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Also see: Tariffs; Trade; China; Canada;
legislation; environment; clean water act; clean power plan; food safety;
nomination withdrawals; Sonny Perdue;
Undated: The United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), also known as the Agriculture Department,
is the
U.S.
federal executive department responsible for developing and executing
federal laws related to farming, forestry, and food. It aims to meet the needs
of farmers and ranchers, promote agricultural trade and production, work to
assure food safety, protect natural resources, foster rural communities and end
hunger in the United States and internationally.
Approximately 80% of the USDA's $141 billion budget goes to the
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) program. The largest component of the FNS
budget is the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp
program), which is the cornerstone of USDA's nutrition assistance.[2]
April 19: President Donald Trump appears to
have soured on Argentine lemons — at least on his predecessor's decision to end
a 16-year ban on imports of the fruit.
Lemons will be a top trade talking point when Trump welcomes Argentine President
Mauricio Macri in Washington on April 27, with growers in the South American
country saying the ban is more about Trump protectionism than sanitary standards
... The two leaders have a personal relationship from their days as businessmen
....
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/19/argentine-lemon-ban-trump-protectionism-or-sanitary-measure.html
May 1: A U.S. rule allowing lemon imports
from Argentina’s main producing region for the first time in 16 years will take
effect this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday, days after
President Donald Trump said he was reviewing his administration’s stance on the
matter.
The lab is one of 17 USDA sites targeted for closure in the presidential
blueprint released Tuesday. Its closing, which would have to be approved by
Congress, would cost about 200 jobs.
“President Trump’s proposed closure of Peoria’s Agriculture Lab is incredibly
troubling and misguided,” said Bustos, D-Moline. “This lab is the largest USDA
agriculture research lab in the country and is an integral part of our
community. I’ll fight tooth-and-nail to make sure the doors at Peoria’s
Agriculture Lab stay open and that they continue to provide the excellent
research that makes our region proud every single day.”
http://www.pjstar.com/news/20170523/trump-budget-calls-for-shutdown-of-peoria-ag-lab
May 25:
[President
Trump] decided to allow lemons to be imported from Argentina --
one of the biggest lemon producers in the world -- for the first time in 16
years.
May 26: The USDA estimates the new supply
[of lemons] will push down the price of lemons a couple of pennies. U.S.
consumers
could save $22.4 million on their collective lemon purchases.
But for U.S. citrus farmers, “We get nailed. We get nailed,” said Joel Nelsen,
president of California Citrus Mutual, a trade group.
November 2:The
folks at the Department of Agriculture laid on a friendly welcome for the Trump
transition team, but they soon discovered that most of his appointees were
stunningly unqualified. With key U.S.D.A. programs—from food stamps to meat
inspection, to grants and loans for rural development, to school lunches—under
siege, the agency’s greatest problem is that even the people it helps most don’t
know what it does.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/usda-food-stamps-school-lunch-trump-administration
February 16: The Trump administration is
seeking to cut the Department of Agriculture’s discretionary budget by $3.5
billion, or 15 percent, while also slashing by $17 billion the funds available
to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps). The budget would
also reduce federal crop insurance subsidies and cut spending for conservation
programs and foreign food aid.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/trump-budget-2019/?utm_term=.b763ec8c0b00
May 18: The House of Representatives failed
to pass a massive farm bill Friday as Republicans were unable to shore up
support from their conservative members amid an ongoing party-wide fight on
immigration, rebuking GOP House leaders' who had predicted it would pass just
minutes before.
The conservative-driven bill -- which included the work requirements that Ryan
has coveted and pushed for -- was, at least for now, dead, sunk not because of
its actual content, but because of immigration, an issue that has roiled the
Republican Party for years.
July 30:
USDA said it would use a Depression-era farm support fund to make
direct payments to producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy
and pork.
... some of the benefits could go to Chinese-owned companies.
“The pork industry is dominated by very large corporations,” said Chris Hurt, an
agricultural economist at Purdue University in Indiana. “The largest hog
producer in the U.S., Smithfield, is owned by a Chinese company.”
And EU officials downplayed Trump’s claim they had made a commitment to buy more
U.S. soybeans.
“And where does the bailout stop? What about people who use steel and aluminum?
What about other goods that have been targeted by our foreign competitors? Are
they going to get bailouts too?”
November 26: The number of farms filing for
bankruptcy is increasing across the Upper Midwest.
A new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis shows 84 farms filed
for bankruptcy in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana
in the 12 months that ended in June. That’s more than double the number over the
same period in 2013 and 2014.
The Star Tribune
reports the increase in Chapter 12 filings reflect low prices for corn,
soybeans, milk and beef. The situation has gotten worse for farmers since June
because of the retaliatory tariffs that have closed the Chinese market for
soybeans and held back exports of milk and beef. Chapter 12 bankruptcy allows
for repayment of debt over three years.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/11/26/farm-bankruptcies-on-rise-in-midwest/
January 10: A
federal judge on Wednesday struck down an Iowa law that made it illegal to get a
job at a livestock farm to conduct an animal cruelty undercover investigation
U.S. District Court Judge James Gritzner sided with opponents of the 2012 law
that was intended to stop organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals from doing animal abuse investigations at farms and puppy mills. Iowa
lawmakers approved the measure, which threatened up to a year in jail to those
who conducted an undercover operation, after several high-profile cases in which
animal welfare advocates recorded questionable animal treatment and then
publicized the images through the media.
