Articles Tagged with ''covid-19''

In this opinion piece, Blake Hurst explains how the livestock markets are broken and how a well-researched snapshot of our present situation can help the U.S. figure out what the future should look like for the industry.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the next big coronavirus relief bill, assuming there is one, would likely provide more funding for payments to farmers. But McConnell is clearly reluctant to include new spending for rural broadband or other infrastructure.

A bill to give businesses more flexility on how and when they spend their forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans passed the House 417-1 on Thursday.

Testing of workers at meatpacking plants may receive more attention in the next version of guidance meant to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection at those facilities, the head of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health said Thursday.

Senators Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Angus King, I-Maine, Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Joe Manchin, D-W.V., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Tina Smith, D-Minn., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., introduce the New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act. A bipartisan bill, which would allow meat and poultry products inspected by state Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programs to be sold across state lines.

Senate Democrats, setting the stage for a new COVID-19 relief bill, are proposing to spend $8 billion to bolster the food supply chain and to redistribute surplus commodities.

Matt McKenna explains if USDA were able to issue government-backed debentures to RBICs, it would facilitate the flow of private capital to rural businesses serving communities in all 50 states, thereby generating employment opportunities and stimulating innovation and other critical economic development.

Farmers will get some welcome relief starting next month from the market impact of the coronavirus, but it will take a second round of payments to keep many in the black this year, and producers may face similar problems into next year.

China is buying a lot more U.S. ag commodities and tearing down major import restrictions — just as it promised in the “phase one” trade deal — but the successes of the pact are being drowned out by growing animosity on both sides of the Pacific.

The desert locust, generally considered one of the most devastating pests in the world to agriculture, has been hitting farmers hard in the Horn of Africa as well as the Arabian Peninsula for six months, devouring crops and pasture. With COVID-19, the situation has gone from bad to worse.