Environment

RSS

President Donald Trump is telling U.S. farmers to get ready to focus on the domestic market ahead of forthcoming tariffs.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Sunday laid out some broad details of the $10 billion in market relief for row crop producers that’s due out by March 21, asserting that the U.S. farm economy is “perhaps the worst it's been in 100 years.”

Tom Schultz, former director of the Idaho Department of Lands, was named chief of the U.S. Forest Service. He succeeds Randy Moore, who announced his retirement this week, citing the challenges of the 'significant transformation' of the federal government.

USDA is in the process of hiring back scientists in the Agricultural Research Service who were summarily fired from their positions because they had not completed their probationary periods, according to union representatives.

House GOP leaders are struggling to nail down the votes they need for their budget blueprint. A key message for more moderate members is that the final spending cuts won’t be as great as the budget resolution now calls for. 

The House is on track to debate the GOP’s massive budget blueprint next week. The House Rules Committee is scheduled Monday to prepare the budget resolution for floor action, although it’s not yet clear that Republicans have nailed down the votes.

President Donald Trump has nominated several individuals to high-ranking posts at the Agriculture Department, including Scott Hutchins to be the new undersecretary of agriculture for research, education, and economics and Tyler Clarkson to be the department’s top lawyer.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is advising several groups to stop working on some projects funded by the Agriculture Department amid an ongoing federal freeze, according to emails viewed by Agri-Pulse and interviews with recipients.

Recent actions by the Trump administration have put at risk a collection of 19 university-based laboratories that conduct specialized research on agricultural challenges facing underdeveloped countries, including nutrition, food safety, irrigation and livestock management.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately unfreeze funds, including Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dollars and those paused by an Office of Management and Budget directive.