Articles by Steve Davies

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the next big coronavirus relief bill, assuming there is one, would likely provide more funding for payments to farmers. But McConnell is clearly reluctant to include new spending for rural broadband or other infrastructure.

Testing of workers at meatpacking plants may receive more attention in the next version of guidance meant to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection at those facilities, the head of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health said Thursday.

Senate Democrats are laying out their priorities for addressing the food supply chain in the next coronavirus relief bill.

The House is back in session today with plans to focus on must-pass bills this summer, with fewer of the political messaging votes that are often typical for an election year.

Plant-based foods are enjoying significant sales increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the association that represents the companies that make them said Tuesday.

No-till farming increased yields consistently over about three decades on cropland in southwest Michigan, according to new research from Michigan State University.

Today’s the day farmers can start enrolling for those $16 billion in direct payments USDA is distributing through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

Packing plants shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic are mostly up and running once again, which is placing a new focus on testing and the availability of personal protective equipment to keep their doors open. 

Agriculture in Europe and the United States may be diverging even more sharply in coming years. The European Union has adopted a series of sweeping goals for slashing the use of pesticides, antibiotics and fertilizer – and converting at least 25% of EU agriculture to organic over the next decade.

USDA is making $1 billion in loan guarantees available “to help rural businesses meet their working capital needs during the coronavirus pandemic,” the department said Thursday.