HALSTAD, MINN. (KVRR) – Local organic farmers and distributors are facing new pressures as tariffs and funding cuts have led to growing uncertainty. Hugh’s Gardens, LLC in Halstad, Minnesota has been washing, storing, and marketing organic potatoes from Red River Valley farmers since the late 80’s. They work with many distributors, as well as food banks and public school systems…
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KVRR) — U.S. Department of Agriculture has released $1 billion in disaster relief for livestock producers impacted by wildfire or drought in 2023 or 2024. The Emergency Livestock Relief Program funding comes as part of the $21 billion in weather-related assistance include in the year-end legislation passed by Congress in December. It’s the first of two assistance programs…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Since launching in 2021, 7,900 food banks, food pantries, and communities in the U.S. have purchased food through two programs available through the USDA, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food for Schools. But now those programs are being canceled. “We have received about a million dollars through that program over the…
FARGO (KVRR-KFGO) – A former North Dakota USDA Agriculture Research Services employee who was let go from the agency after mass layoffs of probationary federal employees by the Trump Administration was devastated to find out they lost their job. The former employee, who does not want to be identified, was notified by email along with around 800 other ARS employees….
FARGO — You might have sticker shock the next time you’re in the egg section of your local grocery store. Area grocery stores currently have egg prices at around $6 per dozen. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the biggest cause for the rise in egg prices is due to the avian influenza outbreaks that have been causing many producers to…
Warehouse worker Robert Paschal stocks a cooler with fresh produce at the Food Distribution Program at Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Nov. 6, 2018. (Photo by Preston Keres/U.S. Department of Agriculture)WASHINGTON (North Dakota Monitor) — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack apologized to tribal communities this week for delays in shipments and delivery of expired food during a tense congressional hearing…
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of senators is demanding immediate action from USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsak after several tribal nations reported that a federal food distribution program they rely on has not fulfilled orders for months, and in some cases has delivered expired food. Last spring, the USDA consolidated from two contractors to one for deliveries of its Food Distribution…
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KVRR) — Red Lake Nation’s Red Lake, Inc. will be participating in a trade mission to New Delhi, India at the end of the month. Red Lake is one of nearly four dozen businesses and organizations that will join USDA Under Secretary Alexis Taylor on the mission. They will be the only representative from a Native or Tribal…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) – The University of North Dakota was awarded a multi-million dollar contract from the U.S. Army to develop an innovative Contamination and Sanitation Inspection system. The contract came from the combat capabilities development command for $7.6 million. This will be a collaborative effort between multiple groups. The project aims to design and build handheld inspection scanners…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Nearly 1 million chickens on a Minnesota egg farm will be slaughtered to help limit the spread of the highly contagious bird flu after it was confirmed there, officials said Monday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the virus was found at a farm in Wright County, Minnesota, as well as in three smaller…
