U.S. Department of Agriculture
UVM Food Systems Research Center gets $11M in federal funds

Jun. 19, 2021 04:01 PM EDT
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — The University of Vermont Food Systems Research Center is getting $11 million in federal funding to support its work researching the...

White House press secretary Jen Psaki listens as deputy director of the National Economic Council Sameera Fazili speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden to launch task force on bottlenecks in supply chains

By Josh Boak Jun. 08, 2021 05:28 AM EDT

FILE - In this May 5, 2020, file photo, Elizabeth Ruiz, 7, puts up post-it notes on her mother's car window that spell out "God Bless U" as she and her mother Daylin Lemus, of Adelphi, Md., wait in a line of hundreds of cars to receive a Catholic Charities distribution of food at Northwestern High School, in Hyattsville, Md. The Department of Agriculture is sending $1 billion to the country’s food bank networks, seeking to expand the reach of the system and revamp the way food banks acquire and distribute aid. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
USDA sending $1B in funding to country's food bank networks

By Ashraf Khalil Jun. 04, 2021 05:26 PM EDT

FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2020 file photo, a worker heads into the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo. A weekend ransomware attack on the world’s largest meat company is disrupting production around the world just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline. The White House confirms that Brazil-based meat processor JBS SA notified the U.S. government Sunday, May 30, 2021, of a ransom demand from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Largest meat producer getting back online after cyberattack

By Rod Mcguirk And Dee-Ann Durbin Jun. 02, 2021 12:01 AM EDT

In this May 12, 2020, photo, the company logo sign sits at the entrance to the JBS Australia's Dinmore meatworks facility, west of Brisbane. Thousands of Australian meat workers had no work for a second day on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, after a cyberattack crippled the world’s largest meat processing company. A government minister said it might be days before production resumes. (Dan Peled/AAP Image via AP)
Meat producer JBS says expects most plants working Wednesday

By Rod Mcguirk And Dee-Ann Durbin Jun. 01, 2021 05:49 PM EDT

FILE - This April 8, 2020, file photo shows the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. The USDA said on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, it will not increase the speed at which pigs are processed into meat at U.S. pork plants rejecting a request from a group representing pork producers to allow processing plants to speed up the production of pigs into meat. A union representing workers claimed that the increased volume endangers workers. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
USDA rejects request for faster pork slaughterhouse speeds

By David Pitt May. 27, 2021 03:22 PM EDT

FILE - This April 8, 2020, file photo shows the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. A group representing pork producers urged the federal government Tuesday, May 25, 2021, to let them continue an effort to speed up the processing of pigs into bacon and ham despite a union's claim that the increased volume endangers workers. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves, File)
Pork group asks USDA to support faster slaughterhouse speeds

By David Pitt May. 25, 2021 01:17 PM EDT

West Virginia nutrition program to offer benefits boost

May. 19, 2021 04:40 AM EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia women and children who participate in a nutrition program will receive a temporary benefit boost this summer for the...

CORRECTS YEARS OF FARMING TO 43 INSTEAD OF 45 - Morey Hill stands near a barn on his farm, Friday, April 16, 2021, near Madrid, Iowa. In 43 years of farming, Hill had seen crop-destroying weather, rock-bottom prices, trade fights and surges in government aid, but not until last year had he endured it all in one season. Now, as Hill and other farmers begin planting the nation's dominant crops of corn and soybeans, they're dealing with another shift _ the strongest prices in years and a chance to put much of the recent stomach-churning uncertainty behind them. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
US farmers finally see better outlook after 2 odd years

By Scott Mcfetridge Apr. 27, 2021 11:39 AM EDT

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, file photo, kids eat lunch at an elementary school in Paducah, Ky. The Biden administration is expanding a program to feed as many as 34 million school children during the summer months. They're using funds from the coronavirus relief package approved in March 2021. (Ellen O'Nan/The Paducah Sun via AP, File)
Biden expanding summer food program for 34M schoolchildren

By Josh Boak Apr. 26, 2021 06:15 AM EDT

Funeral workers remove empty coffins that held remains that were later cremated at La Recoleta cemetery in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
The Latest: Hawaii eases virus rules for inter-island travel

By The Associated Press Apr. 20, 2021 06:03 AM EDT

Food boxes with fresh produce to be given away in Jackson

Apr. 18, 2021 11:51 AM EDT
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Thousands of food boxes of fresh produce will be available for pick-up at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds in Jackson on Wednesday. The...

Bates College lifts lockdown; outbreak reported at jail

Apr. 14, 2021 01:45 AM EDT
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Bates College lifted a 12-day lockdown aimed at containing an outbreak of COVID-19, and in-person classes resumed Wednesday. ...

NJ increases food aid by $95 a month for 231K households

By Mike Catalini Apr. 13, 2021 02:24 PM EDT
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey will boost supplemental nutrition assistance benefits for 231,000 households, about half of those already getting the federally...

FILE - In this April 18, 2020, file photo, San Francisco-Marin Food Bank volunteers pack food into bags to be delivered to people in San Francisco. About 25 million Americans will be eligible for more food assistance money under a new policy adopted by President Joe Biden's administration under a change announced Thursday, April 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
Estimated 25 million to see boost in federal food benefits

By Kathleen Ronayne Apr. 02, 2021 07:09 PM EDT

Editorial Roundup: Pennsylvania

By The Associated Press Mar. 17, 2021 09:00 AM EDT
Erie Times News. March 15, 2021. Editorial: PA gets kids’ lunch money We don’t want to attach too much significance to...

A cow stands in a pen ta the Vaughn Farms cattle operation, Tuesday, March 2, 2021, near Maxwell, Iowa. Sudden meat shortages last year because of the coronavirus led to millions of dollars in federal grants to help small meat processors expand so the nation could lessen its reliance on giant slaughterhouses to supply grocery stores and restaurants. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Push to prevent next meat shortage hits big obstacle

By Scott Mcfetridge Mar. 15, 2021 03:10 PM EDT

Adrian Polansky, a farmer and former executive director of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency office in Kansas during the Obama administration, stops for a photo while touring his seed processing plant near Belleville, Kan., Friday, March 5, 2021. More than a year after two U.S. Department of Agriculture research agencies were moved from the nation’s capital to Kansas City, they remain critically understaffed and some farmers are less confident in the work they produce. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
USDA relocations curtail ag research, farmer confidence

By Roxana Hegeman Mar. 06, 2021 10:12 AM EST

FILE - This Aug. 22, 2014 file photo shows green chilies in a research plot at New Mexico State University's agricultural science center in Los Lunas, N.M. 2020 wasn't all bad as New Mexico farmers reported increased production and yield levels for the state's most famous crop despite pressures related to the coronavirus pandemic. Numbers released Thursday, March 4, 2021, by the U.S. Agriculture Department's statistics service show 68,000 tons of red and green chile were produced last year. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
2020 marks increase for hot pepper production in New Mexico

By Susan Montoya Bryan Mar. 04, 2021 05:12 PM EST

Editorial Roundup: West Virginia

By The Associated Press Feb. 24, 2021 07:51 AM EST
Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers: ___ Feb. 22 The Intelligencer on keeping pets warm...