"The preliminary class action settlement disclosed on Wednesday is the largest in more than seven years of antitrust litigation by the consumers against pork producers" www.nbcnews.com/business/con...

🗞️The government shutdown is hurting farmers nationwide. Vital USDA services (loans, disaster aid, conservation funding, & food safety) are halted or at risk. Congress & the President must act now. Farmers can’t wait! Read NSAC's press comment: sustainableagriculture.net/blog/comment...

I raise a few questions about McDonald's commitment to regen ag here. @nsac-sustainableag.bsky.social puts this initiative in context, including major cuts to #USDA staff managing programs that could help farmers. Great reporting by @clairek.bsky.social www.foodandpower.net/latest/mcdon...

While a U.S. government shutdown looms, Congress has once again failed to pass a new Farm Bill, jeopardizing crucial programs that farmers and rural communities depend on. Read our statement: www.iatp.org/2018-farm-bi...

It was a total blast running into the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy @iatp.bsky.social at #FarmAid in Minneapolis! Even better!? Learning about all their #FarmToSchool work in the Homegrown Village 🌱 www.iatp.org/farm-school-... @farmaid.org

Minnesota farmer Hannah Bernhardt explains how seeing other young farmers using sustainable agriculture practices inspires her to stay on the land growing for the future. Moses Momanyi talks about creating co-ops to grow and sell food together:

A drop in land values has played a role in past farm crises. "Overall, the report showed a 12-month drop of 2.2% in farmland values across the state." www.americanfarmlandowner.com/post/new-rep...

It seems clear that one of the goals of the Trump Admin is to dismantle large parts of the USDA. This will make it harder for farmers to access programs, including conservation programs that protect water, soil, and the climate. sustainableagriculture.net/blog/usda-st...

Trump's comments today on directing some tariff revenues to farmers begs the question: "how?" 1/4

Cattle are particularly vulnerable to drought. Despite an historically small cattle herd, policymakers still not considering the implications. "It's not gonna be easier to do what we do for a living. It will only get harder and harder." www.cbsnews.com/news/vermont...

"The divergence between US trade lanes and global shipping patterns represents a fundamental shift in global trade dynamics." gcaptain.com/tariffs-spli...

“I get the feeling that after fall harvest, if farmers aren’t able to pay their bills at the co-op, or pay their fertilizer bill, spray bill, seed bill, that kind of thing, then that means they’re struggling to put food on the table, too.” investigatemidwest.org/2025/09/24/t...

So just to be clear: The US is propping up Argentina’s economy, and now Argentina can eliminate its export taxes, so it can sell tons of soybeans to China, so China isn’t forced to buy soybeans from the US, so the US can pay subsidies to keep our farmers solvent. www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Rich people feel pretty good right now. But those making less than $100k and especially those under $50k have nosedived since January. Chart by @tracyalloway.bsky.social

Someone had to say it

NFFC president Jim Goodman was interviewed by the Canadian press recently! "Wisconsin produces more milk than all of Canada. If we did get rid of your supply management and started shipping milk, in a few years, your market would still be flooded, and we wouldn’t be any better off, nor would you.”

Identical commodities can be produced in very different ways, with vastly different impacts on workers and the environment. Please join our Oct. 1 webinar to learn why trade agreements exclude processing & production methods, and how new approaches could change that. www.iatp.org/event/ppms-w...

1/ Today's Farm Policy News Summary covers how "#Chinese buyers booked at least 10 cargoes of #Argentine #soybeans after Buenos Aires on Monday scrapped grain export taxes, three traders said on Tuesday, dealing another setback to U.S. farmers." farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/09/chin...

As the European Commission turns its attention to stubborn GHG emissions from the EU’s food & agriculture sector, they are exploring three potential policy options, with a focus on pricing agriculture emissions and using market mechanisms to encourage climate action. www.iatp.org/eu-agricultu...

This is just flat out wrong. While the Trump Administration is taking steps to hind information about food insecurity in America, ignorance is not an excuse for inaction. People have a fundamental #RightToFood

Brazil Govt intervenes on JBS worker case. "Typically, such a ruling would result in the inclusion of the company in a list of employers responsible for submitting workers to slavery-like conditions, known as "the dirty list" www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Screwworm found just 70 miles from US border, working north. Could be highly damaging to concentrated US cattle industry www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...

ICYMI, on Saturday the USDA cancelled its food security survey. I'm certain there are depths of stupidity left to plumb, but ignorance about hunger has yet to be proven a path to ending it.

We are grateful for everyone who is coming out today to support family farmers! 🙌 #FarmAid40

As part of our exhibition for the Farm Aid Homegrown Village this Saturday at #farmaid40, we put together interactive and educational games to introduce visitors to our work and explore some of the unpredictable challenges farmers face: www.iatp.org/farmer-chall...

A former student of mine was laid off earlier this year from a major carbon market company. Apparently it had been hemoraging money for years, because carbon markets, especially those based on forests, have been contracting.

We are thrilled to attend #FarmAid2025 and celebrate their 40th Anniversary! 🥳 For four decades, @farmaid.org   has been a powerful ally to the independent farmers, ranchers and fishers that fill our plates. We look forward to the music and to reconnecting with community!  #NFFCFarmAid

Glad that the work of one of our Hotline Operators was highlighted in this new article!

Problems this Trump Admin is creating for farmers are more severe than first. Costs are increasing for farmers of all types and sizes. Any trade aid program should be much broader. Loss of some export markets may not be temporary. Fear is land prices will drop. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Minnesota reports first H5N1 detection in poultry since April The USDA also reported an H5 detection in a raccoon in Minnesota. www.cidrap.umn.edu/a...

🚨 Rural America is up against an uncertain future — and today's USDA Rural Development hearing made that crystal clear. www.youtube.com/watc... Xochitl Torres Small gave testimony that cut straight to the heart of what's at stake: "Rural development isn't about programs. It's about people." 1/7

A HUGE thanks to the 200+ groups who signed our letter to @schumer.senate.gov urging him to reject any funding bill without a ban on partisan rescissions – and to everyone who demanded Congress hold the line. Let’s keep the pressure on to ensure this language makes it into law!

There's the challenge of finding the money, (from taxes paid by US companies to import?), and then there's the implementation. The trade aid program was poorly designed and managed during the first Trump Admin, favoring some farmers and leaving others out. Now with less USDA staff to admin...

“They have an obligation, a rock solid obligation, to collect this information. What the Trump administration is doing is, full stop, a violation of international law.” | grist.org/internationa...

Food banks across the country are experiencing high volume as prices for groceries rise. @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social reports. prospect.org/health/2025-...

"Farm Aid 40 comes to Minneapolis this week. It is more than a celebration of music and family farms. It is also a reminder that for the farmers who fuel our economy, enliven our communities and feed our state, these are daunting days...” Learn more:

Grocery prices are up while the jobs market is stagnating. More hardship for working families due to the Trump administration’s economic and trade policies.

"the confined space the workers were in was an underground manure pit, a space where decomposing manure produces gases that can be hazardous." www.cpr.org/2025/08/29/c...

We all need to get on board with the AI / data center frenzy because we're in a high-stakes race with China for AI domination, right? But wait, Trump just agreed to send high-end chips to a firm controlled by UAE's Sheikh Tahnoon, ignoring national security experts' concerns about leakage to China.

A true giant in the sustainable ag world, both as a farmer and thinker. Led the Leopold Ctr on Sust Ag for many years.

This "crisis" has been a slow train coming since Trump took office. China has solidified its supply from Brazil & built its soy reserve. Congress passively watched. I had not known about Bessent's considerable farmland ownership in ND, violating his ethics agreement. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/b...

Huge congrats to the workers of @teamsters.bsky.social Local 320 on their big win. Proof again that workers win when they stand together. Thanks too to @farmaid.org, Willie Nelson, farmers & community for supporting labor and holding firm. Proof again that standing in solidarity with workers works.

Starting Tuesday, 9/16, @farmaid.org and several UMN departments are collaborating on an amazing line-up of film screenings, discussions, and musical events at and near the University of Minnesota. Most are free and all are open to the public. Check out and share the list here:

IATP is excited to be part of Farm Aid next week — if the festival can take place. We support Farm Aid's stance defending the rights of workers and hope the University of Minnesota comes to the bargaining table and the Farm Aid concert can go forward.

Statement from Farm Aid on the 40th anniversary festival: For nearly 40 years, Farm Aid has stood alongside family farmers, working people, and communities to build a more just and sustainable food system.

ICE sets up check points on road leading to global meat giant JBS's Pilgrim's Pride poultry plant in Alabama. An estimated 28 people detained. www.al.com/news/2025/09...

The Trump Admin's ties to big oil are considerable (including with the Ag Sec), here flexing over the corn lobby.

Below cost grains have been the norm, and tied to Farm Bill design to encourage over-production of a few crops. The below cost crops act as an indirect subsidy for the factory farm system that supplies big meat/poultry & processed food companies. investigatemidwest.org/2025/09/09/u...