After it was announced today that Tom Vilsack has agreed to serve a second term as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture he addressed the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting. He started out talking about the challenges in rural America and “urged farmers and producers take advantage of innovation, job creation partnerships and to share their story of a modern, innovative, …
Agri-Pulse Hires New Senior Editor
Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. announced that Derrick Cain has joined the company to serve as Senior Editor. Cain brings more than eight years of experience, reporting about news from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and agriculture-related legislation in the U.S. Congress, including detailed coverage of the 2002 and 2008 farm bills. As a congressional reporter for more than 12 years who …
EPA Adminstrator Latest Cabinet Member Resignation
In addition to Secretary of State, President Obama now has another cabinet member to replace. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson announced today that she will be leaving her post with the president’s new term. “I will leave the EPA confident the ship is sailing in the right direction, and ready in my own life for new challenges, time …
Vilsack to Host #AskUSDA Twitter Chat
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will host a live Virtual Office Hours session next week on Twitter to answer questions on the important role of rural America to the national and global economy, increasing agricultural opportunities in U.S. communities, and the importance of passing a five-year Farm Bill. According to USDA, Secretary Vilsack will answer Twitter queries such as: • What …
Census of Agriculture Forms to Go Out Soon
The USDA wants to get a better idea of what’s happening on America’s farms. That’s why the 2012 Census of Agriculture forms will be hitting producers’ mailboxes very soon. “The Census of Agriculture will be dropped in the mail December 14th, so farmers should expect it in their mailboxes by the end of the year,” says Renee Picanso, Director of …
USDA End-of-Year Surveys on the Way
In a year in agriculture with this many ups and downs, good information becomes an even bigger commodity. That’s why the USDA is sending out its end-of-year surveys soon. Cindy caught up with Bob Bass, the Director of National Operations for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) during Trade Talk at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention, and …
USAID Issues Progress Report at WFP
U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah released the first progress report and scorecard for Feed the Future at an address to the World Food Prize on Thursday. The progress report highlights how Feed the Future is already making a difference in people’s lives in the developing world and the scorecard tracks how well we are changing our development …
The School Lunch Parodies
Who has seen The Hunger Games – or read the books? You’ll get a laugh out of the comparisons drawn in this video. Kids these days may have some “out there” ideas (at least that’s what some of us ‘old’ folks think) but one thing they have right is that they stand up for what they believe, and speak out …
Soybeans Up, Corn Crop Down a Bit
The October USDA crop production report out this morning took a little bit more off the corn crop but increased the soybean crop by nine percent. Corn production is forecast at 10.7 billion bushels, down slightly from the September forecast and down 13 percent from 2011. This represents the lowest production in the United States since 2006. Based on conditions …
Corn Harvest More than Double Time Ahead
Farmers are more than double-timing it on the corn harvest this season. As of this past weekend, USDA reports that 69 percent of the crop was harvested, compared to 28 average for this time of year. Several corn belt states are running way, way ahead of normal, like Minnesota and Iowa, which normally have around 11-17% of the corn harvest …