Authorizes Other Flexibilities To Help Producers Amid Coronavirus Pandemic (USDA/RMA) — USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is ensuring that milk producers are not inappropriately penalized if their milk must be dumped because of recent market disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, RMA is extending inspection deadlines, waiving inspection requirements and authorizing more crop insurance transactions over the phone and …
USDA Invites Input on RCCP Rule
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced they are seeking public comments on their interim rule for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). RCCP helps partners develop and implement unique conservation solutions that engage farmers, ranchers and forest landowners. The rule, which is now available on the Federal Register, takes effect on publication and includes changes to the program prescribed …
USDA-ARS Scientists and Colleagues Find a New Tool to Combat Fusarium Head Blight in Wheat
(USDA/ARS) — Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their colleagues have discovered a gene that can be used to develop varieties of wheat that will be more resistant to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), a disease that is a major threat both overseas and to the nation’s $10 billion annual wheat crop. A paper reporting the discovery and the cloning of …
Produce Industry Proposes Market Stabilization Program to USDA
(NAFB) — The United Fresh Produce Association and industry partners have presented a comprehensive Produce Market Stabilization Program to the Department of Agriculture. The proposal would immediately support critical financial needs in the produce supply chain. In addition, 108 members of Congress have sent a letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue urging USDA to support the proposal. United Fresh President …
USDA Working on Aid for Livestock, Dairy, Specialty Crops
(NAFB) — Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue is working on developing aid programs for livestock, dairy, and specialty crop producers ahead of any aid to traditional commodity producers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The Hagstrom Report says House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson spoke with Perdue, who told the chairman that he’s trying to develop systems to provide aid …
NCBA Requests President Trump Expand USDA Market Investigation
(NCBA) — NCBA President Marty Smith sent a letter to President Donald Trump, requesting the government to act quickly to investigate the striking disparity between boxed beef prices and cattle prices in the futures and cash markets during the current COVID-19 crisis and following the packing plant fire in Holcomb, Kan., last August. In his letter, Smith requests President Trump to …
Dairy Groups Ask USDA for Food Purchases, Dairy Farmer Relief
(NAFB) — A group of dairy organizations wrote a letter this week to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue and asked the USDA to help the struggling dairy industry. They want the agency to use its extensive purchasing power given to it by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Security Act, to alleviate at least some of the stress on the U.S. dairy …
USDA Offices Doing Business by Phone or Electronically
There have been a few farmers, while in town recently, decided to stop by their local USDA Service Center but found the doors were locked. As Gary Crawford reports, that’s because many of those offices are temporarily doing business with producers only by phone or electronically. Sponsored ContentCIR Agriculture Harvester ProductsJuly 1, 2025Nuseed Carinata Covers New GroundOctober 1, 2024TriEst Ag …
USDA Seeks Public Comment on More Revised Conservation Practice Standards
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is seeking public comment on proposed revisions to 49 national conservation practice standards through a posting in the Federal Register. The proposed revisions were posted this week and the public comment period closes April 23, 2020. There 49 updated national conservation practice standards include: agronomic practices for water quality and …
Commissioner Nikki Fried Letter to USDA Secretary Perdue: Ensure Farmers Are “Not Left Behind”
(FDACS) — Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue requesting flexibility to help move Florida perishable crops quickly to food banks, school meal programs, and other federal food purchase programs. With many restaurants and food service establishments closed, Florida agricultural producers are facing a sudden market decline for fresh commodities ready to be harvested such …