Kentucky

Smithfield Foods has donated 35,000 pounds of food, equal to 140,000 servings, to help feed victims of the severe winter weather that recently engulfed Eastern Kentucky.  Smithfield delivered the food products to Mercy Chefs, which is currently stationed in Hazel Green, Kentucky, to provide disaster relief for local residents.   ...

Last week, the House and Senate each passed the Keep Kids Fed Act, but the bill had to return to the House because the Senate version was slightly different.  The Hagstrom Report said the House passed the Senate’s version of the bill that requires the re-establishment of the reduced price category that Rand Paul of Kentucky insisted on including in the Senate version. The agreeme...

Despite wild weather in the Midwest and Southeastern U.S. and growing tensions with Russia and China, coronavirus remains the top issue for oil investors. Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy said the Omicron variety has had the attention of the markets for roughly two weeks, but he noted investors are not as concerned about this new variety as they once were ...

Earlier this week, the USDA announced investments to modernize and improve rural electric grids through 11 projects under the Electric Loan Program. The funding will benefit 460,000 rural residents and businesses in 7 Arizona, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia ...

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Board of Directors just adopted a new strategic plan to guide the association for 2020-25. NASDA president-elect and Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles chaired the 14-person strategic plan working group comprised of NASDA members, saying the new strategic plan “will guide us as state agricultural officials as we engage man

Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO of Alltech, much like many farmers and agribusiness companies began early on seeking information on how the pandemic will impact the industry, and how the company should respond. After discovering how helpful their resources could be to the entire food supply chain, Alltech published a special video series online ...

USDA continues to expand its SNAP online pilot program with the addition of Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas "We’ve expanded new flexibilities innovative programs to make sure Americans across the country have access to safe and nutritious food during this national emergency," said Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue. ...

The FDA’s uncertainty over how to regulate the hemp industry is causing challenges that some companies can’t overcome.  Warning letters to companies for selling products illegally has diminished big companies’ interest in hemp food products and made it difficult for processors to obtain working capital.   Steven Bevan, pre...

Multiple state cattlemen’s organizations from major beef producing regions have partnered together to form U.S. CattleTrace, a disease traceability initiative.  The goal is to develop a national infrastructure for disease traceability and encourage private industry’s use of the infrastructure for individualized management practices.  The new U.S. C...

Last week, Dan Newhouse joined two other Republican representatives talking about the importance of passing USMCA.  Newhouse, Kentucky’s James Comer and Tennessee’s John Rose penned a joint op-ed in The Hill to discuss how important the updated NAFTA is to the American economy.   In the lette...