economic fallout from COVID-19 unfolds.

The Trump administration has labeled agriculture as a critical industry in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, allowing businesses to continue operating as usual amid current and potential restrictions created to stem the spread of the virus.