Latest U.S. Department of Agriculture News
Wyoming expects below normal spring runoff this year
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Most rivers in Wyoming will be at below-average levels this spring, a report said. The report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the North Platte River, which runs through Casper, will be at less than half of its average where it enters the Nebraska...
Illinois, US team up to manage, sustain vast forest lands
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Federal and state land managers have signed an agreement to cooperate on caring for vast forest lands in Illinois. The agreement signed this past week was between the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. It establishes a...
COVID-19 subsidies could mean high income levels for farmers
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota farmers could have what many would consider a successful bottom line for 2020, a fact that’s, ironically, thanks to COVID-19. Net farm income is expected to reach just shy of $120 billion in the U.S., its highest point since 2013 and a more than 43% increase...
Maine to continue combating pest despite feds deregulation
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine forestry officials will continue to monitor for an invasive forest pest in the state despite new guidance from the federal government. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has long made efforts to slow the spread of the emerald ash borer, which is...
US issues new rules for Idaho potato field quarantines
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials have released a new plan involving methods to deal with a microscopic pest in southeastern Idaho that threatens the state's billion-dollar industry that supplies a third of the nation's potatoes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture late last week released the final rule...
Arizona town teams up to fight COVID-19 food insecurity
AJO, Ariz. (AP) — On an early autumn morning, the whitewashed churches of Ajo are quiet, and the town square is still. The only sounds are dump trucks rumbling by, headed for border wall construction sites to the south. But inside the Ajo Farmers Market & Cafe, the atmosphere is buzzing. It’s...
Editorial Roundup: Iowa
Fort Dodge Messenger. Dec. 30, 2020. Keep Bill Northey at USDA. Here’s a great way for Joe Biden to show bipartisanship The deep divisions between our two major political parties have made it difficult for Congress to function. All too often, needed policy decisions are left unmade because lawmakers find...
Mississippi county: Beaver dams could cause roadway flooding
GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — Officials in part of the Mississippi Delta say beaver dams in creeks and other bodies of water could lead to flooding on roadways during the rainy winter season. Leflore County road manager Jerry Smith said it's important to break up dams "because if you leave some there and we get...
Federal checks salvage otherwise dreadful 2020 for US farms
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thanks to the government paying nearly 40% of their income, U.S. farmers are expected to end 2020 with higher profit than 2019 and the best net income in seven years, the Department of Agriculture said in its latest farm income forecast. Farmers faced challenges throughout 2020 that...
Restoring longleaf pines, keystone of once vast ecosystems
DESOTO NATIONAL FOREST, Miss. (AP) — When European settlers came to North America, fire-dependent savannas anchored by lofty pines with footlong needles covered much of what became the southern United States. Yet by the 1990s, logging and clear-cutting for farms and development had all but eliminated...
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