Latest U.S. Department of Agriculture News
Food aid interventions can curb climate change-induced hardship. But should they do more?
CHIPINGE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Gertrude Siduna appears to have little appetite for corn farming season. Rather than prepare her land in Zimbabwe’s arid southeastern Chipinge district for the crop that has fed her family for generations, the 49-year-old — bitter at repeated droughts...
USDA bans school lunch fees for low-income families
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that students eligible for free or reduced price school meals cannot be charged processing fees beginning in 2027. School districts currently work with processing companies to offer cashless payment systems for families....
Honolulu revives the idea of shipping trash off island
Honolulu’s trash could be shipped off island for 10 years until a new landfill is opened, a potential interim solution to the challenge of what to do with the waste generated by almost 1 million residents and about half a million monthly visitors. The city has begun exploring the...
Midwest chicken farmers struggle to feed flocks after sudden closure of processor
Dozens of farmers in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are scrambling to feed their flocks after a struggling organic broiler chicken producer abruptly closed a year after getting a $39 million federal loan. Pure Prairie Poultry shuttered its Charles City, Iowa, plant after filing for...
RFK Jr. suggests he'll have a significant role on agriculture and health policy if Trump is elected
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suggesting he will have significant influence on American agriculture policy if Donald Trump is elected president, the latest in a series of roles he has envisioned for himself in a second Trump administration. Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist and...
USDA launches an internal investigation into the deadly Boar's Head outbreak
U.S. Agriculture Department officials have launched an internal investigation into how the agency handled reports of serious problems at a Boar's Head deli meat plant tied to a deadly listeria outbreak, a lawmaker said Tuesday. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that USDA Inspector...
Boar's Head faces legal scrutiny over deadly deli meat listeria outbreak, USDA says
Boar's Head, the deli meat company at the center of a deadly listeria food poisoning outbreak, is being scrutinized by law enforcement officials, the U.S. Agriculture Department disclosed in response to government records requests. Officials with USDA's Food Safety and Inspection...
US to hand over pest inspections of Mexican avocados to Mexico and California growers aren't happy
MEXICO CITY (AP) — California avocado growers are fuming this week about a U.S. decision to hand over pest inspections of Mexican orchards to the Mexican government. Inspectors hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been guarding against imports of avocados infected with...
Sweaty corn is making it even more humid
Barb Boustead remembers learning about corn sweat when she moved to Nebraska about 20 years ago to work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and found herself plunked down in an ocean of corn. The term for the late-summer spike in humidity from corn plants cooling themselves was...
Senators demand the USDA fix its backlog of food distribution to Native American tribes
A bipartisan group of senators is demanding immediate action from USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack after several tribal nations reported that a federal food distribution program they rely on has not fulfilled orders for months, and in some cases has delivered expired food. Last spring,...
