USDA

Ohioans hit food banks in record numbers as SNAP requirements hinder assistance programs

BY: - November 23, 2023

As Ohio food banks see record-breaking amounts of need, the state is also at risk of losing federal funding that could help residents get essential needs and boosts in employment. After the most recent state budget passed with a plan to redesign the education and training piece of the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), […]

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack listens to students’ presentation about their Agricultural Mobile Education Unit after an event at Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an 1890 land-grant institution, on Feb. 14, 2023. (USDA photo by Christophe Paul)

States urged by Biden administration to rectify underfunding of land-grant HBCUs

BY: - September 20, 2023

States engaged in decades of underfunding of land-grant Historically Black Colleges and Universities, leading to a more than $12 billion disparity with comparable white institutions, leaders of the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday. “Unacceptable funding inequities have forced many of our nation’s distinguished Historically Black Colleges and Universities […]

Federal funds can help Ohio electric co-ops cut costs and carbon emissions

BY: - September 4, 2023

A share of $9.7 billion in funding under the Inflation Reduction Act can help Ohio’s rural electric cooperatives save money while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Buckeye Power, which provides generation and transmission services for the group’s 25 rural electric cooperative members, “has more exposure to coal” than any comparable group in the United States, said […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding projects to create new markets and revenue streams for “climate-smart” practices in farming, including beef production. In this photo, cattle graze in a field outside of North English, Iowa, on Sept. 13, 2017. (USDA photo by Preston Keres)

USDA’s climate grants for farms and forests run into Republican buzzsaw

BY: - August 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is spending more than $3 billion to cultivate more American farmers and forest landowners as partners to mitigate climate change — even while some Republicans on Capitol Hill try to stop the program entirely. The administration launched a new farm program, Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities, this year. It is the […]

USDA to provide $33M for agriculture projects at 19 HBCU land-grant institutions

BY: - July 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday announced $33 million in funding to 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities designated as land-grant institutions to support research and education projects. The funding through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will support 82 projects in sustainable farming practices such as reducing use of plastics, enhancing nutritional value […]

Funding for 33 rural broadband projects unveiled by USDA

BY: - June 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday announced it will send $714 million to help rural areas in 19 states connect to the internet. “The president honestly believes that in order to have the fullest opportunity available to bring manufacturing back, to bring precision agriculture, to reconnect young people to economic opportunity in rural places, […]

PJM, which coordinates the flow of electricity from power generators to utility companies in 13 states and the District of Columbia, is facing complaints about how it ensures it will have enough capacity to keep the electricity flowing during a winter storm or summer heat wave (fhm/Getty Images).

Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loans

BY: - May 17, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. Congress approved the federal spending — $9.7 billion for a grant and loan program the department is calling the New Empowering Rural America program, or […]

Agriculture leaders urge a stronger farm safety net at U.S. Senate farm bill hearing

BY: - May 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — Farm and commodity trade association leaders lobbied for updating commodity programs and strengthening crop insurance programs at a Tuesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committee. The industry officials said federal crop insurance and the Department of Agriculture’s Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage programs are not serving as a “true […]

Native American agricultural leaders detail farm bill priorities at U.S. Senate hearing

BY: - March 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — A roundtable of Native American agricultural leaders at a recent U.S. Senate hearing lobbied for increased sovereignty and social justice in the coming farm bill by expanding tribes’ jurisdiction over U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. It’s called “638” authority and refers to Public Law 93-638, which gives tribes the power to manage certain federal […]

Limits on foreign ownership of U.S. farmland gain support in Congress, despite skepticism

BY: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan momentum is building in Congress to restrict China and other foreign adversaries from purchasing U.S. farmland, a reflection of a similar push by some states as well as apprehension over Chinese spy balloons, rising land prices and growing international competition. “Foreign ownership of agricultural land threatens small family farms and the overall […]

Members of U.S. Senate agriculture panel spar with Vilsack over USDA spending, response

BY: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack bristled at complaints from both Democrats and Republicans of unchecked departmental spending and delayed support for farmers during a Thursday U.S. Senate oversight hearing. He also lobbied Congress to provide a farm bill that will balance large-scale productivity with the needs of small and mid-sized producers, a theme the […]

U.S. agriculture secretary unveils initiatives aimed at small and midsized operations

BY: - March 7, 2023

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday announced new steps the Department of Agriculture is taking to recenter U.S. agriculture and benefit small and midsized operations, including a proposed new “Product of USA” labeling rule and an $89 million expansion of the USDA intermediary lending program. At the National Farmers Union conference in San Francisco, […]