The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has eliminated two key programs that provided schools and food banks with funding to purchase food from local farms and ranchers, slashing over $1 billion in federal spending. The cuts include: $660 million for the Local Food for Schools (LFS) Cooperative Agreement Program, which …
Read More »USDA Rolls Out $1B Plan to Combat Bird Flu After Egg Prices Rise
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday it plans to spend up to $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funds to try to reduce the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry. The virus, also known as bird flu or H5N1, has disrupted the work of poultry farmers for …
Read More »USDA Reopens HBCU Agriculture Scholarship After Lawmaker Outcry
The Trump administration has reinstated applications for a federal scholarship supporting students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) pursuing agricultural studies, following sharp criticism from lawmakers over its abrupt suspension last week. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had halted the 1890 National Scholars Program, which provides full tuition, …
Read More »USDA Accidentally Fires Key Bird Flu Response Employees Amid Mass Layoffs
In a blunder that has alarmed lawmakers and health experts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed Tuesday that it accidentally fired several employees crucial to the federal government’s response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The agency is now scrambling to reverse the terminations, which come amid the Trump …
Read More »‘The internet is no longer a luxury’: $667M From USDA For Rural Broadband
Jacob Fischler, Florida Phoenix The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend another $667 million on rural broadband loans and grants, the department said Monday, marking the fourth round of Biden administration funding under a program that the 2021 infrastructure law invigorated. Nearly three-quarters of the funding, $493 million, will go …
Read More »USDA To Provide $33M For Agriculture Projects At 19 HBCU Land-Grant Institutions
Ariana Figueroa, Kentucky Lantern The U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday announced $33 million in funding to 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities designated as land-grant institutions to support research and education projects. The funding through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will support 82 projects in sustainable farming practices …
Read More »USDA Secretary Battles With House GOP Over Costs Of Federal Nutrition Programs
Adam Goldstein, South Dakota Searchlight U.S. House Republicans tussled with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Democratic committee members over work requirements in federal nutrition programs as well as spending levels for those programs at a Tuesday hearing. Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee charged Vilsack with evading bipartisan oversight …
Read More »USDA Proposes New Rules to Cut Sugar, Salt in School Meals
The Agriculture Department on Friday proposed new nutrition standards for school meals that would impose the first limit on added sugar in lunches and breakfasts served by school cafeterias. Via NBC News: The proposal also seeks to lower sodium levels and puts more of an emphasis on whole-grain products in …
Read More »USDA To Spend $500 Million Extending High-Speed Internet To Rural America
Jacob Fischler, Florida Phoenix The U.S. Department of Agriculture will send more than $500 million in loans and grants to telecommunications providers to bring high-speed internet to rural areas across 20 states, Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday. The department will spend $360 million in grants and $141 million in loans …
Read More »USDA Report Shows How Covid Relief Helped Slash Food Insecurity in 2021
Julia Conley, Common Dreams New food insecurity data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday provided the latest evidence that the enhanced child tax credit and other relief programs passed in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic significantly helped millions of Americans to support their families …
Read More »USDA Plans ‘historic’ Funding To Help Struggling Farmers And Develop New Agriculture Leaders
Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch August 24, 2022 The U.S. Department of Agriculture will distribute up to $550 million to expand certain farmers’ access to land, money and markets and to create educational opportunities for the students of higher-education institutions that cater to racial and ethnic minorities. “The idea here …
Read More »Federal Judges Block Black Farmers From Receiving Debt-Relief Funding
Two federal judges have blocked minority farmers from receiving billions of dollars in debt-relief payments. Judges Marcia Morales Howard and William Griesbach say the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act is unconstitutional because it is not race-neutral. The orders come after white farmers and institutions filed lawsuits because they couldn’t receive …
Read More »Biden To Launch Biggest Summer Food Program In U.S. History
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a new effort on Monday that will feed more than 30 million children over the summer by expanding the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits funded by President Joe Biden‘s American Rescue Plan. P-EBT was established in March 2020 to provide food dollars …
Read More »USDA Extends Free Meals Through Next School Year
The US Department of Agriculture has announced that it is extending Universal Free Lunch through the 2021-2022 school year. “This is an effort to help more than 12 million school students who are going through food insecurity. States and districts wanted waivers extended to plan for safe reopening in the fall. …
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