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Cows That Survived Connecticut Truck Crash Are Doing Fine, Get Vet's OK to Head on to OhioConnecticut's Agriculture Department says 30 cows that survived a truck tipover that killed 14 others on a Connecticut highway this week have gotten a veterinary check and are cleared to complete their journey

Organizations: Ohio Connecticut's Agriculture Department Locations: Ohio, Connecticut

☆ Analysis: Bumper US corn harvest sinks prices, pushes global supply to surplus
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Mark Weinraub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A bumper harvest will strain storage capacity and hold down prices of the world's most traded commodity crop. Already corn prices are trending near three-year lows at a time when some food prices are rising due to tight supplies of other staples like rice, stoking inflation worries. Just 16 months ago corn prices were at their highest in a decade as the war in Ukraine disrupted supplies from the Black Sea breadbasket. USDA forecast that domestic corn supplies would jump 55% to 2.111 billion bushels in the 2023/24 marketing year, helping push the global stockpile to a five-year high by September 2024. Some growers need to take out loans to fund their operations as they wait and hope corn prices will rise.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, Steve Pitstick, Pitstick, Stephen Nicholson, Bill Roenigk, Harold Wolle, Wolle, Tom Polansek, Caroline Stauffer, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Agriculture Department, Brazil, Rabobank, Corn, Maine Foods, U.S, Growers, Thomson Locations: Kelley , Iowa, U.S, PARK , Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, Ukraine, Cal

☆ Craft beer, marriages and air travel: The collateral damage of a government shutdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Staff, meanwhile, have been forced to put their real jobs on hold to prepare for the looming shutdown. National parksThe National Park Service plans to close its parks and furlough park rangers if the government shuts down on Sunday. During the 2018-2019 shutdown, the parks themselves remained accessible, but without most services. Some presidential libraries would remain open as long as they have sufficient funds, but others would close and research services would be reduced. A shutdown would result in a "data blackout" of critical economic statistics that influence markets and businesses around the globe.

Persons: Donald Trump, that's, Biden, Joshua, Armando L, Sanchez, Pete Buttigieg, they're, White, Treasury Department furloughed, shutdowns Organizations: Yosemite, Fresno Bee, Tribune, Service, Getty, White House Council, Economic Advisers, Management, Staff, National Park Service, Park Service, Department of Interior, NBC, Congressional Research Service, National Zoo, U.S . Holocaust, Museum, National, Science, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, FBI Agents Association, FBI, Air, Transportation Security, LaGuardia, TSA, O'Hare International, State Department, Consular, Education Department, AmeriCorps, Agriculture Department, Assistance, Women, Small Business Administration, Federal Housing Administration, Social, Consumer, Food and Drug Administration, Consumer Product Safety, Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety, Health Administration, Labor, —, Social Security, Medicare, Treasury Department, Foreign Assets Control, Russia Locations: El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, Washington, Civil, U.S, Europe, Southeast Asia, New Mexico, shutdowns, New York, Chicago, Russia, Iran, Ukraine

CNN —New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was charged on Friday with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment. This is the second set of corruption charges levied against Menendez by the Justice Department in a decade. Beginning in April, his wife sold gold bars worth as much as $400,000, according to the senator’s most recent financial disclosure form. Sen. Bob Menendez, his wife Nadine and Jose Uribe pictured in the indictment released Friday.

Persons: New Jersey Democratic Sen, Bob Menendez, Menendez, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, Cash, ”, ” Menendez, Nadine, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, Fred Daibes, Hana, Sen, MENENDEZ, Menendez ’, Jose, Uribe, Prosecutors, Salomon Melgen, Melgen, Donald Trump Organizations: CNN, New, New Jersey Democratic, Prosecutors, Justice Department, Senate Democratic, Foreign Relations, Court Southern District of, Department of Agriculture, of Agriculture, Agriculture Department, EG, Hyatt, Court Southern District of New, The Justice Department, “ Locations: New Jersey, Court Southern District of New York, Jersey, Egypt, Washington, Paris

☆ If you're an American eating beef this weekend, there's a good chance you're a man or age 50 to 65
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Just 12% of Americans are eating half of all the beef consumed in the US in a day, a study found. There's a good chance beef is on the menu, especially for men or people ages 50 to 65. Beef produces an estimated 8 to 10 times more emissions than chicken, and 50 times more than beans. "Beef is an environmentally extravagant protein," Rose said. There's a way to cut back on beef in all of those dishes if you're concerned about your health or the environment."

Persons: Diego Rose, Rose, Erin McDowell Organizations: Service, Labor, Center for Biological, Tulane University School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine, Agriculture Locations: Argentina

☆ Spreading State Restrictions on China Show Depths of Distrust in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Alan Rappeport | More About Alan Rappeport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

They are likely to pose another challenge for the administration, which has dispatched several top officials to China in recent weeks to try to stabilize economic ties. But while Washington may see a relationship with China as a necessary evil, officials at the state and local levels appear determined to try to sever their economic relationship with America’s third-largest trading partner. “The shift that we have seen to the states is relatively recent, but it’s gaining strength.”One of the biggest targets has been Chinese landownership, despite the fact that China owns less than 400,000 acres in the United States, according to the Agriculture Department. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a powerful interagency group known as CFIUS that can halt international business transactions, reviewed the proposal but ultimately decided that it did not have the jurisdiction to block the plan. However, the Air Force, citing the mill’s proximity to a U.S. military base, said this year that China’s involvement was a national security risk, and local officials scuttled the project.

Persons: ”, Mario Mancuso, Kirkland & Ellis Organizations: Kirkland &, Agriculture Department, Fufeng USA, Foreign Investment, Air Force Locations: China, United States, Washington, American, Grand Forks, N.D, U.S

☆ An Invasive Hornet Species Is Spotted in the U.S. for the First Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Rebecca Carballo | More About Rebecca Carballo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An invasive hornet species was spotted this month in the United States for the first time, and state officials in Georgia, fearing it could harm the agriculture industry, said they were working with federal officials and academic experts to eradicate it. A beekeeper in Savannah, Ga., discovered an unusual insect on his property and reported it to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, which worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the University of Georgia to confirm that it was a yellow-legged hornet. Native to tropical and subtropical areas of Southeast Asia, the yellow-legged hornet could threaten the state’s honey production, native pollinators and agriculture industry, the state’s Agriculture Department said in a statement on Tuesday. The species’ appearance is troubling because the hornet preys on honeybees, said Chuck Bargeron, director of the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia.

Persons: Chuck Bargeron Organizations: Georgia Department of Agriculture, U.S . Department of Agriculture’s, Plant Health, Service, University of Georgia, state’s Agriculture Department, Center Locations: United States, Georgia, Savannah , Ga, Southeast Asia

Burps are the top source of methane emissions from cattle. The company this spring began marketing semen with the methane trait in 80 countries. Selecting for the low methane trait could lock in lower and lower emissions for successive generations, she said. Semex is not initially charging extra for the methane trait, said Michael Lohuis, Semex's vice-president of research and innovation. Juha Nousiainen, senior vice-president at Valio, a Finnish dairy, warned that breeding cattle to burp less methane could create digestive problems.

Persons: Nathan Frandino, Loewith's, Loewith, Drew Sloan, Frank Mitloehner, University of California Davis, Mitloehner, Lactanet, Christine Baes, Baes, Michael Lohuis, Burger, Lohuis, Juha Nousiainen, Rod Nickel, Caroline Stauffer, Suzanne Goldenberg Organizations: Johann, REUTERS, University of California, University of Guelph, University of Alberta, biosciences, Canadian, Ottawa, Nestle, Burger King, Restaurant Brands, Thomson Locations: Fresno , California, U.S, WINNIPEG , Manitoba, Lynden , Ontario, Semex, Britain, US, Slovakia, United States, New Zealand, Valio, Winnipeg , Manitoba

☆ These states are restoring free school meals for all kids, regardless of income
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Pandemic offered a 'trial run' for free meals"The pandemic was a trial run and it worked," Crystal FitzSimons, FRAC's director of school and out-of-school time programs, said of the universal free school meals. Inflationary pressures have since pushed up prices in many school districts, which have contended with higher costs for food and labor, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokeswoman for the School Nutrition Association. Since local school districts set their own prices, they can "vary widely" across the country, the School Nutrition Association said. Loss of free meals may lead to hardshipIn 2021, the National School Lunch Program provided 2.2 billion meals, about 99% of which were at a free or reduced price, according to USDA data. Kids from "food-insecure and marginally food-secure" households are more likely to eat school meals, according to the USDA.

Persons: Crystal FitzSimons, FitzSimons, Diane Pratt, Saied Toossi Organizations: Agriculture Department, School Nutrition, School Nutrition Association, USDA, Sdi

☆ Divided Over Money and Policy, House G.O.P. Punts on Spending Bill
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Carl Hulse | More About Carl Hulse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

House Republicans abandoned efforts to pass a spending bill to fund the Agriculture Department and the F.D.A. Caught between hard-right conservatives who wanted tens of billions of dollars cut from the legislation and more mainstream Republicans who oppose abortion-related restrictions that the far right insisted upon adding, G.O.P. The House did manage to approve its first spending bill of the year, to fund veterans programs and military construction projects. Democrats said the bill shortchanged construction by more than $1.5 billion and limited abortion access for women serving in the military. The spending clashes encapsulated the difficulties ahead for Republicans as Speaker Kevin McCarthy tries to mollify conservatives by cutting spending and adding culture-war provisions without losing the support of more mainstream Republicans, particularly those in districts won by President Biden.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, Biden Organizations: Republicans, Agriculture Department, Democrats

☆ Agriculture Dept. to Invest $300 Million to Measure Greenhouse Emissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Linda Qiu | More About Linda Qiu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Agriculture Department said on Wednesday that it would establish a monitoring and data collection network to measure greenhouse gas emissions and determine how much carbon can be captured using certain farming practices. The network, using $300 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, will help quantify the outcomes of so-called climate-smart or regenerative agricultural practices, a cornerstone of the department’s approach to addressing a warming planet. The research and data that is collected will also be crucial to measuring progress on President Biden’s goal of halving greenhouse emissions by the end of the decade. “It’s not just simply about promoting climate-smart agriculture, not simply about promoting proper science,” Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, said in a news conference on Tuesday ahead of the announcement. The department has also provided billions in additional funding to farming projects that reduce emissions, in part by capturing carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases, from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in the soil.

Persons: Biden’s, “ It’s, Tom Vilsack, Biden Organizations: Agriculture Department

☆ How School Meals Have Changed Over the Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Matthew Riva | Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For the first time since President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946, the Agriculture Department is proposing limiting added sugars in school breakfasts and lunches. Along with gradual salt reductions, the rules represent the latest move in a long back-and-forth by the federal government. Read on to see how students have eaten in the past. Jennava Laska/Getty

Persons: Harry Truman, Read, Jennava Laska, Getty Organizations: Agriculture Department

☆ Ron DeSantis is banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida, accusing China of taking up swathes of farmland: 'We don't want the CCP in the Sunshine State'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis has signed a new bill banning Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida. DeSantis cited concerns that Chinese investors have been buying up too much farmland in the state. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Monday that bans most Chinese citizens from purchasing land in his state. The new bill, SB 246, prevents Chinese nationals from buying land in Florida unless they are also American citizens or permanent residents. Investors from Canada own the most US land out of any foreign country, holding 12.8 million acres worth around $11.6 billion, per the department's 2021 report.

☆ Shrinking US cattle herd squeezes meatpacker profits
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Cargill, the world's largest ground beef producer, expects cattle prices will rise further, but it is still a question whether higher beef prices will ruin consumers' appetites, company executives said. Big profits for meatpackers during the pandemic and soaring beef prices fueled concerns in the Biden administration about consolidation and profiteering in the sector. The companies say supply and demand determine cattle and beef prices. In 2023, "the cattle feeder can negotiate more of the consumer dollar," said Brett Gottsch, managing partner Gottsch Cattle Co, which raises cattle in Nebraska. Gottsch remains concerned about a lack of competition among meatpackers, though others said surging cattle prices show the market works.

☆ Salmonella in Breaded Raw Chicken Is Target of USDA Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Kristina Peterson | Patrick Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The USDA’s move is part of a broader effort to contain salmonella, a cause of foodborne disease. Photo: NIH/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The Agriculture Department proposed new rules Tuesday aimed at minimizing salmonella outbreaks from some breaded chicken products, a move the industry said could significantly affect availability and price. Part of a broader effort to contain salmonella, the new proposal takes aim at breaded, stuffed raw chicken products, such as frozen chicken cordon bleu. Because these products are often prebrowned, consumers might mistakenly think they are cooked, leading to consumption of undercooked chicken, the USDA said.

☆ High Philippine inflation dents Marcos' approval ratings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Philippines President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. delivers a speech on the 126th founding anniversary of the Philippines army at Fort Bonifacio, in Taguig, Philippines, March 22, 2023. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez/File PhotoMANILA, April 12 (Reuters) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's approval ratings edged lower due to public dissatisfaction over his government's handling of inflation, but he remains popular, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday. Marcos' approval ratings were slightly lower than the 83% that his vice president, Sara Duterte, got in March. Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, currently serves as education minister, while Marcos helms the agriculture department. In the same survey, 61% percent of respondents approved of Marcos' government in terms of "defending the integrity of Philippine territory against foreigners", up from 58% in November.

☆ USDA Proposes Expanding School Meal Programs in Low-Income Areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

School administrators have to balance different dynamics in deciding how to fund school meals. WASHINGTON—More schools would be eligible to offer free breakfast and lunch to students in low-income communities under a new proposal from the U.S. Agriculture Department. The USDA on Wednesday said it planned to lower the threshold of a program aimed at making it easier for schools and school districts in low-income areas to offer free meals to all students, without requiring their parents to apply for the benefits.

☆ Weak Oversight of Foreign Farmland Deals Sparks Concern Amid China Purchases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Agriculture Department compiles data on foreigners’ holding of U.S. farmland into an annual report to Congress. WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of lawmakers criticized the Agriculture Department Monday for lax oversight of U.S. farmland purchases by foreign buyers, an issue that has been spotlighted by rising concern over Chinese acquisitions. The 28 lawmakers, including House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York and Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.) expressed “deep concern” in a letter sent to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack Monday over the department’s decision not to assess any penalties between 2015 and 2018 over any lapses in reporting foreigners’ purchases of U.S. farmland. The penalties later resumed.

☆ Your Credit Score Affects Your Mortgage Rate—Here’s How to Improve It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

How does your credit score affect your mortgage rate? “There is no single, specific credit score that will automatically qualify you for a mortgage.”What else determines your mortgage rate? How to check your credit scoreTo get your credit score, check your banking or credit card dashboard if you have one. Many come with automatic credit score monitoring, allowing you to check your score at any time. Make on-time paymentsThe best way to improve your credit score is to avoid late payments—particularly on student loans, credit cards and other types of debts that get reported to credit bureaus.

☆ U.S. farmers plan to go 'heavy on corn' in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Mark Weinraub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Plans for the upcoming season were made even as doubts mounted about demand and price gains for soybeans outstripped corn late last year. 2 U.S. cash crop, soybeans. Hunnicutt cited the reliability of corn yields as a key reason to go big on corn in 2023. DEMAND WANESU.S. farmers alternate between soybeans and corn in a bid to maintain soil health. Last year's harvest shortfall left corn supplies at their lowest since 2013 and made farmers hopeful that prices would rally in the coming months.

☆ School Meals Would Have Less Salt, Sugar Under USDA Proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New proposed USDA guidelines would take aim added sugars typically found in processed foods as well as honey and sugar itself. WASHINGTON—Schools would be required to gradually limit the amount of sugar and salt in meals served to students, the Agriculture Department said Friday as part of proposed new school nutrition guidelines. In addition to the limits on added sugars and sodium, schools also would be required to emphasize serving products made with whole grains, over a multiyear transition period, the USDA said. Flavored milk, such as chocolate milk, would be allowed in certain circumstances.

These projects add to $440 million in wildfire mitigation efforts that launched last year using funds from Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. Together, these resources will help protect up to 45 million acres in the western U.S., said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. This includes 134 high-risk areas of land where a wildfire could pose a serious risk to communities and infrastructure. The USDA’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy, published in January 2022, identified 250 of these high-risk “firesheds” across the western states. The USDA’s work will focus on 11 landscapes, areas that were selected based on wildfire risks to nearby communities and buildings.

☆ Why Orange Juice Is So Expensive Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ryan Dezember | David Uberti | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Florida orange growers are harvesting their smallest crop in nearly 90 years, the result of an ill-timed freeze, two hurricanes and citrus disease that is laying waste to its groves. The Sunshine State is expected to produce just 18 million 90-pound boxes of oranges, the Agriculture Department said last week. That would be less than half the size of last year’s poor crop and a 93% decline from Florida’s peak output in 1998.

☆ Biden’s Food Stamp Trickery
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

One peril of a large administrative state is the mischief agencies can get up to when no one is watching. Witness the overreach of the Agriculture Department, which expanded food-stamp benefits by evading the process for determining benefits and end-running Congressional review. The behavior has earned USDA two scoldings this year from the Government Accountability Office. The latest report in December thwacked the department for “key decisions [that] did not fully meet standards for economic analysis” as well as “insufficient analysis of the effects of decisions” and “lack of documentation.”

☆ A TikTok creator’s homemade pickled products have sparked online conversation surrounding food safety
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

A TikTok creator’s recent apology after people accused her of improperly packaging her homemade pickled products before selling them online has sparked discourse surrounding influencers and whether they should be allowed to promote and sell homemade food items on the app. Britanny Saunier, executive director of the nonprofit organization Partnership for Food Safety EducationSocial media creates "enthusiasm" around homemade products, said Britanny Saunier, the executive director of the nonprofit organization Partnership for Food Safety Education. The backlash toward PickleMeEverything’s products comes several months after another viral product raised eyebrows over similar food safety fears. He said he’s concerned about the growing number of TikTokers who don’t know or use food safety while promoting food products. Food Science Babe pointed out in her video that several popular creators had promoted PickleMeEverything’s products.

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