Articles Tagged with ''covid-19''

The U.S. exported record amounts of pork and posted very strong numbers for beef sales around the globe in March, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new USDA data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue expressed confidence at a White House meeting Wednesday that the meat shortages that have forced supermarkets to limit purchases should ease as meatpacking plants fully reopen within the next 10 days.

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says plants that have slowed operations or shut their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic need to develop a plan to bring their facilities back online.

As the state pumps nearly $1 billion into procuring N95 masks for healthcare workers, industries like agriculture are left competing for purchases and relying on cloth masks when possible.

Stung by scenes of farmers dumping milk and plowing under crops, the Trump administration is launching a never-before-tried plan to use the nation’s commercial food distributors to buy fresh produce, dairy products and meat and give them away to needy families across the country.

The results of a California Farm Bureau survey shows that 57% of farmers have been hit with lost customers or reduced sales due to the pandemic.

Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are insisting on a “shield” to protect businesses from civil lawsuits in the next COVID-19 relief bill, but Democrats are pushing back hard.

A measure of the state of farm country dropped for the second month in a row, “effectively wiping out the improvement in sentiment that took place following the 2016 election.”

Crop producers will have more time to verify their organic acreage for crop insurance under a loosened regulatory regime rolled out earlier this week by USDA’s Risk Management Agency.