Government watchdog: Illinois fudged jobs data to get federal OK to…

A government accountability group says the state of Illinois is fudging employment data in order to allow more healthy Illinoisans to receive taxpayer-funded food stamps without having to work. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved an Illinois Department of Human Services waiver request in October for the entire 2018 calendar year.

Obama’s politicization of the Human Trafficking report shut the door on Cuban victims

The Obama White House politicized the Trafficking in Persons Report of the State Department, undermining the credibility of the report, and months later on January 12, 2017 shut the door on Cuban refugees and migrants in third countries, victims of trafficking, for the Administration's political agenda. This was part of an overall pattern, that began years earlier, of paying lip service to human rights but in practice marginalizing them to advance other interests.

Interagency Task Force report addresses opioid abuse

USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture in November awarded $2.8 million in grants to support rural health. Of the nine awards funded by NIFA's Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grant Program, six were designed specifically to prevent and reduce opioid abuse.

Lawsuit Says Wal-Mart Mislabeled Organic Eggs

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. misled U.S. shoppers by selling organic eggs laid by hens raised in enclosed structures under package labels that said the birds had access to the outdoors, a federal lawsuit alleged on Monday. The suit highlights uncertainty among consumers about production practices in the $500 million organic egg industry, farmers said, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month shelved plans to spell out for the first time what it means for birds to have access to the outdoors.

Farmers voted for Trump. Now he’s trying to assure them they made the right call.

Farmers have grown increasingly anxious with President Donald Trump, who wooed them with promises of deregulation and then threatened to upend programs on which many depend. In the year since rural America voted him into office, the president has proposed deep cuts to crop insurance subsidies, reductions in the number of immigrants entering the United States and withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement - all of which have rattled farmers.

Secretary Perdue Presents Agriculture And Rural Prosperity Task Force Report To President Trump

SECRETARY PERDUE PRESENTS AGRICULTURE AND RURAL PROSPERITY TASK FORCE REPORT TO PRESIDENT TRUMP Jan. 9, 2018 Source: USDA news release U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue will ceremonially present today the findings of the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to President Donald J. Trump at the 2018 American Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. On April 25, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order establishing the task force "to ensure the informed exercise of regulatory authority that impacts agriculture and rural communities."

Ag Sec’y Perdue Highlights Priorities, Accomplishments In New Administration And USDA

AG SEC'Y PERDUE HIGHLIGHTS PRIORITIES, ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN NEW ADMINISTRATION AND USDA Jan. 9, 2018 Source: American Farm Bureau news release The Agriculture Department is being reoriented with a new focus on farmers, its customers, and has already built a record of success, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said today. He made his comments at the American Farm Bureau Federation's 2018 Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show in Nashville.

USDA to invest $2.9 million in 7 new forest projects

USDA will invest nearly $32 million this year to mitigate wildfire risk, improve water quality and restore healthy forest ecosystems in 24 states and Puerto Rico. Since 2014, USDA has invested $176 million in 56 Joint Chiefs' Landscape Restoration Partnership Projects, which focus on areas where public forests and grasslands intersect with privately-owned lands.

Hempler Foods Group, LLC Recalls Pepperoni Products due to Possible Extraneous Material Contamination

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2018 Hempler Foods Group, LLC, a Ferndale, Wash. establishment, is recalling approximately 4,068 pounds of pepperoni sticks products that may be contaminated with extraneous material, specifically metal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

Wisconsin to end pesticide spraying program

Wisconsin is reducing its efforts to slow the spread of the leaf-eating gypsy moth by preparing to end a program that helps fight localized outbreaks in already infested parts of the state. The state Department of Natural Resources is ending the aerial pesticide spraying program because of a decline in requests from local communities and because of growing private-sector alternatives to federally subsidized spraying.

Business briefs a ” December 29

Bill Bolander and Clark Pence of Pence, Brooks, Bolander and Shepherd Insurance in Greenfield recently received awards from their parent company, Shepherd Insurance. Pence received "Rookie of The Year" from the Shepherd organization for his outstanding sales accomplishments in his first year with the company and in the insurance business.