“I went into public service because I am dedicated to supporting the American people. Right now, we are not able to do that,” said an employee with 25 years of service at the #Agriculture Department. “Programs are being paused. Decades of precedent are being ignored. Rules are being broken.”…
“Now we feel abandoned — abandoned by #Congress, by both parties,” said the employee, a Democrat. “#Farmers and agricultural workers are the backbone of the nation…”
This is why Canada has plenty of eggs — and the U.S. doesn't
Egg farms in Canada are much smaller, so when one farm does suffer a flu outbreak, the effects are less far-reaching. The typical egg farm in Canada has about 25,000 laying hens, whereas many farms in the U.S. have well over a million.
Canada's supply management system, guarantees even small farmers enough income to stay in business.
#Eggs #Canada #FarmPolicy #Food #America #SmallFarms #Agriculture #BirdFlu
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/18/nx-s1-5330454/egg-shortages-record-prices-usda-canada
Update. "#DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library"
https://www.science.org/content/article/doge-order-leads-journal-cancellations-u-s-agricultural-library
"The #USDA on Friday told staff members it has canceled subscriptions carried by its National Agricultural Library as part of a drive by President Donald #Trump’s administration to cut federal spending. The move appears to drop nearly 400 of the library’s roughly 2000 journals, including many prominent in various agricultural subfields —but curiously none from the world’s three largest scientific publishers, all of which are #ForProfit. USDA staff members depicted the move as hasty, indiscriminate slashing…Studies of journal subscription fees indicate that on average, scientific #SocietyPublishers charge less than such for-profit companies."
PS: (1) Of course the best ag research should be #OpenAccess. But that's a goal, not the current reality, and while we work for that goal, policymaking agencies still need access the best research. (2) If budget cuts are needed for efficiency, why focus the cuts on journals from #nonprofit #publishers, which on average are lower in price and higher in quality?
Far from international forums and economical centers, locals in one of the Amazon deforestation hotspots seek alternatives to agribusiness and gold mines.
Mongabay went to Pará state’s southwest and found examples of people struggling to keep sustainable initiatives in a region dominated by soy, cattle, gold and logging.
By Fernanda Wenzel
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/the-rough-road-to-sustainable-farming-in-an-amazon-deforestation-hotspot/
Saul Luciano Lliuya, a farmer and mountain guide, is suing German energy firm RWE, demanding that it help pay for defenses and flood mitigation for the city, tied to the company's share of greenhouse gas emissions. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/03/18/climate-change/glaciers-peru-farmer-climate-law/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #environment #climatechange #peru #glaciers #fossilfuels #germany #climatechange #agriculture
Climate Changes Impacts on Aquatic Environment by Magdy T. Khalil et al, 2025
Assessment, Adaptation, Mitigation, and Road Map for Sustainable Development
This book provides a detailed and a clear picture about the impact of climate changes on all aspects of our lives.
Free chapters:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-74897-4
@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#ClimateChange
#agriculture
#aquatic
Viewed and recommend: “Food and Country.” https://www.foodandcountryfilm.com/
Ask for it at your local library, e.g., it’s at Monterey Public Library https://www.montereylibrary.org/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=460084&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20food%20and%20country.
#FoodAndCountry #USA #FoodSystem #IndustrialAgriculture #SmallFarmers #FamilyFarms #Ranchers #FoodProduction #agriculture #farming #chefs #WhiteOakPastures #KnuthFarms #OrganicFarming
#Greenwave #BrenSmith #RiseAndRootFarms #StratfordAngus
I had the privilege to get to know Glen a bit while he served as Chairman of the Silos & Smokestacks NH Board. Aside from his towering stature, you'd never guess the experiences in the NLF & serving our nation in the USDA's Farm Service Agency. I was fortunate he shared a few of those stories with me. He was a kind, gentle, humble, & passionate man who loved agriculture & the Midwest. He will be greatly missed.
A great shot of the cart that is located next to our garden gate!
"So our lives go on, rumble-jumble, like a carrier's cart over ruts and stones, thumping anyhow instead of running smoothly on new-mown sward like a cricket-ball."
Amaryllis at the Fair
Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why It Matters
Featured in 2025 CAFS Social, Book Launch and Awards Ceremony
Details and Tickets: https://foodstudies.info/news-conferences/upcoming-conference/
#CongreSSH #FoodStudies #Toronto #Food #TorontoFoodie #FoodWays #FoodSovereignty #FoodPolitics #FoodArt #CAFS2025 #ACEA2025
DOGE’s Cuts at the #USDA Could Cause US Grocery Prices to Rise & Invasive Species to Spread
Thousands of #US Dept of #Agriculture employees, including food inspectors & disease-sniffing #dog trainers, remain out of work, leaving food to rot in ports & pests to proliferate.
https://www.wired.com/story/usda-food-supply-chains/
"the losses could cause #food to go rotten... even higher grocery #prices... potentially devastating invasive species getting into the country."
"WaPo reported that over 5 million Americans work in industries that could be impacted by retaliatory tariffs from China and Canada that just went into effect, and the vast majority of them live in counties that voted for Trump. New tariffs from those two countries primarily target the agricultural, manufacturing and energy sectors."
~ Ron Filipkowski
#Musk #Trump #FederalGovernment #NOAA #TaxCuts #billionaires #EconomicElites #tariffs #agriculture #industry
/9
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/this-weekend-in-politics-bulletin-ddb
NASA-ISRO Mission Will Map Farmland From Planting to Harvest. The NASA-ISRO SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite will be launched soon and acquire radar over the entire land area of the Earth (except a few places near the poles). One objective is mapping agriculture. #NASA #ISRO #radar #satellite #SAR #agriculture
Image from Copernicus Sentinel-1 SAR. Credit: ESA; processing and visualization by Earth Big Data LLC. See alt text for more info.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-isro-mission-will-map-farmland-from-planting-to-harvest/
Anew agrivoltaic tool accounts for changes in optimal sunlight at different stages of plant growth.
"Filmed in Welsh with English subtitles, it epitomises how and why reviving seed diversity is a transformational act, helping to re-value and pass on the language, skills and culture that have enabled farmers and rural communities to thrive for generations in Wales, and around our living planet."
It's also really lovely just to hear the Pembrokeshire accent – "oeddwn" becoming "wen" and "fel" becoming "wel" 
Mor hyfryd yw e.
Also – Welsh speakers – I'm interested to know what is said that's glossed in the subtitles as "it's a hassle". My ears can't make it out.
(I'm hashtagging "caturday" because of Twm, the farmer's cat, enjoying a lap 
)
https://gaiafoundation.org/llafur-ni/
Hashtag list incoming.
#Cymru #Wales #Welsh #Cymraeg #Pembrokeshire #Farming #Ffermio #Amaethyddiaeth #Agriculture #SeedDiversity #FolkMusic #Caturday
N.L. reports suspected case of Avian flu in C.B.S.
Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture says a suspected case of avian influenza has been reported in a domestic flock of birds in Conception Bay South.
#avianflu #birds #agriculture #NewfoundlandandLabrador #ConceptionBaySouth #News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/n-l-reports-suspected-case-of-avian-flu-in-c-b-s-1.7484581?cmp=rss
Avocados Were Domesticated 7,500 Years Ago According To Fossil Evidence, study out of University of California, Santa Barbara, published by PNAS
#avocados #trees #arboriculture #domestication #agriculture #fossils #food #SciComm https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2025/03/13/avocados-were-domesticated-7500-years-ago-according-to-fossil-evidence/
Trump Suffers Huge Loss as Judge Overturns “Unlawful” Mass Firings
At Donald Trump’s behest, #DOGE had sought to gut the federal workforce.
https://newrepublic.com/post/192719/donald-trump-doge-judge-overturns-mass-firings
"the mass firing of federal employees was an “unlawful” directive...
ordered several agencies to “immediately” reinstate... employees... the #VA... Depts of #Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, & #Agriculture... the IRS, which falls under the helm of the Treasury Dept"
US judge orders #Trump admin to reinstate thousands of fired workers
A California federal judge on Thurs ordered 6 US #FederalAgencies to reinstate thousands of recently-hired employees who were fired as part of Trump's purge of the federal workforce.
The ruling made by US Dist Judge William Alsup in San Francisco during a hearing applies to the Departments of #Defense, #Veterans Affairs,#Agriculture, #Energy, #Interior & the #Treasury.
#law #DOGE #Musk
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-extend-block-trump-administration-ordering-mass-firings-2025-03-13/
Vaccinating poultry could help cut soaring egg prices but U.S. remains hesitant.
@AssociatedPress reports: "Chicken meat producers remain the most resistant to vaccines because of concerns they could harm meat exports, which totaled nearly $4.7 billion last year."
