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Category Archives: United States Department of Agriculture
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily halt all contracts, grants and interagency agreements pending a review, according to sources. The White House sent a letter to the EPA's Office of Administration and Resources Management ordering the freeze on Monday, an EPA staffer told Reuters.
Threats to US trade with China or Mexico, which have been raised by Donald Trump's US presidency, look far more serious than the loss of the TPP deal, a senior CME Group executive said, foreseeing a jump in ag price volatility. Erik Norland, executive director and senior economist of CME Group, downplayed President Trump's decision on Monday to withdraw the US from the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal, saying that "I do not think it really changes very much".
Even as he maintains ties to oil and gas producers, a Perry-led Energy Department is likely to support renewable energy and the tax incentives that encourage its growth, experts said. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he regrets his famous statement about abolishing the Department of Energy and said it does not reflect his current thinking The White House left Obama's schedule mostly empty for his last day, while saying he'd use the time to pack up the home he and his family have lived in for most of a decade.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is accepting applications for grant funding through the Specialty Crop Block Grant program. The grants are available to support projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops grown in Iowa.
The federal government has selected the Organic Farming Research Foundation in Santa Cruz as the recipient of a competitive grant, a foundation spokeswoman announced Monday morning. The grant was issued by the United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, and is designed to facilitate the increased use of the agency's programs and services among organic farmers.
Hedge funds turned less downbeat over wheat futures ahead of last week's data showing a surprise slump in US sowings, potentially limiting the prospects of further price rises, but appear caught out in cotton. Managed money, a proxy for speculators, hiked its net long position in futures and options in the top 13 US-traded agricultural commodities, from coffee to corn, by more than 95,000 contracts in the week to last Tuesday, analysis of data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulator shows.
In his annual message, John Deere's Chairman, Sam Allen, described the company's long-term prospects as "bullish," but added, "We don't mean to minimize the challenges we're facing at the present time there are signs that some of our key markets may be approaching a bottom, but we are not anticipating a turnaround in 2017." USDA's most recent World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates released on Jan. 12, provided some credence to Allen's remarks.
Secretary Tom Vilsack left the Agriculture Department a week before his tenure ends and before President-elect Donald Trump has chosen his replacement. Vilsack, who has led USDA for eight years and was President Barack Obama's longest-serving Cabinet secretary, told employees in an email that Friday is his final day.
In the middle of 2016, prices for the pulse crop had plunged from record highs on the outlook for large global harvests. Now, the curry-and-soup food staple has rebounded more than 40 percent since August after rain and snow damaged a bumper crop in Canada, the world's top exporter.
Schoolchildren watch as the California sea lions are fed fish at the Central Park Zoo in New York on January 10, 2007. Children keep getting more expensive to raise -- fashion is pricier and so are doctor visits and day care, according to the U.S. government.
Children keep getting more expensive to raise - fashion is pricier and so are doctor visits and day care, according to the U.S. government. At least food's still relatively cheap.
The Department of Agriculture says the estimated cost of raising a child from birth through age 17 is $233,610, or as much as almost $14,000 annually. That's the average for a middle-income couple with two children.
On January 4, 2016, the White House announced the release of the 2017 Update to the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology . The Update to the Coordinated Framework provides a comprehensive summary of the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , the U.S. Food and Drug Administration , and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with respect to regulating biotechnology products.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a pilot program that would allow participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase groceries online. Seven retailers will begin accepting food stamps online as part of an effort to make healthy food more available to Americans dependent on the SNAP program.
Chicago Board of Trade agriculture grains futures finished mixed on Friday with Corn, Wheat futures finishing the last trading day of the year on a high note. Wheat futures are lifted by a setback in the USD, which in theory makes US grains more competitive, and strong weekly exports .
University of California-Davis plant geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky examines one of the wheat plants being raised in an indoor growth chamber. Photo courtesy of Karin Higgins/UC Davis DAVIS, CALIFORNIA, U.S. - With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture , researchers are attempting to identify and characterize the genes controlling wheat yield.
U.S. officials are urgently seeking an agreement with South Korea that would allow imports of American eggs so farmers can cash in on a shortage caused by the Asian country's worst-ever outbreak of bird flu. The two sides are negotiating over terms of potential shipments after South Korea lifted a ban on imports of U.S. table eggs that it imposed when the United States grappled with its own bout of bird flu last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Bonilla made his comments Friday after traveling to Florida for a meeting at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, telling reporters that the meeting "went very well" and that he remains under consideration for the post. "I didn't ask him about other interviews or who else has been through here but I sense that they're close to making a decision, they've got quite a few people, that's my understanding."
The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reported that Argentina's corn planting was about 71.3 percent done. U.S. Corn used for last week's ethanol production totaled 107.94 million bushels, for the crop year total corn used for ethanol production is now 1.71 billion bushels.