Our U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spoke at the annual National Ag Day banquet in the USDA Whitten Bldg. First up in his remarks was a sales pitch for moderator, The Big O, Orion Samuelson’s book, “You Can’t Dream Big Enough.” I’ll bet that didn’t hurt sales! If you like Orion’s Ole and Lena jokes then you’ll really enjoy …
Media Bias in Animal Ag Story
Fox News loves to point out media bias in mainstream reporting on politics in particular, but probably not when it comes to agriculture. Fox carried an AP story over the weekend about state bills seeking to make it more difficult for animal rights activists to go undercover at agricultural operations to get video of abuse and sometimes hold it for …
New USDA Rural Definition Stirs Controversy
A guest post by Agri-Pulse Editor Sara Wyant A proposed definition of the term “rural” submitted by the Department of Agriculture to Congress last month could have broad implications for small towns across America and not everyone is happy about it. The report, delivered two and one half years late after it was required by Congress to be delivered by …
USDA Deputy Secretary Resigns – Update
*UPDATED with Merrigan statement* Call it kind of a surprise – the announcement late yesterday that USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan has resigned her position. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack released the following statement about Merrigan’s resignation: “USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan has helped USDA achieve record results over the past four years. She has played a vital role in the Department-wide …
Sequester Chops Some USDA Reports
Statistical surveys and reports about catfish, hops and mink are among those being suspended by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) “for the remainder of the fiscal year due to reduced funding caused by sequestration,” according to a press release out today. Before deciding upon the program suspensions, NASS reviewed its survey programs against mission- and user-based criteria as well …
Leaked USDA Email Makes News
*UPDATED WITH USDA STATEMENT* A leaked email from a USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service field office is in the news today as evidence that the Obama administration wants to make the sequester cuts “as painful as possible.” According to the email, the USDA budget office directed the APHIS field office regarding flexibility of spending cuts for aquaculture, “However …
AgFanatics Dish on USDA Report
The AgFanatics were in their element last week talking about the USDA Supply & Demand report. Episode #11 on Tuesday last week caught them in pre-report speculation mode, and Episode #12 was recap and reaction to the report for the market. The AgriVisor AgFanatics podcast is updated twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. AgFanatics can be found on Itunes or …
Sequester Could Cause FSIS Inspector Furlough
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has shaken up the meat and poultry industry with his comments about how sequestration might impact agriculture during a speech to the National Ethanol Conference last week. Answering a question about funding for a farm bill, Vilsack talked more broadly about what might happen after March 1 if Congress fails to act and sequester creates automatic …
Vilsack Visits Ethanol and Biodiesel Meetings
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack hit two meetings in one city last week, appearing at both the National Ethanol Conference and the National Biodiesel Conference within a few hours of each other, since they were both being held in Las Vegas a mile apart. Vilsack told both groups that the renewable fuels industry is worth fighting for. “Your country’s future depends …