Senate Approves Vilsack for Agriculture Department Again
The Senate voted 92-7 Tuesday to confirm Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary, his second run at the Cabinet post.
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USDA
Power Lines
Four conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit against the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife in an effort to stop construction of a giant power line that would run through protected wildlife refuges in Wisconsin.
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Michelob Organic Seltzer Ads Called ‘False and Deceptive’ by Judge
Anheuser-Busch must stop advertising Michelob Ultra organic seltzer as “the only” and “the first” certified organic hard seltzer.
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Not a Peaceful Forest
The U.S. Forest Service allows motorized recreation in the Clearwater National Forest, imperiling grizzly bears, elk, bull trout and wolverines, and has never done the environmental reviews necessary to allow such recreation, conservationists say in a lawsuit.
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Judge Advances Suit Over USDA Plan to Let Pig Slaughterhouses Inspect Themselves
A federal judge will allow environmental groups to challenge the USDA’s voluntary swine inspection system, which may eliminate federal inspection of plants producing 93% of the U.S. pork supply.
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Agriculture Nominee Gets Warm Welcome at Senate Hearing
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is on his way to bipartisan confirmation returning him to America’s top agricultural job.
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Judge Unlikely to Ban Hydroponic Crops From Organic Label
Arguments that Congress intended to ban hydroponically grown crops from organic certification did not appear to persuade a judge overseeing a legal dispute over what foods can be labeled “organic.”
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Pandemic SNAP
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court’s refusal to block the USDA’s denial of an extra $60 per month in food assistance to Californians who already receive the maximum amount, agreeing it’s up to Congress — not courts — to provide such pandemic relief.
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Union Challenges Trump Plan to Ditch Farmworker Wage Survey
The Trump administration’s decision to abruptly discontinue a 110-year-old survey that helps set minimum wage for immigrant farmworkers will lead to pay cuts for millions of U.S. and guest agricultural laborers across the country, a farmworkers union claims in a new lawsuit.
Read morePredator Kills
The conservation group Wildearth Guardians sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday, claiming the agency approved the killing of predators and numerous wildlife species in New Mexico using decades-old science and without environmental review.
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‘Tiger King’ Zoo Shut Down After Inspection by Feds
The roadside zoo formerly owned by Joe Exotic and featured in the hit Netflix true-crime docuseries “Tiger King” suddenly closed Thursday after federal authorities suspended the license of operator Jeff Lowe for alleged mistreatment of the housed animals.
Read moreAnimal Cruelty
A federal judge in Washington dismissed the Humane Society’s lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture for stripping federal protections against horse soring, a practice that involves the intentional infliction of pain to a horse’s legs or hooves to achieve a high-stepping gait prized in the show ring.
Read moreUrban Prairie Dogs
A federal judge dismissed Prairie Protection Colorado’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contesting its ruling that urban prairie dogs can be killed; plaintiffs argued that no bubonic plague had turned up yet in the little critters.
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Feds Sued for Limiting Emergency Food Stamps for Californians
Two food stamp recipients slapped the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a federal class action Thursday, claiming the Trump administration is defying the will of Congress by denying extra emergency food benefits to low-income Californians.
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$19 Billion Bailout Headed to America’s Farmers
Farmers and ranchers dealing with the fallout of the novel coronavirus will receive a $19 billion bailout from the federal government, President Donald Trump said during Friday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing.
Read moreZoonotic Diseases
The Humane Society of the United States sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in federal court, claiming its refusal to regulate the crowded, cramped conditions in industrialized poultry factory-farms increases the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading to humans.
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USDA Agrees to Limit Wildlife Kill Program in 10 California Counties
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will stop using pesticides on mammals and limit the use of
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Feds Agree to Moratorium on Poison, Traps to Control Idaho Wolves
Conservation groups and the Trump administration have reached a settlement that will sharply limit where and how federal agencies can kill wolves in Idaho.
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Firefighter Fights Feds for Radio Records From Deadly Arizona Wildfire
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is knowingly hiding some radio traffic recordings from the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire near Prescott, Arizona, instead telling a firefighter who sued to get the recordings that they were turned over to state investigators and made public shortly after the fire, the firefighter’s attorney told a Ninth Circuit panel Friday.
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