Ag Policy Blog

In a letter sent Friday, a bipartisan group of 15 Midwest House members asked President Trump to provide guidance on how FEMA could help livestock producers following the closure of meatpacking plants due to coronavirus outbreaks and worker safety concerns.

Live cattle futures and feeder cattle prices jumped on Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he had asked the Department of Justice to look into livestock prices.

A group of five Republican Illinois congressmen have written the state's Democratic governor calling on him to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funds to help pork producers in the state.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Monday that USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will spend $470 million to buy a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy and seafood products. USDA also announced the department intends to make available $100...

A group of 27 U.S. senators wrote USDA on Thursday asking the department to target COVID-19 relief provisions to reach local farmers in the new Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). Meanwhile, American Farmland Trust was able to send some aid to 1,000 farmers.

The chairman of agricultural appropriations in the U.S. Senate sees growing support for another round of agricultural aid in the next stimulus bill passed by Congress.

Citing that livestock producers are facing an "unprecedented emergency" with meat processing, USDA on late Friday announced it is leading a federal effort to help livestock producers, especially to ensure operations remain open or return to production quickly.

U.S. meat plants are operating at only 60% of normal capacity while 400,000 hogs per week are backing up, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Livestock Market Task Force looking out for market manipulation amid the coronavirus said Wednesday.

The $484 billion coronavirus package passed by the Senate includes a provision directing the Small Business Administration to allow agricultural businesses to participate in the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

As the coronavirus pandemic has continued on, we've finally begun to learn just how important those tens of thousands of packing plant workers are around the country, and just what kind of risks they face to ensure there is meat in the retail cases in this chaotic moment in...

As calls for aid increase, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue continues getting letters from all over the country advising him how to split up that aid. The requests go a lot farther than the available dollars.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson wrote Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Tuesday asking the Trump administration to buy as much agricultural commodities as possible for donations to hungry Americans while helping farmers manage through the pandemic. DTN...

The American Farm Bureau Federation and Feeding America, the national network of food banks, on Monday asked Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to help the nation's farmers and the hungry by instituting a voucher system.

Farmers who use USDA Marketing Assistance Loans for most commodities will now have a 12-month maturity date on the loans instead of nine months, USDA announced Thursday.

United Fresh Produce Association and other fruit and vegetable groups sent a proposal to USDA for aid, as well as major groups representing the dairy industry. A Nebraska senator also is calling for a hearing into cattle markets.

In the interview with the Red River Farm Network in Minnesota, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said USDA is trying to develop systems for providing aid to the livestock, dairy and specialty crop growers.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., today unveiled the committee COVID-19 Resource Page while more than 140 lawmakers wrote USDA asking for a swift package of aid be created for livestock producers.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters in a weekly call Tuesday that low commodity prices right now likely mean Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will soon need use that new funding authority Congress provided in the stimulus package last week.

A bi-partisan group of senators from the Senate Finance Committee want the Trump administration to delay implementing USMCA, which is set to into effect June 1.

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is reassessing how to define the way meat products are labeled under voluntary rules to use labels for U.S. origin such as "Product of USA" or "Made in USA."