USDA Announces Seven Retailers to Participate in Pilot Program, Accept Food Stamps Online

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.

Researchers seek genes that control wheat yield

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.

Perdue Is Trump’s Lead Pick for Agriculture Secretary

Sonny Perdue III, the former governor of Georgia, is president-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate to be his U.S. secretary of agriculture, according to a person familiar with the matter. Perdue, 70, would succeed secretary Tom Vilsack.

UPDATE 1-U.S. scrambles to clear egg exports to bird flu-hit Korea

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.

Trump talks Agriculture position with former TX lawmaker

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."

USDA announces new conservation farmland transfer policy

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a new policy designed to allow farmers to take land out of a conservation program early if it is to be transferred to the next generation of farmers. Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary Lanon Baccam says beginning Jan. 9, the USDA will offer an early termination opportunity for certain Conservation Reserve Program contracts.

Almond drink? Soy juice? Some lawmakers want to crack down on what can be sold as ‘milk’

A group of more than 20 U.S. legislators sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration demanding it require the makers of soy milk, almond milk and rice milk to drop "milk" from the label of anything that doesn't come directly from an animal. In the latest salvo in a nearly two-decades-old fight over what should and shouldn't be called milk, a group of more than 20 U.S. legislators sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration demanding it require the makers of soy milk, almond milk and rice milk to drop "milk" from the label of anything that doesn't come directly from an animal.

USDA Blog: ‘Minneapolis School Embraces Family-Style Dining’

"What if school lunchtime was more than just a wait in line and a race to find a seat and eat, but instead was more like a traditional family meal a time when friends gather to enjoy their food, engage in meaningful conversation, build relationships and gain important life skills?" That's the question posed by the principal of a Minneapolis public elementary school in a blog posted Tuesday on the Agriculture Department website. The principal explains that her school decided to abandon the typical chaotic and impersonal lunchroom experience and create a family-style dining program.

USDA will allow lemon imports from Argentina

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Dec. 20 that it would publish its final rule allowing lemon imports from areas of Argentina into the U.S. Its pest risk assessment and three site visits, most recently in September, led the agency to conclude that a systems approach requiring registration, monitoring, treatment and traceability protocols for production and packinghouses, among other measures, would reduce the risk of introducing Argentine pests into the U.S. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service sent the rule to the Federal Register, to take effect 30 days after publication.