Articles Tagged with ''USDA''

USDA named Alec Varsamis deputy communications director. A veteran of the first Trump administration, he was press secretary and acting communications director for then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue. Since then, Versamis has worked at agencies Ketchum and Veno Group in account supervisor roles focused on agriculture, food and ingredients as well as crisis and issue management communications. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco. 

USDA has suspended millions of dollars in Commodity Credit Corporation funds originally destined for food banks across the country through the Emergency Food Assistance Program. Senate Democrats are challenging the USDA decision, claiming it would have a "significant and damaging impact" on millions of people.

The Agriculture Department on Wednesday announced a $280 million program to pay Texas producers seeing a shortfall in Rio Grande water deliveries from Mexico. 

The Agriculture Department's National Agricultural Statistics Service will reinstate its July Cattle and County Estimates for Crops and Livestock reports, both of which ended last year due to budget constraints.

The Agriculture Department will continue distributing federal funding to the University of Maine after concluding in a Title IX investigation that the institution does not allow transgender athletes on its women’s sports teams.

India’s demand for imported animal feed could increase significantly in coming years depending on how fast the population’s income grows and domestic production expands, according to a USDA study.

Chavonda Jacobs-Young departed from USDA where she was chief scientist. Terrain hired Marc Rosenbohm as a senior grain and oilseed analyst. Riley Padgett returned to USDA as chief of staff for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture hired Logan Moss as an associate director of public policy. Mike DeCamp retired as CEO and president of CoverCress. 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins used National Ag Day on Tuesday to announce the release of $10 billion in economic assistance payments for growers of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice and other row crops. Signup starts Wednesday and runs through Aug. 15.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to rehire probationary employees at six federal agencies, including USDA.