We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Terms and Cookie Policy
Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Monday, April 14, 2025
The Senate confirmed Bill Northey as USDA’s undersecretary for farm programs after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, dropped a hold he had kept on the nomination for four months in a dispute over biofuel policy.
A top USDA official was met with boos and derisive laughter when he attempted to sell anti-hunger activists and food banks on the Trump administration’s proposal to convert a portion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to food boxes.
President Trump takes another stab this week at settling a biofuel policy dispute that has embroiled a key USDA nominee, and his administration will step up its defense of proposals to clamp down on federal nutrition assistance.
USDA wants to hear from the public and policy experts about how to push unemployed, able-bodied adults who are getting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits into the workforce.
U.S. sugar farmers want to keep restricting the inflow of foreign supplies just as much as sweetener users – think candy and food companies – want to increase imports and push down prices. As a result, friction between the two sides is heating up as Congress prepares to write the next five-year farm bill.
Cotton growers say their new farm program payments will provide badly needed income support without the threat of foreign retaliation that forced them to give up their old policy.
If Congress wants to boost the farm economy and rural development, university researchers say the upcoming farm bill needs to focus on farmers’ and ranchers’ urgent healthcare needs.
President Trump is proposing to slash crop insurance and other farm programs by $47 billion over 10 years and to dramatically overhaul the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, eventually shrinking its cost to taxpayers by one-third.
RSS
