The Center for Consumer Freedom continued its Chubby Chipotle campaign against Chipotle’s food misinformation with a new “Dihydrogen Monoxide” ad in the New York Post. The ad calls out Chipotle for scaring the public and tricking people into thinking its burritos are healthier by advertising its meat as being “antibiotic-free,” meaning from animals raised without antibiotics. But Chipotle is trying …
USDA Names New Deputy Under Secretary
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Lanon Baccam as the USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, overseeing the Farm Service Agency and Risk Management Agency, and the USDA’s Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison. Baccam is a U.S. Army and Iowa National Guard veteran and replaces Karis T. Gutter. “Throughout his career in military and public service, Lanon has …
DOT Announces Registration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that recreational users of unmanned aerial systems, or drones, must register their systems with the federal government. A task force will be created to develop recommendations for a registration process for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, “Registering unmanned aircraft will help build a culture of accountability and responsibility, especially …
FFA Encourages Students to #SpeakAg
The National FFA Organization is encouraging students to share how they are growing their knowledge of agriculture with a social media challenge entitled Members may participate by tweeting or instagraming a photo, video or story of how they are using knowledge gained in the classroom, from an SAE project or other FFA activity to inform their communities. Once they’ve posted …
Farm Bureau Releases Food & Ag Resource Guide for Education
Ag educators will have another tool in their belts to teach young rural and urban students agricultural literacy. This news release from the American Farm Bureau Foundation says the group has released a new Food & Ag Resource Guide, a curated list that features top recommended resources by age group. “People in the agricultural community are often invited into local …
Georgia Peanut Farmer in NHRA Title Bid
Hot rods on the track and peanuts in the stands is probably the norm for most race fans. But this year, the Georgia Peanut Commission is getting peanuts on the track by sponsoring a peanut farmer in an NHRA series. This news release from the commission says it is backing Jeff Adkinson, longtime NHRA Lucas Oil Series competitor and a …
Food Dialogues Heading to South Carolina
The next edition of the Food Dialogues travels to South Carolina to discuss the non-agricultural needs for water and the needs of the ag industry to use water to raise the food we all eat. Water is a precious commodity and there have been local, state and federal solutions to making water available to all. In South Carolina, one such …
Vote to End Hunger Launched at #FoodPrize15
The Iowa Food Summit took place today in Des Moines, IA leading up to the opening of this year’s World Food Prize. Following the Summit, several national nonprofits launched a new campaign, Vote to End Hunger (VTEH), an effort to urge 2016 presidential candidates to focus on ending hunger, alleviating poverty and creating global opportunity. “Throughout the world, countries such …
New Cuba Ag Exports Act Opens Trade Options
A new piece of legislation will open up trade possibilities for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. H.R. 3687, the Cuba Agricultural Exports Act, was introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman, Mike Conaway, along with Representatives Rick Crawford (R-AR) and Ted Poe (R-TX). It repeals financing restrictions, allowing U.S. banks to offer credit in Cuba in connection with exports of U.S. …
Fly-In Tells Congress of Need for National Food Labeling
The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, organized a fly-in bringing representatives of our country’s agriculture and food sectors to Capitol Hill urging passage by Congress of a uniform, national labeling standard for foods made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Vermont is set to implement its own labeling standard next July and other states passing or considering their own labeling mandates, …