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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Thursday, April 03, 2025
Many farmers will see their incomes rise this year amid the historically massive outpouring of government aid producers have received as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA says.
With schools across the country struggling to reopen, the Agriculture Department will let them continue serving meals to all students at no charge until the end of the year or until the available funding runs out.
Senate Republicans are circulating a trimmed-down coronavirus aid package that leaves out additional aid for farmers as well as the $1,200-per-person stimulus checks included in their earlier, $1 trillion HEALS Act.
Ag and rural issues got several mentions during the roll call of the states where Joe Biden was officially nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night.
Farm groups are appealing to the Agriculture Department to relax payment rules and extend the signup deadline for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, citing the lagging pace of payments to farmers.
The Trump administration and House Democrats have yet to reach a coronavirus relief deal, and billions in agriculture funding and food assistance increases hang in the balance as the high-level talks move slowly.
A key senator involved in developing the Republican coronavirus relief package for farmers defended the broad authority it gives to USDA to spend $20 billion in farm aid, but he said the Trump administration likely will need to provide assurances about how the money will be spent.
Last week’s report from the Department of Agriculture offered a laundry list of reasons for why beef markets behaved the way they did after two cataclysmic events hit the sector in as many years. But the 21-page document also contained something else: a legislative and regulatory to-do list for an industry well-known for infighting and disagreement.