Articles Tagged with ''covid-19''

It’s a historic day for the country as Joe Biden takes office at noon as the 46th president with a plan to hit the ground running on the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other issues.

The $900 billion COVID relief bill, passed in late December, is providing new funding for programs to help feed the millions of people whose jobs have been lost to the pandemic, but anti-hunger advocates say more help is needed and have already turned to Congress and the incoming Biden administration for help.

Rural America has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, and sheriffs say drug intervention centers can be the solution to lower overdose deaths that are consuming people of all ages and demographic groups.

Joe Biden is planning to start issuing a series of executive orders addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other challenges, starting Wednesday as he take office as the 46th president in a capital city fortified like a war zone.

The outgoing Trump administration is tapping unspent USDA funding to provide coronavirus relief to contract producers for the first time while providing supplemental payments to hog farms. USDA also is adjusting payments calculations for many producers who have already received Coronavirus Food Assistance Program payments.

In this opinion piece, National Corn Growers Association CEO Jon Doggett and Environmental Defense Fund vice president of ecosystems Britt Groosman, discuss the importance of implementing sustainable practices at scale across U.S. agriculture.

President-elect Joe Biden names former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power to run the U.S. Agency for International Development, a position Biden says will be elevated in importance under his administration.

A surge of nationwide cheese demand driven at least in part by the Trump administration’s Farmers to Families Food Box program sparked wild swings in dairy markets and fueled a new debate over changes in federal milk pricing policy made in the 2018 farm bill.

USDA officials tell Agri-Pulse they are working “amicably” with the Biden transition team, which is paving the way for the incoming administration next week. On the international front, the transition team has been pressing USDA for details on the impacts of the “phase one” trade deal with China.

Nathan Ohle, Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, discusses how rural and tribal communities are in need of support and resources after being hit hard by the pandemic.