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USDA's recommended monthly food budget for a family of four has risen 27% since 2020. AdvertisementOn average, across the four food plans, the monthly budget recommendation has risen 27% since the start of 2020. Meanwhile, as of November, grocery prices were up 25.1% since the start of 2020, outpacing the 18.9% increase in overall prices. USDA Food Plan recommended monthly budgets. Andy Kiersz/Business InsiderWith food prices still weighing down consumers, some are becoming more conscious of how much they're spending and where.

Persons: USDA's, Andy Kiersz Organizations: US Department of Agriculture, USDA, USDA Food Locations: Alaska, Hawai'i

First-time homebuyer no down payment programsIt's possible to get a mortgage with no down payment. VA mortgage borrowers enjoy the ability to put no money down and interest rates that are typically lower than conventional mortgage rates. Other low down payment mortgage optionsIf you don't qualify for VA or USDA no down payment home loans, there are other strategies you can use to reduce the down payment you're required to pay. Preparing for the application processTo ensure you qualify for a no down payment mortgage, work on getting your credit score in a good place. Forgoing a down payment may mean paying a higher interest rate and higher monthly payment on your mortgage.

Persons: you'll, Here's who's, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Organizations: US Department of Veterans Affairs, US Department of Agriculture, Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, USDA, Chevron Locations: homebuyers

☆ An invasive species of feral Canadian 'super pigs' could spread into the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An invasive species of Canadian wild hogs is threatening to spread into the US. AdvertisementResidents of the northern US may soon have to worry more about what was a once-ridiculed concept: warding off feral hogs. Free-roaming super swine may seem trivial — hence the 2019 "feral hogs" Twitter spectacle — but the species poses a serious problem, according to the US Department of Agriculture. AdvertisementLegit question for rural Americans - How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play? AdvertisementNow, feral hogs have been found in 35 states, and have an estimated population of 6 million, the site states.

Persons: —, Willie McNabb 🐗, orth Organizations: AP, Service, US Department of Agriculture Locations: Canadian, Montana , North Dakota, Minnesota, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba

☆ The USDA's new plant zone map could change how you garden, including when and what you grow
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

According to the new map, central Arkansas shifted half a zone up from zone 7b to zone 8a since the USDA last updated its map in 2012. The 2023 USDA map shows warmer zones in central Michigan, as well as shifts in some Northeastern states. AdvertisementLimitations of the USDA's new plant zone map"The map is a guideline, not a guarantee," Foster wrote, and plants can thrive in several zones. AdvertisementIn the Northwestern US, the 2023 USDA map (left) shows some regions of Montana in new, warmer zones. Sections of the South Central US, including Houston, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, have changed to new zones in the 2023 USDA map (left).

Persons: Megan London, NPR she's, Chris Daly, Daly, Jonathan Foster, The University of Maine's Maine, Foster, you'll, US Department of Agriculture Foster, US Department of Agriculture Daly, " Daly Organizations: USDA, Service, NPR, Better Homes, Gardens, Oregon State University, US Department of Agriculture, North Central, The University of Maine's, The University of Maine's Maine Gardner, Southwestern, Northwestern, South Central Locations: Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Central, Michigan, Northeastern, Omaha , Nebraska, Minnesota, Southwestern US, Maine, Houston , Texas, New Orleans , Louisiana

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ” plant hardiness zone map ” was updated Wednesday for the first time in a decade, and it shows the impact that climate change will have on gardens and yards across the country. One key figure on the map is the lowest likely winter temperature in a given region, which is important for determining which plants may survive the season. It's calculated by averaging the lowest winter temperatures of the past 30 years. Winter temperatures and nighttime temperatures are rising faster than daytime and summer temperatures, Primack said, which is why the lowest winter temperature is changing faster than the U.S. temperature overall. “There are a lot of downsides to the warmer winter temperatures, too,” said Theresa Crimmins, who studies climate change and growing seasons at the University of Arizona and was not involved in creating the map.

Persons: Chris Daly, Richard Primack, ” Primack, Primack, ”, Theresa Crimmins Organizations: WASHINGTON, The U.S . Department, Oregon, Agricultural Research Service, Boston University, University of Arizona, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Boston, The, U.S

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Livestock and poultry producers will need to comply with more specific standards if they want to label their products organic under final rules announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA's new Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards are being implemented after years of discussions with organics groups, farming organizations and livestock and poultry producers. Under the rules, organic poultry must have year-round access to the outdoors. Organic livestock also must have year-round outdoor access and be able to move and stretch at all times. The USDA's National Organic Program will oversee the new rules, working with certifiers accredited by the agency.

Persons: Tom Vilsack, ”, Tom Chapman, John Brunnquell, ” Brunnquell Organizations: DES, —, U.S . Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Organic Trade Association, Producers, Program, American Farm Bureau Locations: DES MOINES, Iowa, Indiana

Versus the June survey, a corn harvested area increase of 774,000 acres in the fall is the largest ever back to at least the mid-1990s. Only 2012's increase of 890,000 acres (0.9%) was larger, though final corn acres usually come in lower than in June (15 of last 20 years). USDA was not the only entity too low on U.S. corn acres this year. The March planting survey came in more than a million acres above the trade estimate, then June corn acres blew out the highest trade guess by more than a million acres, topping the average guess by more than 2 million acres. That is the opposite of what happened in 2021, the last time USDA’s fall area review substantially boosted corn acres.

Persons: NASS, Karen Braun, Sam Holmes Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, USDA's Farm Service Agency, Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, Analysts, Reuters, Thomson Locations: NAPERVILLE , Illinois, U.S

Analysts' corn yields span from 171.5 to 175 bpa, meaning all 18 analysts polled by Reuters expect a lower number than in August. Since 2004, corn yield landed outside the range of trade estimates only twice in September: 2018 and 2005. Those increases would account for less than 0.2% of each crop's total harvested area, seen at 86.4 million acres for corn and 82.8 million acres for soybeans. Final harvested corn acres have been lower than in August in eight of the last 10 years. Since the mid-1990s, the largest increase in harvested corn area from August to final was 1.1 million acres (1.3%) in 2007.

Persons: Daniel Acker, Karen Braun, Jamie Freed Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S . Department of Agriculture, Reuters, USDA's Farm Service Agency, USDA, Thomson Locations: Tiskilwa , Illinois, U.S, Rights NAPERVILLE , Illinois

☆ Biden is pouring nearly $700 million into internet access for rural communities so that kids don't 'have to sit in the back of a mama's car in a McDonald's parking lot in order to do homework'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Biden administration announced nearly $700 million in funding for rural, high-speed internet projects. The funding comes from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which pours billions into internet access. That money funds, in part, the USDA's ReConnect program, which disburses loans and grants to programs intended to get rural communities online. "For too long, rural communities haven't had access to basic resources like affordable, reliable, high-speed internet," Mitch Landrieu, senior advisor to the president and White House infrastructure coordinator, said in a press call. According to 2018 Census data on internet use, Americans living in cities were more likely to have internet access than their rural counterparts: 86% of urban households had an internet subscription, compared to 81% for rural households.

Persons: Biden, Mitch Landrieu, it's, BroadBandNow, Landrieu Organizations: Biden, Service, White, Pew Research Center Locations: Wall, Silicon, haven't, Alaska, America

☆ Regulator says found no animal welfare breaches at Musk firm beyond 2019 incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Marisa Taylor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

July 19 (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. agency responsible for animal welfare has told lawmakers that it did not find any violations of animal research rules at Elon Musk's Neuralink beyond a 2019 incident the brain implant company had already reported. The inspection included visits at Neuralink's two facilities in January 2023, Vilsack wrote, adding that there would be more inspections. Vilsack said in his letter his agency did not include in its inspection citations an "adverse surgical event" at Neuralink that occurred in August 2019. The company proactively reported it and took corrective action, which complied with the policy at the time, Vilsack added. The mistakes weakened the experiments' research value and required the tests to be repeated, leading to more animals being killed.

Persons: Thomas Vilsack, Earl Blumenauer, Vilsack, Musk, Neuralink, Blumenauer, Ryan Merkley, Marisa Taylot, Greg Roumeliotis, Robert Birsel Organizations: U.S, Elon Musk's, Department of Agriculture, Reuters, USDA, Physicians, Responsible Medicine, Neuralink, University of California, UC Davis, Drug Administration, FDA, Department of Transportation, Washington , D.C, Thomson Locations: Neuralink, Davis, Washington ,

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - The Biden administration will begin accepting applications for $2.2 billion in financial assistance for farmers who have experienced discrimination at the hands of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency announced on Friday. The Biden administration had previously attempted to provide debt relief specifically to farmers of color but that effort was blocked in court by white farmers. The program opening on Friday, called the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, is funded by last year's Inflation Reduction Act. USDA is partnering with several organizations for Black, Native American, young, and other marginalized farmers to support in the application process. USDA had previously said it will distribute payments by the end of this year.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, Biden, Tom Vilsack, Leah Douglas, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Department of Agriculture, USDA, Thomson Locations: Appleton City , Missouri, U.S, WASHINGTON, Washington

Chicago corn, wheat, soybean and soybean meal futures began rallying sharply in mid-June as expanding U.S. drought and disappointing rain events hammered crop conditions. Trade sources had pegged the week’s net corn selling to be about four times heavier. Trade sources peg funds’ net selling in CBOT corn futures at 55,500 contracts over the last three sessions, and CBOT wheat selling is seen at 20,500 futures contracts. Funds were seen as net buyers of 8,000 soybean futures, 9,500 soyoil futures and 3,500 soymeal futures between Wednesday and Friday. Money managers’ weekly net selling in CBOT corn futures and options has twice exceeded 100,000 contracts this calendar year.

Persons: Gross, Wheat, Karen Braun, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, corn’s, Funds, Reuters, Thomson Locations: NAPERVILLE , Illinois, U.S, Chicago

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - The Biden administration will spend $2.3 billion on food purchases for schools and food banks as the end of pandemic-era aid leads to rising food insecurity, the Department of Agriculture said on Friday. Supplemental food aid for low-income families and schools tied to the COVID-19 pandemic has mostly expired. Food banks and other emergency food providers have reported near-record demand as food price inflation continues to strain household budgets. The USDA will provide nearly $1.3 billion to states and territories for additional food purchases for school meal programs, which the agency said is needed due to the expiration of a 2022 law that temporarily increased funding to those programs. It will also distribute nearly $1 billion to organizations like food banks and community kitchens for commodity purchases from U.S. farmers.

Persons: Biden, Tom Vilsack, Vilsack, Leah Douglas, Frances Kerry Organizations: Department of Agriculture, USDA, U.S . Census Bureau, USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, U.S . Treasury, Thomson Locations: Ukraine

SAN FRANCISCO, June 16 (Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expects his brain-chip startup Neuralink to start its first human trial this year, he said on Friday in France. Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, co-founder Musk said Neuralink plans to implant a tetraplegic or paraplegic patient during a webcast monitored by Reuters. The FDA acknowledged in an earlier statement to Reuters that the agency cleared Neuralink to use its brain implant and surgical robot for trials but declined to provide more details. On at least four occasions since 2019, Musk predicted that Neuralink would soon start human trials. Neuralink employees who sat on the company's animal board, which has come under federal scrutiny for potential financial conflicts, stood to benefit from the implant's quick development.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Neuralink, didn't, Rachael Levy, Hyunjoo Jin, David Gregorio Our Organizations: FRANCISCO, Billionaire, Reuters, Twitter, SpaceX, Food, Drug Administration, FDA, Department of Transportation, U.S . Department of Agriculture's, Thomson Locations: France, Paris, U.S, Washington, San Francisco

[1/3] A logo of The UPSIDE Foods plant, where lab-grown meat is cultivated, is seen in Emeryville, California, U.S. January 11, 2023. On June 8, California-based Good Meat became the first company to receive the USDA label approval. Both Good and Upside are still awaiting a site inspection from USDA, the final step in the regulatory approval process before their cultivated chicken can go to market. Upside was the first company to receive a green light for its cultivated chicken from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year. Cultivated meat is made from a small sample of livestock cells collected from living animals, which are then fed a nutrient mix and grown inside steel vats.

Persons: Peter DaSilva, ”, Uma Valeti, Leah Douglas, Jonathan Oatis, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Department of Agriculture, USDA, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, FDA, Thomson Locations: Emeryville , California, U.S, United States, California, Washington

☆ Aubrey Plaza's satirical ad for 'wood milk' violated federal law, a new complaint says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The spot used USDA funds to disparage plant-based milk, per a complaint filed with the USDA. The ad, which was created using funding from a US Department of Agriculture program to promote dairy milk, features Plaza talking up "Wood Milk," a milk alternative made from trees. Right now, the Food and Drug Administration is seeking public comments on proposed labeling guidelines for plant-based milk. While just 15% of all milk sold in the US in 2022 was plant-based, the category is growing faster than cow's milk: Plant-based milk sales grew 8% to $2.8 billion in 2022, according to the Plant Based Foods Association. Plant-based milk companies have engaged in ad stunts of their own.

Persons: Aubrey Plaza, —, Silk Organizations: USDA, Service, US Department of Agriculture, Committee, Responsible Medicine, Food and Drug Administration, Plaza, Based Foods

☆ U.S. reports case of atypical mad cow disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

CHICAGO, May 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly called mad cow disease, in an older beef cow at a slaughter plant in South Carolina. USDA said the animal never entered slaughter channels and the agency did not expect any trade impacts as a result. It was the seventh detection of BSE in the United States since 2003 and all but one have been atypical. "This finding of an atypical case will not change the negligible risk status of the United States and should not lead to any trade issues," USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a statement. Reporting by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Kansas wheat tour and its findings always prompt these questions: How does the tour yield compare with USDA’s May forecast? Since 2005 and including 2023, USDA’s May estimate for Kansas winter wheat yield was lower than the tour yield in all but three years: 2010, 2018 and 2019. USDA's May Kansas wheat yield vs tour yieldBefore 2021, the tour was always held before USDA’s May report, but it now takes place after. Compared with final Kansas winter wheat yields, the tour yields have been streaky. Kansas winter wheat yield: tour versus finalFinal Kansas wheat yield has come in higher than USDA’s May forecast in 11 of the last 15 years.

Plenty of uncertainty around global wheat production and trade remains, especially in the Black Sea, since 2023-24 grain crops are far from settled. Wheat SU among major exporters in May 2022 was pegged at a 15-year low of 13.5% for 2022-23, expanding to 13.75% by February 2023. This SU trend in major wheat exporting countries is not exclusive to 2022-23. USDA has 2023-24 Ukraine wheat production at 16.5 million tonnes with exports at 10 million, down from 20.9 million and 15 million in 2022-23, respectively. OTHER HOTSPOTSIn top exporter Russia, USDA shows 2023-24 wheat production down 11% from last year's record, though exports are seen edging up 2% to a new high.

☆ Got milk? Not chocolate, as USDA considers banning flavored milk options in school cafeterias
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Flavored milk, like chocolate milk, could be limited to high schoolers under the new guidelines. A second proposed rule change would allow allow flavored milk for all grade levels, but the added-sugar levels would be limited. "I feel very strongly that flavored milk should continue to be offered in all grades k-12. Chocolate milk has been banned in San Francisco for elementary and middle schoolers since 2017. Correction: May 16, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated which organization published a study regarding added sugar.

☆ US lawmakers seek probe of how Elon Musk's brain chip venture oversees animal experiments
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Rachael Levy | Thomson Reuters | Award-Winning Journalist Covering Corporate Governance. Her Reporting Has Prompted Federal Investigations | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoWASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will ask regulators to investigate whether the make-up of a panel overseeing animal testing at Elon Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink contributed to botched and rushed experiments. The lawmakers have shared the draft with peers to gather more signatures and plan to send it to the USDA on Monday. A spokesperson for Blumenauer said the USDA did not respond to an earlier request from lawmakers for a probe into Neuralink in the wake of that story. Musk and Neuralink representatives, and spokespeople for the USDA and the agency’s inspector general, did not respond to requests for comment. The Inspector General and the USDA did not respond to a request for comment on the progress of that investigation.

The last two times U.S. corn exports were lower than the 2022-23 expectations were 2019-20 (36.1 million tonnes or 1.78 billion bushels) and 2012-13 (16.5 million tonnes or 730 million bushels). CHINA BOWING OUTOn Thursday, USDA confirmed the week's second cancellation of U.S. corn sales to China, bringing the total to 560,000 tonnes (22 million bushels). As of April 20, China had 8.6 million tonnes of U.S. corn on the books for 2022-23 delivery, and 3.7 million still awaited shipment. Outstanding corn sales to China are comprised mostly of new purchases since March, implying those are among the ones now being cancelled. China only began accepting Brazilian corn shipments at the end of last year, though Japan frequently imports several million tonnes.

Companies United States Department of Agriculture FollowWASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Rural small businesses and farmers will be eligible to apply for $1 billion in grants to invest in clean energy beginning Saturday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the White House announced on Friday. The money, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will be distributed through the USDA's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and is meant to further the Biden administration's efforts to cut climate-harming emissions across the American economy. The grant money can be used to install renewable energy systems - like solar panels, wind turbines, or biomass projects like anaerobic digesters that process animal manure to generate renewable fuels like biogas - or to make energy-efficient improvements, the USDA said. The funded projects will create jobs, reduce emissions, and improve rural resiliency in the face of a changing climate, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the press call. The IRA provided more than $2 billion for REAP, which the administration anticipates will fund projects for 41,500 farms and small businesses, according to the USDA website.

The agency slashed Argentina’s 2022-23 soybean crop to 33 million tonnes from 41 million last month, well below the average trade guess of 36.65 million. USDA's Argentina soybean productionUSDA chopped Argentina’s corn harvest to 40 million tonnes from 47 million last month, below the trade guess of 43.4 million. As of now, USDA’s Argentina soy crop estimate is 35% below the agency’s original peg of 51 million tonnes. USDA’s Argentina corn number is down 27% from its initial forecast, compared with initial-final losses of 34% in 2009 and 20% in 2018. In the past five marketing years, global corn SU averaged 23.9% and soybean SU 19.9%.

The Justice Department’s decision to subpoena government witnesses who would normally testify voluntarily to help build the government’s criminal case was highly unusual, according to a half-dozen legal and animal welfare experts. The inspectors wanted APHIS to take a tougher stance against the company for the mistreatment of the beagles. Yet, this did not happen with any of the agency's inspections of Envigo, public records show. TENSIONS RISETensions between Gibbens and Miller escalated shortly after Envigo appealed some of the findings from the October inspection, emails show. Gibbens told Envigo APHIS would strike the citation because the company ultimately provided the requested information.

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