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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, December 27, 2024
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is preparing to confirm later this morning that he will be using $2.3 billion in funding from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation to help farm groups promote their goods in foreign markets as well as donate more U.S.-grown commodities to those in need overseas, according to government officials.
House Republicans remain unable to agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded in October. Meanwhile, senators left town Thursday still unable to get agreement on bringing up a three-bill spending package that includes its version of the USDA-FDA bill.
Fresh off the heels of a nearly $266 million renewable energy announcement from USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is urging a hands-off approach by those outside the department looking to tweak the agency’s funding pools.
The chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service expressed confidence that the agency could hire the staff it needs to handle a sharp increase in climate-related funding, despite many applicants for soil conservationist positions lacking a key job requirement – a class in soil science.
Congressional Republicans who opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, the main funding mechanism for President Joe Biden's climate policy, would like to move the IRA's funding for climate-related farming practices into the farm bill, which could permanently boost funding for conservation programs.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is updating the processes for its Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) around appraisals, land surveys and certifying eligible entities that help NRCS and producers enroll land into easements.
Natural Resources Conservation Service offices in states like California are gearing up to take in a surge of Inflation Reduction Act funding centered around the conservation programs they operate.
