Tag: USDA
Can someone please give rural America some love?
Despite strong election support, rural communities face deep cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and farm programs. Alan Guebert explores the real-world economic math of these losses.
USDA begins 2026 down 20% in staff with plans to cut...
Opinion columnist Alan Guebert dicusses how more than 20,000 USDA employees left in 2025, sparking fears of a "brain drain" as the agency manages a $234B budget and new relocation plans for 2026.
The gap between farm costs and prices received hits a decade...
U.S. farmers are facing one of the widest gaps in a decade between what they pay to produce food and what they earn from selling it.
Alan Guebert: Figures don’t lie, but we often lie to ourselves
Explore the true cost of 2025’s ag policy, from record export deficits and tariffs to billions in hidden subsidies that challenge fiscal integrity.
USDA launches new $700 million regenerative ag pilot program
Administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the new Regenerative Pilot Program will deliver a “streamlined, outcome-based conservation model." The funding comes only months after the Trump administration canceled the $3 billion Biden-era Climate-Smart Commodities program, which incentivized farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through conservation practices.
Alan Guebert: Bridge to where, exactly?
A fact check of White House claims on farm aid shows tariffs hurt U.S. agriculture, boosted bailouts and contradict rhetoric about a “war on farmers.”
Farmers feel mounting strain as government shutdown stalls payments
The ongoing government shutdown is an inconvenience for farmers missing payments from the USDA. But if the impasse over federal spending drags on for weeks, it could grow much more dire for the nation’s agriculture community.
Shutdown closes local USDA offices
The government shutdown on Oct. 1 closed federal offices across the country, but it’s also impacted at least one county agency that works directly with farmers.
New World screwworm detected 70 miles from US-Mexico border
The affected animal, an 8-month-old cow, had recently been transported to a certified feedlot in Nuevo León from southern Mexico, where active screwworm cases are present.
Half-baked USDA plan makes less sense even when it’s ‘95% baked’
Alan Guebert considers the Trump administration's sweeping USDA reorganization, warning that past agency relocations drained staff and sparked backlash.
