The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a joint meeting next month, Oct. 23-24, to discuss the use of cell culture technology to develop products derived from livestock and poultry – better known to producers as lab-grown fake meat. The joint public meeting, hosted by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service …
Zimfo Bytes 8/31
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue unveiled a new webpage featuring information about the importance of rural e-Connectivity and the ways the U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing to help deploy high-speed broadband infrastructure in rural America. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov. National Farmers Union Foundation has announced the 2018 recipients of the Hubert K. & JoAnn Seymour and Stanley …
Secretary Perdue Comments on Current Issues
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue visited the Farm Progress Show this week, making an appearance for everyone at the show to enjoy with Max Armstrong and Orion Samuelson in the VIP tent, followed by a press gaggle where trade was the number one topic, along with WOTUS and the Renewable Fuel Standard. Asked about Canada and its dairy policy – …
Secretary Sonny Shows Ethanol Support
A rally organized by corn and ethanol producers at the Farm Progress Show got the attention of USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey who stopped by to show their support. It was a last minute decision by the secretary, who brought greetings and another promise from President Trump, who called Perdue as …
Zimfo Bytes 8/17
Three sponsors will be honored with the Distinguished Service Citation during an onstage ceremony at this year’s National FFA Convention & Expo, held in Indianapolis Oct. 24-27. Culver Franchising System of Prairie Du Sac, Wis.; DFA – Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, Mo.; and Lincoln Electric/The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio, will receive the …
USDA Announces Trade Disruption Relief for Farmers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will take several actions to assist farmers negatively impacted by recent trade actions. President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a short-term relief strategy to protect agricultural producers while the Administration works on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets in the long run to help American farmers compete globally. Specifically, …
Planted Acreage Report Surprises
USDA’s planted acreage report out Friday contained some surprising numbers for the trade. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates 89.6 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States for 2018, down 1 percent from last year, and corn area planted is estimated at 89.1 million acres, also down 1 percent from last year. All cotton planted area for …
USDA Quarterly Hogs & Pigs Report
As of June 1, there were 73.5 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up three percent from June 2017, and up 1 percent from March 1, according to the USDA’s Quarterly Hogs and Pigs Report out Thursday. The National Pork Board provided commentators to discuss the report via teleconference. The call featured three distinguished agricultural economists and their reactions …
IFIC Foundation Survey Results on Bioengineered Food Labeling
As a foodie kind of person a new survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC) has some very interesting results. There is a lot of information in the report. It is titled, “Research with Consumers To Test Perceptions and Reactions To Various Stimuli and Visuals Related to Bioengineered Foods.” Here is a short note about the findings to …
White House Reorganization Plans Would Change USDA
During an open media cabinet meeting Thursday, which was mostly dominated by President Trump commenting on the immigration issue, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Mick Mulvaney gave an entertaining summary of the administration’s plans to reorganize the government. “It’s been almost a hundred years since anybody really reorganized the government,” said Mulvaney, before providing a couple of examples …