USDA

Handy Kennedy, founder of AgriUnity cooperative, feeds his cows on HK Farms earlier this year in Cobbtown, Ga. The AgriUnity cooperative is a group of Black farmers formed to better their chances of economic success.

U.S. Farmers Of Color Were About To Get Loan Forgiveness. Now The Program Is On Hold

2:17pm June 11, 2021

by Joe Hernandez

A new federal program created by the Biden administration to reverse years of economic discrimination against U.S. farmers of color has ground to a halt.

President of the National Black Farmer's Association John Boyd stands in his fields in Baskerville, Va. He says the USDA's relief program is "like the fox watching the hen house."

National

The USDA Is Set To Give Black Farmers Debt Relief. They've Heard That One Before

11:34am June 05, 2021

by Emma Hurt

The U.S. Agriculture Department is sending aid for debt relief to struggling farmers of color beginning this month. But many Black farmers distrust the department after decades of failed promises.

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Health & Safety

NC Gets Approval To Extend Pandemic Food Assistance Program

4:00pm June 03, 2021

by Keri Brown

Education

USDA Extends Free Meals For All Kids During Summer

3:55pm May 24, 2021

by Keri Brown

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is extending waivers that give school districts across the country more flexibility to provide free summer meals for children.

Education

Bill Could Impact How Schools Budget For Child Nutrition Program

8:43am April 06, 2021

by Keri Brown

Rod Bradshaw, pictured in January 2021, says he's the last Black farmer in Hodgeman County, Kan. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked with NPR about debt relief coming for Black farmers.

Black Farmers Have Long Faced Discrimination. New Aid Aims To Right Past Wrongs

5:34pm March 13, 2021

Generations of systemic discrimination have decimated the number of Black farmers in the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked with NPR about new funding for debt relief.

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Union Station and the Kansas City skyline are lit on Feb. 01, 2021 in Kansas City, Mo. In June 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its plan to move two of its research agencies out of Washington, D.C., to the Kansas City area. Rather than m

National

USDA Research Agencies 'Decimated' By Forced Move. Undoing The Damage Won't Be Easy

12:13pm February 02, 2021

by Frank Morris

When the Trump administration moved two of the Agriculture Department's research agencies to Kansas City, many of the experienced employees left. Fixing this will be tricky for President Biden.

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President Trump delivers remarks last week on the Farmers to Families Food Box program at Flavor 1st Growers and Packers in Mills River, N.C.

How Trump's Food Box Initiative Overpaid And Underdelivered

2:24pm September 03, 2020

by Dan Charles

The Trump administration has been buying food from farmers and getting it to food banks. Food banks, however, say the program was not set up to deliver food efficiently.

Education

NC School Districts Scramble As Some Nutrition Waivers Near End

8:58pm August 11, 2020

by Keri Brown

Many state school districts are worried about reaching vulnerable students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals, as buildings remain closed because of COVID-19 concerns.

People load their vehicles with boxes of food at a Los Angeles Regional Food Bank earlier this month in Los Angeles. Food banks across the United States are seeing numbers and people they have never seen before amid unprecedented unemployment from the COV

Health & Safety

Food Banks Get The Love, But SNAP Does More To Fight Hunger

10:39am May 22, 2020

by Dan Charles

The charitable organizations called food banks are getting a lot of attention and donations right now. But they aren't nearly as important or effective as SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

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