Free Republic

School Lunches = Pet Food? Many of you may be quite picky about what you feed your children. So many parents these days, in a hissy fit of Whole Foods-fueled hippie-ness, boycott the likes of a Happy Meal. State governments, much like our own here in California, rail against ye olde fashioned childhood snack time staples like candy bars and sodas, banning schools from vending all things that aren't dried fruit and Nutri-Grain bars. And parents these days, in their infinite laziness and longing to be "one of the kids," push their children toward video games in lieu of real...

In Defense of Animals (IDA) the organization that has worked for two years to rescue three circus elephants named Tina, Jewel and Queenie, announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed formal charges against the elephants' handler, Wilbur Davenport (dba "Maximus tons of Fun") for multiple violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The charges state that “the gravity of the violations alleged…is great” and that Davenport has “not shown good faith” in his repeated unwillingness to comply with the AWA and its regulations and standards.

At 8 a.m. Sunday the population of Kinsman, Ill., stood at 109. An hour later it nearly doubled, as upwards of 100 federal agents and police swooped in on the tiny, rural community. And no one seems to know why. The law enforcement officers, including FBI agents, immigration officials and state police, surrounded an Islamic meat plant in Kinsman, cordoning off the area and briefly detaining the plant's handful of employees. The FBI isn't saying much, and the county sheriff is mum too, leaving Kinsman's residents mystified. The bust, in a town that has no local police force, involved dozens...

Four-Year Old Buys House With Federal Money Vincent Fernando|Oct. 22, 2009, 11:08 AM | The stories about a return to bubble-era lending standards are getting too depressing to bear. There are the no-down payment loans backed by the USDA, the FHA mortgage worth more than 110% of the value of the home, and now this: babies buying homes. Georgia Congressman John Lewis is holding hearings: “We will hear today that taxpayers claiming the credit include those: who already owned a home, who had not yet bought a home, and who are children—some as young as four years old. There are...

In Texas and across the Southwest, Hispanic farmers have been fighting the Agriculture Department for close to a decade. The farmers say the department's Farm Services Agency discriminated against them — denying or delaying loans, and refusing to investigate when they cried foul. The government settled a similar complaint brought by African-American farmers for $1 billion. And while the claims of discrimination and other factors are almost identical, the Hispanic farmers have gotten nothing. ..."I would go and apply, and it would take about two to three weeks," says Obregon. "Then they would turn me down, say it was a...

Continued concerns about Chinese products being sold in the U.S. now include poultry. Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor was recognized in Washington today for his work on an agriculture appropriations bill that focuses on the use of appropriated funds from the Department of Agriculture for potential imports of poultry products from China. "Food safety and trade are not mutually exclusive, and are in fact very important to the economy of Arkansas. We can have both as long as the USDA can do its job of policing imports to make sure they meet our food safety standards. Our agreement enables the government...

Nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle answers readers' questions in this column written exclusively for The Chronicle. E-mail your questions to food@sfchronicle.com, with Marion Nestle in the subject line. Q: I saw you on "The Colbert Report" (Aug. 19) talking about sugar policy. Explain, please. I don't understand why sugar policy is a topic for Comedy Central. A: Neither did I until I saw Stephen Colbert douse himself with 5 pounds of sugar over the impending "crisis." We have a sugar crisis? According to processed food manufacturers, we are about to run out of sugar. Horrors! Earlier in August,...

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials shot and killed two wolves today that were linked to five attacks on livestock in the Keating Valley area of Baker County. The wolves were shot after nonlethal efforts failed to keep them from killing livestock again. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife then authorized Agriculture's Wildlife Services to kill the animals, one of which was wearing a tracking collar, from a fixed-wing aircraft. "It's unfortunate that we got to this step," Russ Morgan, wolf coordinator for Fish and Wildlife, said in a news release, "but these wolves continued to kill livestock despite our...

U.S. farm income to plunge 38 percent in 2009: USDA By Christopher Doering Thu Aug 27, 1:16 pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. farm income this year was forecast to plunge 38 percent to $54 billion due to lower commodity prices for crops and livestock, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday. Grain and livestock prices falling from record highs set in 2008 means farmers will see earnings slump by $33.2 billion in 2009 from last year's near record net farm income of $87.2 billion. The 2009 forecast was $9 billion below the 10-year average of $63.2 billion in net farm...

This story largely went under the radar. The Agriculture Department plans to review more than 14,000 civil rights complaints that have been filed against the agency since 2000. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said only a small number of those complaints were eventually decided against the department and that 3,000 of the complaints have not even been processed. "This issue has lingered too long," Vilsack told reporters Tuesday.

<p>BOSTON (AP) - The nation's cranberry production is expected to fall by 10 percent from last year's record-breaking crop, even as worldwide demand for the berry continues to steadily rise.</p> <p>Still, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast, released Aug. 18, wasn't unwelcome news to growers.</p>

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG THE BLOG MONDAY, AUGUST 17TH, 2009 AT 2:25 PM USDA Launches New Rural Tour Site, Ways to Stay Connected Posted by Amanda Eamich Today is a very exciting day. We rolled out a new Rural Tour web site to enhance public engagement and share information from the road. There has been such a positive reception to the Rural Tour events, we needed a new way to connect with individuals across the nation beyond the actual events. That's where new media comes in. It's much more than sending...

This story largely went under the radar. The Agriculture Department plans to review more than 14,000 civil rights complaints that have been filed against the agency since 2000. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said only a small number of those complaints were eventually decided against the department and that 3,000 of the complaints have not even been processed.

ELKHART COUNTY — Dairy farmers across the country are being milked dry by rising production costs and falling prices. On Friday, the federal government unveiled a new plan aimed at providing "immediate relief." But, will it work? And, what will it mean for you at the grocery store? The U.S. Department of Agriculture plan will raise the price paid at commodity markets for milk and cheddar cheese. Administrators call it a "dairy price support program." Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says it will help the dairy industry weather "one of it's worst crises in decades." The price paid by dairy...

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave his personal approval for a 381-acre clear-cut in America's largest stand of temperate rain forest. Not cool, President Obama. Not cool at all. The Obama administration has approved the sale of timber from the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. The 17-million acre forest is the largest stand of continuous temperate rain forest in the U.S. and contains a lot of old-growth trees. It's basically a snapshot of what the world looked like before we rolled heavy onto the scene. The U.S. Forest Service gave the green light for the sale after approval from Secretary...

For those of you who have not heard, HR 2749 the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, is a bill in congress that would basically eliminate Organic farming, and pretty well wipe out your back yard organic garden. For heaven’s sake, don’t even consider selling your homemade jam at a Farmers Market or the Saturday Market! Not unless you are willing to pay the 1000$ licensing fee anyway. With the stated purpose of making the Food system in the United States safer, the liberal Washington DC Government has decided in its wisdom to make the entire industry formulaic and regulated....

DETROIT (AP) - A former aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers has been arrested in Africa after skipping his sentencing on a federal fraud conviction, federal authorities said. DeWayne Boyd, 49, formerly of Detroit, was arrested Friday in Accra, Ghana, said Daniel D. Roberts, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office. Boyd is a former aide to Willie Brown when he was the speaker of the California Assembly. Boyd was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear at the April sentencing hearing on convictions of mail fraud, making false declarations under oath, making false statements to...

... The president's stimulus plan has been aimed primarily at the top of the economy, pumping money into banks and car companies and state and city governments. But it also has put more money into the hands of the poorest Americans by boosting monthly food-stamp allocations. Starting in April, a family of four on food stamps received an average of $80 extra. Money from the program -- officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- percolates quickly through the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates that for every $5 of food-stamp spending, there is $9.20 of total economic...

There were lots of plausible presences at the La Vista Embassy Suites to oppose what many see as the worst livestock impacts of the federal government’s National Animal Identification System. The skeptical manager of the Bassett Livestock Auction, the indignant rancher from Valentine, the long-suffering hog producer from Minnesota — all seemed to have an obvious place in June 30 proceedings aimed at overhauling the program’s most objectionable features. Chris Bambery of Lincoln, proud owner of two chickens on Sumner Street and promoter of what he describes as “backyard chicken PowerPoint presentations,” didn’t blend in as easily. But it turns...

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - President Obama has announced plans to include $1.250 billion in settlement funds in the 2010 budget to bring closure to the long-standing Black farmers’ lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the White House has announced. “This is an issue I worked on in the Senate, and I’m pleased that we are now able to close this chapter in the agency’s history and move on,” the President said in a release. “My hope is that the farmers and their families who were denied access to USDA loans and programs will be made whole and will have the...

Buck stops with you Mr. Resident. Did you hear about the USDA's broken promise on your nightly Communist News Network? I did not and it seems now that the the "One" has been installed as The Resident suddenly it seems lots of things have changed now issues that were oh so hot just months ago that now go largely ignored like the loss of our privacy in phone conversations the attempt to hide the loss of internet freedom from your Big Bro now the latest lie. I came across this article that another promise is being broken one that can...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota company has won federal approval to become the first in the U.S. to market an E. coli vaccine for cattle, a new weapon against a foodborne disease that can cause serious illness in people and even death. Epitopix LLC was given a conditional license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell its vaccine. Nayyera Haq, a USDA spokeswoman, called it "an important step toward improving food safety in this country," and a major beef group agreed. "It really is a major milestone for our industry," Michelle Rossman, director of beef safety research for the...

High fructose corn syrup is not as sweet as it may seem, as recent research and new publications have reported this past week. Products containing the sweetener, which I have encouraged consumers to avoid in prior articles, were recently tested for mercury contamination. Yes, that's right — mercury. Apparently, the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is made by a process through which contamination with mercury can occur. The caustic soda that removes the corn starch from the kernel has been done for decades by mercury-grade caustic soda. Unfortunately, the mercury can end up in the HFCS. While most processing plants...

Wolves killed 11 sheep and injured five more Thursday south of Two Dot, USDA Wildlife Services officials confirmed Friday. "It's quite gruesome," said Tonya Martin, the sheep rancher whose stock was raided. A wolf killed five sheep and injured another five last March on the Martin ranch on Big Elk Creek. Efforts to capture the wolf were unsuccessful. The Martins told officials that four wolves were seen in the area. An adjacent landowner also reported that their cattle had been run through a fence Thursday... Wolves in Montana are federally protected...

Animal owners, consumers and taxpayers: NAIS ALERT! Protect your right to farm and to eat local food. Speak out against the National Animal Identification System! The USDA [http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome] has proposed a rule to require all farms and ranches where animals are raised to be registered in a federal database under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) for existing disease control programs. The draft rule covers programs for cattle, sheep, goats and swine. It also sets the stage for the entire NAIS program to be mandated for everyone, including anyone who owns even one livestock animal (for example, a single chicken...

WASHINGTON – The Humane Society of the United States is asking President Barack Obama and Congress to require everyone who raises dogs and cats to be regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, documents show. HSUS also is asking for the creation of an animal protection division within the U.S. Department of Justice that is “similar to the Civil Rights Division, to ensure strong enforcement of federal animal protection laws,” thus granting animals rights similar to humans. HSUS also calls for a new position of animal protection liaison in the White House. A fourth provision calls for a ban on...

Some of your favorite foods may be fakes. Foods masquerading as something else — a more nutritious something else — have been big news in the past two years. Chinese food companies in particular have been blamed for making deadly alterations to dairy, baby and pet foods by adding melamine. The chemical makes it appear that the food or beverage has the required level of protein. But what about food producers in this country? What fraudulent foods do U.S. consumers have to fear from American companies?

Hundreds of birds that dropped dead on Somerset County cars, porches and snow-covered lawns, alarming residents over the weekend, were all of a rather foul breed of fowl -- the notorious European starling, which the United States Department of Agriculture killed on purpose…. Yesterday, the USDA acknowledged a few mistakes of its own in spreading the word in the area around a Princeton Township farm, where it applied a pesticide Friday to kill 3,000 to 5,000 starlings plaguing a livestock farmer. "It was raining dead birds," said Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine….

DES MOINES, Iowa - President-elect Barack Obama has selected former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary, according to Democratic sources familiar with the selection process. Obama will announce the appointment of Vilsack on Wednesday, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection before the announcement. Vilsack will be the fourth former opponent of Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries to join his new administration. Others include Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been tapped for secretary of state, and New Mexico Gov. Bill...

Confused? Various local governments have declared obesity a crisis, fast food chains are being sued, school lunches are now abstaining from all fried foods, But last week the USDA release their report stating more children are hungry than before the downturn. Who is responsible for the food that these poor, hungry, obese children are given? Surely not Heather Mills.

In the waning months of the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has joined the ranks of federal agencies rushing through new regulations that weaken protections for human health and the environment. USDA has released a proposed rule that would significantly weaken oversight of all genetically engineered crops, and which continue to allow companies to grow food crops engineered to produce drugs and industrial chemicals. The USDA began this process over four years ago by promising stricter oversight. Unfortunately, improvements considered early on have been dismissed, and the proposed rule now has the same gaping holes as the...

John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, is among those being vetted for Agriculture secretary in the Obama Cabinet, an individual with knowledge of the transition process said Thursday. Congressional Black Caucus members are backing Boyd in an attempt to reverse the department’s track record on civil rights, which government investigators and outside watchdogs have described as abysmal, aides said. The fourth-generation farmer and civil rights activist would be a surprise choice given the leadership pedigrees of other possible nominees, such as former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. But the pick would help fulfill President-elect Barack Obama ’s pledge...

Amish farmers are to sue the US government on the grounds that plans to put electronic identity tags on livestock constitute imposing the "mark of the Beast". A group of seven Amish farmers in Michigan say the state's insistence that they use radio frequency ID devices on their animals "constitutes some form of a 'mark of the Beast' and/or represents an infringement of their 'dominion over cattle and all living things' in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs," according to their lawsuit. Some Amish, who have a booming business in producing organic milk, disagree with radio ID tagging so strongly...

Three names have emerged in the first round of speculation about who will be the secretary of agriculture in an Obama administration: National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson. Before joining the NFU, Buis was the senior agricultural aide to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and worked as legislative director for Rep. Jim Jontz, D-Ind. In the 1980s, he was a grain and livestock farmer in Indiana with brothers Mike and Jeff, who continue to operate the family farm. Vilsack served two terms as governor of Iowa before...

Obama wants to reshape the agriculture industryIf he is willing to "bankrupt" the coal industry over global warming, what's he going to do to the agriculture sector which "actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector"? Don't forget about biden's EVIL corn syrup...evil corn syrup

Below, Moe writes on some shocking statements by Barack Obama about "bankrupting the coal industry" in order to address global warming. Obama has it in for another industry: agriculture. Check out these statements from an interview he gave with Time's Joe Klein: As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare...

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

The government of Mexico has voluntarily suspended shipments of meat and processed poultry to the United States after U.S. officials raised concerns about the quality of Mexican food processing and inspections, an Agriculture Department official said Thursday. The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service identified systemic problems with sanitation controls and recordkeeping during an annual audit that took place in Mexico between June 24 and July 31. The voluntary suspension began Aug. 29, said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the service. About 2 percent of beef and poultry in the U.S. comes from Mexican producers. "Safety concerns in multiple establishments...

Juxtaposed on opposite pages of the BBC International newspaper were two stories: "..thousands of people (in Seoul, South Korea) protesting against resumption of U.S. Beef imports..." and "The U.S. announced that it will send half a million tons of food aid to North Korea." How can two so closely connected groups of people hold such strong opposite opinions about the safety of U.S. food exports? Easy. It's the haves vs. the have-nots. South Korea is a strong democratic nation, our ally, who owes its existence to the U.S. and the United Nations. It has the luxury to be choosey. Its...

A Georgia company looking to solve America's energy problem has finally teamed up with the federal government, hoping to make millions of barrels of oil every day from virtually anything that grows out of the Earth. Bell Bio-Energy, Inc. says it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Defense Department to build seven test production plants, mostly on military bases, to quickly turn naturally grown material into fuel. "What this means is that with the seven pilot plants – the military likes to refer to them as demonstrations – with those being built … it gives us the real-time engineering...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Up to 12.3 billion bushels of corn are expected to be harvested this season in the U.S., despite the recent Mississippi flooding which inundated many farms in the Midwest. With 600 million extra bushels for the summer harvest, it will be the second-highest corn yield on record, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Prior to the confirmation of the bountiful harvest, there were fears the Midwest flooding could lead to food shortages and major economic losses for American farmers. Before perfect weather was enjoyed by farmers recently, corn future prices rose to $8 per bushel. On...

Companies throughout the food chain are changing the way they do business in response to soaring grain costs, and consumers are likely to bear the brunt in the form of rising food prices. Farmers are making the broadest cuts to their livestock herds in decades, meaning meat at the supermarket will likely cost more in coming years. Middlemen are trying to shorten the duration of supply contracts to 90 days from one year so they can pass on higher costs more quickly. And food brands are shrinking the contents of their packages, from ice-cream cartons to beverage containers. ...In another...

Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a member of President Bush's first-term Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate. The search committee, now led by Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, raised Veneman's name — among others — in discussions with members of Congress, two Democrats familiar with the conversations said.

Obama veep team floats Republican name By AMIE PARNES & BEN SMITH | 7/25/08 6:41 PM EST Ann Veneman Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a former member of President Bush's first-term cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate. Photo: AP Barack Obama's vice presidential search team has floated the name of a member of President Bush's first-term Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, as Obama's running mate. The search committee, now led by Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, raised Veneman's name — among others — in discussions with members of Congress, two Democrats familiar...

<p>TSN 17.11, +0.13, +0.8%) dropped 8% to close at $16.98 Tuesday following a report that 15,000 chickens in a northwest Arkansas plant had tested positive for a mild strain of avian influenza.</p> <p>U.S. Dept. of Agriculture spokeswoman Angie Harless said the National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the presence Sunday of avian influenza antibodies in Tyson chickens, indicating that they had a mild strain of avian flu.</p>

USDA report says climate change affecting crops, livestock By JUDITH KOHLER | Associated Press Writer 12:06 AM CDT, May 28, 2008 Article tools DENVER - Climate change is increasing the risk of U.S. crop failures, depleting the nation's water resources and contributing to outbreaks of invasive species and insects, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report released Tuesday. Those and other problems for the U.S. livestock and forestry industries will persist for at least the next 25 years, said the report compiled by 38 scientists

I may have neglected NAIS in recent months, but the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund hasn’t. Shortly after I received the reminder, the FTCLDF made its first foray beyond raw milk cases, announcing its intention to file a major suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Department of Agriculture over enforcement of NAIS in Michigan. USDA and MDA have cooperated over the last few years to make Michigan in effect a prototype for the full NAIS program of premises and animal regisration. I wrote extensively about the MDA’s grueling effort to implement NAIS in Michigan via its campaign...

WATERBURY -- The first thing that Hill Street brings to mind probably isn't farming, but in a small way, Sue Pronovost is hoping to change that image, one vacant lot at a time. "This is our crown jewel," said Pronovost, director of Brass City Harvest, a newly organized agency focusing on growing food in the inner city. Pronovost, whose specialty is grant writing, became a convert to urban agriculture several years ago and is now trying to bring the city up to speed on a movement that has been having a big impact in tough urban areas. With the Crownbrook...

WASHINGTON -- The head of the union that represents 6,000 federal food inspectors told a congressional committee Thursday that the Agriculture Department tried to intimidate him and other employees who reported violations of regulations, an allegation denied by the agency. Union chief Stan Painter said that following a mad cow disease scare in 2003, he told superiors that new food safety regulations for slaughtered cattle were not being uniformly enforced. Painter said he was told to drop the matter, and when he didn't, was grilled by department officials and then placed on disciplinary investigative status. Painter said he was eventually...

WASHINGTON -- The only U.S. facility allowed to research the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease experienced several accidents with the feared virus, the Bush administration acknowledged Friday. A 1978 release of the virus into cattle holding pens on Plum Island, N.Y., triggered new safety procedures. While that incident was previously known, the Homeland Security Department told a House committee there were other accidents inside the government's laboratory. The accidents are significant because the administration is likely to move foot-and-mouth research from the remote island to one of five sites on the U.S. mainland near livestock herds. This has raised concerns about...