Articles Tagged with ''usda''

President Donald Trump’s historic move to ensure meatpackers stay open is being cheered by producers who are facing a collapse in livestock prices and, in some cases, having to kill their animals. But the industry will be closely watched to see whether the action worsens the outbreaks that have killed at least 20 packing plant workers.

The number of people facing hunger is on the rise around the world because of the global COVID-19 crisis, and humanitarian organizations and farm groups are pushing for the Trump administration to boost donations of rice, wheat and other commodities.

USDA is looking for solutions that address water reuse, water quality, air quality, energy and wildlife habitat as part of the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant program.

Top lawmakers say Congress is looking at providing more money for payments to farmers to offset losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

Meat and poultry plants continue to close because of COVID-19 as fears grow of possible shortages.

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.

More than 30 Republican and Democratic House members are proposing to include an additional $50 billion in aid to farmers in the next COVID-19 economic relief bill.

Pressure is mounting on USDA not to limit the payments that individual producers can get through the Trump administration’s COVID-19 relief package. According to information released by a key senator, USDA has been planning to cap the payments at $125,000 per commodity per individual farmer or $250,000 for all commodities.

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.