At an agriculture roundtable in Des Moines, Iowa, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack introduced $115 million in federal funds to assist increase impartial meat and poultry processing capability. The funds can be offered to fifteen companies via the Meat and Poultry Processing Growth Program and Meat and Poultry Middleman Lending Program.
“Whereas American farmers and ranchers have been responding to the demand to supply extra, their communities have struggled to see their share of the advantages,” Vilsack stated. “USDA is dedicated to championing meat and poultry processors, growing competitors and decreasing prices for working households.”
MPPEP was created by the American Rescue Plan Act, handed early within the Biden administration to reply to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has awarded $171 million within the present fiscal yr. MPILP has awarded $186 million this fiscal yr. This week’s awards have been made to companies in Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
Bipartisan invoice fights towards meals system cyberattacks
Representatives Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) and Don Davis (D-N.C.) launched a invoice this week to fight cyberattacks on America’s meals provide. The Congressmen, each members of the Home Agriculture Committee, coauthored the Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act to create “a nationwide cybersecurity community to establish and mitigate cyber vulnerabilities throughout the meals and agriculture trade.”
When saying the laws, the Congressmen famous that agriculture is among the high 10 industries focused by cybercriminals. Meat packers and grain elevators have been compelled to briefly shut down manufacturing and pay thousands and thousands of {dollars} of ransom to hackers from Russia and elsewhere lately. The invoice would create Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Facilities to conduct analysis on cybersecurity programs, develop a safety operations middle for the agriculture sector to research cybersecurity threats, and develop cybersecurity instruments for the agricultural sector.
“Only one cyberattack might cripple our meals provide. Current cyberattacks have shut down meals processing vegetation, focused grain cooperatives throughout harvest, and put our meals provide in danger. Our farmers and producers are susceptible,” Rep. Nunn stated. “The Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act will make the most of sources at our nation’s main agriculture academic establishments, like Iowa State College, to assist higher shield Iowa’s agricultural trade towards nefarious actors.”
Consultant Davis stated, “The bipartisan Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act is essential to defending our meals provide from cyberattacks. With agriculture being a high goal, we should act to safeguard our farmers and the soundness of our meals system.”
New WOTUS rule to be launched in subsequent two months
After struggling a serious loss on the U.S. Supreme Court docket final month within the Sackett v. EPA case, the Biden administration introduced plans to situation a revised Waters of the USA rule by the tip of the summer time. In Sackett, the Court docket dominated in favor of an Idaho couple who had stuffed in lots to construct a home. EPA claimed the land was a wetland and sued the Sacketts, however the court docket dominated 5-4 to pare again federal authorities jurisdiction to solely these waters with a “steady floor connection” to waters of the USA.
Instantly after the Supreme Court docket’s resolution was handed down, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall stated, “The EPA clearly overstepped its authority underneath the Clear Water Act by proscribing non-public property homeowners from creating their land regardless of being removed from the closest navigable water. The justices respect non-public property rights. It is now time for the Biden administration to do the identical and rewrite the Waters of the USA rule. Farmers and ranchers share the objective of defending the sources they’re entrusted with, however they deserve a rule that gives readability and would not require a crew of attorneys to correctly care for his or her land.”
In a ready assertion this week, EPA stated that it’s working with the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers to interpret “waters of the USA” in a fashion “in keeping with the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s Could 25, 2023 resolution.” The businesses dedicated to releasing a revised rule on or earlier than Sept. 1.
