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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
The House Appropriations Committee advanced a $27.2 billion spending bill for the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration that would provide significant new funding for conservation technical assistance, rural broadband and food safety.
The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected this week to approve proposals aimed at weakening the market power of meatpackers but have long divided producers.
The Biden administration on Thursday pledged to help repair Ukraine’s agriculture sector from the damages of the Russian invasion even as the war rages on and farmers struggle to bring in crops.
House Democrats, struggling to maintain their tenuous control over the House amid soaring food and fuel prices, win passage of a package of bills aimed at promoting competition in the meat sector, reducing fertilizer usage and expanding the use of biofuels.
Ukraine’s farmers are preparing to begin this year’s problematic summer harvest on the 75% of fields not under Russian occupation, but producers, analysts and political leaders are preoccupied with the broader question of where the grain will be stored as efforts falter to reopen exports through Black Sea ports.
The Agriculture Department would get $560 million more for rural broadband expansion, plus increases for research, food aid and combating animal and plant diseases, under a draft House spending bill for fiscal 2023.
The USDA said Friday bumped up its forecast for U.S. soybean exports and dropped its prediction for ending stocks as Chinese demand remains strong and competition from Brazil is less than expected.
The Biden administration will work with the United Farm Workers to develop a $65 million program broadly aimed at ensuring farms implement “robust health and safety standards” for employees and preventing unfair recruitment practices for H-2A workers.
President Joe Biden intends to nominate Doug McKalip, a senior adviser to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, to be chief agricultural negotiator for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Ag groups are debating once again the idea of a permanent disaster aid program, but congressional budget rules and concerns about the crop insurance system are likely to make it as difficult as ever for lawmakers to agree on a proposal.
