Articles Tagged with ''Agriculture Department''

The Senate is looking to finish work on a package of spending bills funding USDA and other agencies important to agriculture, but it increasingly appears that Congress won’t reach a final agreement on fiscal 2020 until after the first of the year.

The Trump administration’s trade assistance package and other government payments are keeping the farm economy afloat, while historically low interest rates are helping maintain agricultural land values, according to bankers and economists.

America’s foreign agricultural assistance provides significant domestic benefits by boosting demand for U.S. exports while making more food available to U.S. consumers and helping to guard against the import of pests and diseases, a new report says.

Congress returns from a two-week break with the deepening impeachment battle clouding prospects for budget and tax issues important to U.S. .agriculture, and there is continued uncertainty about when lawmakers will take up the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement.

A five-year, USDA-funded study says that producers can’t get the insurance coverage they need either because it’s unavailable for their particular crops or won’t cover their losses adequately because of the conservation practices they follow.

Trump administration officials say they are committed to reducing regulatory barriers to agricultural biotechnology as part of a larger strategy to promote the development of a "bioeconomy" based on far-reaching scientific innovations that could revolutionize medicine, nutrition and manufacturing as well as farming.

As much as growers long for an end to the trade war with China, there are long-term threats to demand for corn, soybeans and other crops that could depress commodity prices for years to come and lead to calls for higher government spending, economists say.

The Senate overwhelmingly approves a stopgap bill to keep the government funded through Nov. 21 and replenish the account that USDA relies on to make trade-assistance and commodity program payments.

The Senate is expected to clear a stopgap spending bill this week that will keep the government operating and trade-aid payments flowing to farmers after the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.