US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Biden Climate Plan Looks For Buy-in From Farmers Who Are Often Skeptical About Global Warming

Inside Climate News discusses Biden Climate Plan Looks For Buy-in From Farmers Who Are Often Skeptical About Global Warming. The administration has options to cut emissions even if a Republican-led Senate opposes climate-focused agriculture policies.

When the incoming Biden administration released its policy roadmap in November, it was clear that tackling climate change would be a top priority and agriculture will be a key part of a broad, cross-agency effort.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the administration said, “has not historically received the sustained political attention of other agencies that play a role in climate policy.” But it would become “a lynchpin of the next Administration’s climate strategy.”

The incoming administration’s clear focus on climate change was remarkable. That it would enlist the country’s farms and farmers—who are largely skeptical of climate change—in the battle was even more so.

Studies: Increased COVID-19 Transmission Linked To Poultry Plants Allowed To Operate Faster

Ohio Valley Resource discusses Study Links Increased COVID-19 Transmission To Poultry Plants Allowed To Operate Faster.

A study published Thursday in a prestigious scientific journal links significant increases in COVID-19 transmission rates to meatpacking plants, especially those facilities that the federal government has allowed to speed up processing lines. Researchers found evidence that linked meatpacking plants to a “high potential for community spread” in the surrounding areas. The findings have implications for the Ohio Valley, where Tyson Foods plants in western Kentucky and southern Indiana received waivers this spring to increase work line speed even as dozens of workers were falling ill to the virus.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, found that counties with poultry processing plants that received line speed waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have double the rate of COVID-19 cases compared to counties with poultry plants that did not receive these waivers. Researchers found an even stronger connection with waivers given to processing plants this year.

A report from ProPublica earlier this year revealed through emails how meatpacking companies fought with local health agencies over measures to reduce COVID-19 spread, including a health department leader in western Kentucky worrying about reports of plant management forcing symptomatic employees to continue working.

A Warming Planet Makes Northeastern Forests More Susceptible to Western-Style Wildfires

Inside Climate News discusses how A Warming Planet Makes Northeastern Forests More Susceptible to Western-Style Wildfires. “It’s easy in the Northeast to think that we don’t have anything to worry about, but it’s important for us to remember that these things can happen here.”

In April 2019, 11,000 acres of the New Jersey Pine Barrens burned after dry and windy conditions turned a seemingly innocent bonfire into an inferno.

The fire, which spewed clouds of orange-tinged smoke so far north that New Yorkers could smell it, sent a powerful reminder of the ecosystem’s vulnerability in a warming world—a reality with which many in the Northeast are newly coming to terms. The Pinelands National Reserve, as its website notes, is “the largest forested area on the Eastern Seaboard between Maine and the Florida Everglades.”

In September, many East Coast residents found themselves shocked by milky skies looming overhead after rampant West Coast fires blew smoke thousands of miles across the country.

The smoke remained at an altitude of 10,000 to 20,000 feet, keeping those on the ground safe from the particulate pollution suffered by West Coast residents—for the time being.

The video origin of the myth that global warming is good for agriculture

Yale Climate Connections discusses the video origin of the myth that global warming is good for agriculture. Two ’90s-era coal-funded videos on CO2 featured government scientists who say their comments were misleadingly edited. How it all happened.

Misinformation is at the root of many scientific controversies, and fighting it can feel like a losing battle. But one effective method is to expose the mechanics of misinformation, to show tactics and deceptive processes in broad daylight.

And learning from the past can be key to combating persistent misinformation campaigns currently and, no doubt, again in the future. “Those who ignore history,” writer and philosopher George Santayana taught us, “are bound to repeat it.”

A pair of widely circulated climate misinformation videos from the 90s – “The Greening of Planet Earth,” and “The Greening of Planet Earth Continues” – were funded by the benignly named Greening Earth Society, whose membership consisted of coal interests. Featured in the video were U.S. government civil service scientists who had no idea they would land in the midst of a pro-pollution/pro-CO2 narrative. Special interests supporting use of fossil fuels used the inclusion of the scientists, which seemed to give the video credibility, to cast doubt on the idea that climate change would harm people and ecosystems.

Study: Raising Nature on Florida Ranchlands

Biographic discusses raising nature on Florida ranchlands. “Ranchers vs Environmentalists” is a longstanding trope. But in the Sunshine State, ranching just may be the last, best hope for ecological salvation.

Blackbeard’s Ranch in southwestern Florida is hardly classic cattle-rustling terrain. Rumbling across his land in a swamp buggy, Jim Strickland steers past alligators and maneuvers through a dense mix of pines and saw palmettos. Cabbage palms soar in the distance. Strickland points out threatened sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis), crested caracaras (Caracara cheriway), wetlands he restored to help improve drinking water, and gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) thriving after he burned invasive exotic plant species. Eventually, we happen upon the first cow. He grins proudly as he tells of finding black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) tracks in the sandy soil, watching the head-bobbing antics of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia), and searching hopefully for a glimpse of his “white whale,” the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi).

Priddy estimates that her operation loses more than $20,000 worth of calves each year to panthers. A 2015 study, which included Priddy’s operation, found that ranches lose roughly 5 percent of their calves to panther predation.

While agricultural lands get the lion’s share of blame, researchers have also identified septic tanks as an overlooked source of nitrogen and phosphorous.

Critical Food and Farm Rules Have Been Rolled Back Amid Pandemic

CivilEats discusses Critical Food and Farm Rules Have Been Rolled Back Amid Pandemic. Inspection suspensions, enforcement freezes, and rule rollbacks by the EPA, USDA, and the FDA could have dire impacts on the food system.

While the coronavirus pandemic claims more lives and precious resources throughout the U.S., the federal government has been suspending regulations, canceling inspections, and rolling back regulations that experts warn could significantly impact the country’s food system.

Much of the action has centered around the three agencies that oversee the nation’s food safety net and regulate pollution from industrial farms: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). As the agencies have put on hold rules meant to prevent foodborne illnesses and industrial pollution, experts worry that some companies may take advantage of the lull and do less to protect public health and the environment.

“The administration has stepped away from its responsibility and empowered regulated industries to take charge and do as they please,” said Hannah Connor, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Reports: Cornucopia (Organic)

Cornucopia issues a newsletter

Cornucopia encourages consumers seeking the most ethically raised poultry to know their farmer. Our Organic Poultry Scorecard and DIY guide empower consumers to find the very best poultry options for their families. For more information, read our Organic Poultry Report.

In the meantime, Cornucopia’s Organic Dairy Scorecard helps consumers identify authentic organic farmers whose cattle truly graze on pasture. Grazing animals on healthy organic pasture, rather than in feedlots, can help steward soil health, sequester carbon, and protect our waterways.

A coalition of organic farmers, certifiers, and NGOs recently sued the USDA for denying a 2019 petition to prohibit hydroponic operations from organic certification. Plaintiffs include the Center for Food Safety (CFS), OneCert, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and some of the longest-standing organic farms in the US: Swanton Berry Farm, Full Belly Farm, Durst Organic Growers, Terra Firma Farm, Jacobs Farm del Cabo, and Long Wind Farm.

While the threat to organic family-scale farming has dramatically increased over the last two decades, Ikerd sees new hope for transformational change. As corporate interests continue to find new ways to tighten their grip, Ikerd’s perspective reminds us what’s on our side: a growing body of research supporting the wisdom of regenerative organic agriculture and an increasingly passionate chorus of farmers and consumers. Use Cornucopia’s scorecards to make your food purchases count!

USDA to unveil plan to cut farms’ environmental impact in half by 2050

Politico discusses how USDA will unveil a plan to cut farms’ environmental impact in half by 2050. The plan won’t mention climate change but will focus on areas like research and conservation, sources told POLITICO.

The Agriculture Department is preparing to announce on Thursday a goal to cut farming’s environmental footprint in half by 2050 while still drastically increasing the sector’s productivity, three sources briefed on the plan told POLITICO.

The targets are part of a new department-wide sustainability initiative, which Secretary Sonny Perdue will outline during a speech at USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum in Arlington, Va.

Report: USDA once hid climate reports. Now adaptation is a priority

E&E News article discusses how the USDA, who once hid climate reports, is now preaching adaptation to climate change as a priority.

griculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will allow agency scientists to study how U.S. farmers are responding to climate change — a notable departure from the Trump administration’s history of squelching climate science through budget cuts and the suppression of scientific reports.

The recently released “USDA Science Blueprint” identifies climate adaptation as one of five focus areas the agency will pursue between 2020 and 2025. It includes 26 objectives, strategies and evidence-building activities around climate change, divided under two broad headings: landscape-scale conservation and management, and climate research and resiliency.

“We are committed to putting science to work for the American public,” Scott Hutchins, head of USDA’s research, education and economics mission area, said in a statement. “We will always strive for scientific excellence and integrity in support of America’s agriculture.”

The decision is notable given Perdue’s record of squashing scientific reports on climate change. Congressional Democrats last year demanded answers after a Politico investigation found that Perdue had released only two of 45 recent agency studies on global warming (E&E Daily, June 26, 2019).

The suppressed research included one study into whether rice loses vitamins under elevated carbon conditions and another that warned farmers and ranchers about declining quality of forage grasses due to warming.

2019 was a brutal year for American farmers

This Vox article discusses why 2019 was a brutal year for American farmers. Record flooding, a delayed harvest, and a trade war with China are hammering US agriculture this year.

US farmers have taken a particularly harsh beating this year from a one-two punch of nasty flooding exacerbated by climate change and a trade war with China.

Severe floods spurred by record rainfall soaked the southeast and the Midwest this summer, delaying plantings of corn and soy crops. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that the 12-month period ending in May of this year was the wettest 12 months on record in the United States. (NOAA’s full climate and weather assessment for 2019 will be available in January.) Flooding on the Mississippi River this year also set records for how long it lasted in several locations.

In August, the US Department of Agriculture reported that farmers weren’t able to plant more than 19.4 million acres of cropland in 2019, the most since reporting began in 2007. Most of this area was spread across 12 states in the Midwest and Great Plains.