Articles Tagged with ''covid-19''

As former administrators of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), we have firsthand knowledge of how destructive animal and plant pests and diseases can be. Disease and pest introductions are a threat to food availability and can cost billions of dollars to control and eradicate.

District of Columbia-area lawmakers are urging USDA to "suspend its dangerous and insufficient plans to reopen its offices" until it addresses employees’ safety concerns about COVID-19.

USDA will release the rules for the next round of coronavirus relief payments to farmers next week, just ahead of the deadline for applying for the first round, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says.

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.

A new program provides temporary housing for farm and food processing workers to self-isolate if they are dealing with COVID-19.

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. 

Rapidly rising almond production coupled with trade wars and COVID-19 impacts have cut prices for farmers nearly in half over the past year and they won’t likely fully recover for at least a couple of seasons, says Roland Fumasi, a senior analyst for Rabobank.

Jess Fanzo, associate professor of global food and agriculture policy and ethics at Johns Hopkins University, and Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition team up in this article to share more information on the Food Systems Dashboard, a new easy-to-navigate online tool designed to help decision makers and other users in the US and around the world understand their food systems.

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.