Articles Tagged with ''Tom Vilsack''

Eight years after ground was first broken for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas, government officials gathered Wednesday to celebrate the facility’s official opening.

Areas within USDA’s Rural Partners Network are set to benefit from a wide array of federal programs as the department rolls out almost $400 million to address longstanding poverty in the regions.

The Agriculture Department will be distributing $500 million this fiscal year through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which allows the agency to share costs for regional conservation projects with private entities and state governments.

Republicans on the House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday advanced a fiscal 2024 spending bill for USDA and FDA over Democratic accusations that it was a “sham proposal” that relied on funding rescissions that were unlikely to materialize in time. 

Work requirements remain in play in the debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. It’s still not clear which program might be affected, but President Biden has once again signaled that he might go along with some changes. 

Heidi Kühn, the founder and CEO of the humanitarian nonprofit Roots for Peace, has been selected as this year's World Food Prize laureate for her work in turning war-torn land into farmland. 

USDA is funneling more assistance to producers looking to maintain their organic certification as the department also stands up a new grant program to develop markets for the products.

USDA unveiled 12 new Regional Food Business Centers Wednesday, funded with $400 million, that will provide technical and financial assistance to strengthen local and regional food systems, along with another $420 million in a new Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program to expand capacity and processing for non-meat and poultry products.