Articles Tagged with ''beef''

COVID-19 forced most people to start eating most meals at home and away from restaurants and food service institutions. Now, food companies of all sizes are trying to adapt to selling food in new ways.

The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Inspection Service is creating a National Incident Coordination Center to help producers who cannot take animals to market as meat processing facilities close due to COVID-19.

USDA reports released Thursday show China has purchased another 1,400 metric tons of U.S. beef and 272,000 tons of U.S. soybeans, demonstrating importers are successfully getting exemptions to the country’s tariffs.

USDA’s $19 billion COVID-19 aid package for farmers may fall well short of compensating producers for the estimated damage of the pandemic, and the department has an ambitious and novel plan to distribute USDA-purchased commodities to needy people. 

Expectations for U.S. beef exports to China this year are being tempered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but shipments have already begun and they’re expected to continue strong despite the spread of the virus.

Chinese importers purchased 1,500 metric tons of U.S. beef earlier this month, evidence that the “phase one” trade deal is already resulting in new export opportunities for the U.S., according to new data from USDA.

A major beef packing plant will come offline this week after detecting coronavirus infections among its staff, two of whom have died.

Without government relief, some analysts are sharply lowering their estimates of net farm income because of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on agricultural markets, with the livestock sector and corn growers bearing much of the hit.

Meat packers need federal inspectors to produce the pork chops, T-bone steaks and ground beef that consumers are counting on to be in grocery stores, but the USDA inspectors on the front line are being told they are on their own when it comes to securing masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

China has been making strides in living up to the promises it made in the “phase one” trade deal that went into effect February, but imports of U.S. ag commodities are still far below levels than many were hoping for.