7 minute read
Ag Insight
USDA’s Forest Service continues research at Mount St. Helens
Just over 40 years ago (May 18, 1980), Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, killing 57 people, destroying hundreds of homes, buildings and other structures, obliterating forests and creating the largest landslide in recorded history.
Ten days after the eruption, researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service flew over the blast area to collect ecological data that would become the foundation of the one of the largest repositories of information about volcanology at any one site.
The research that began then continues today. The return of plants, animals and new ecosystems is being documented and those studies already have revealed extremely diverse habitats and unique biological communities.
With a look to the future, researchers at Mount St. Helens are busy cataloging and sending plant and animal samples to locations across the nation for future scientists to study.
Forty years is barely a wink in geologic time. It’s impossible to predict what knowledge the next 40 or 400 years will bring when scientists have access to new technologies that can’t be imagined today.
Producers eligible for COVID-19 financial help
USDA has announced details of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which will provide up to $16 billion in direct payments to provide relief to America’s farmers and ranchers affected by the pandemic.
In addition to this direct support to farmers and ranchers, USDA’s Farmers-to-Families Food Box program is partnering with regional and local distributors, whose workforces have been hit hard by the closure of many restaurants, hotels and other food service entities. The plan calls for the purchase of $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy and meat for delivery to Americans in need.
Through its Farm Service Agency, USDA was scheduled to begin accepting applications in late May from producers who have suffered losses. According to the initial timetable, applications will be accepted until Aug. 28.
CFAP is designed to provide financial assistance to producers who have suffered a 5% or greater price decline due to COVID-19 and who face additional significant marketing costs due to lower demand, surplus production and disruptions to shipping patterns and the orderly marketing of commodities.
Plans call for the direct financial support to be drawn from two possible funding sources: 1. Appr opriated funding of $9.5 billion provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability
Act to compensate farmers for losses due to price declines that occurred between mid-January 2020 and mid-April 2020. The assistance is for producers of specialty crops shipped from the farm in the designated time period but subsequently spoiled due to loss of marketing channels. 2. The Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act provided $6.5 billion to compensate producers for losses due to on-going market disruptions.
Other details about the aid program include:
• Non-specialty crops eligible for CFAP payments include malting barley, canola, corn, upland cotton, millet, oats, soybeans, sorghum, sunflowers, durum wheat and hard red spring wheat. Wool is also eligible. • Eligible specialty crops include, but are not limited to, almonds, beans, broccoli, sweet corn, lemons, iceberg lettuce, spinach, squash, strawberries and tomatoes. A full list of eligible crops can be found on farmers. gov/cfap. Additional crops may be deemed eligible at a later date. • Livestock eligible for CFAP include cattle, lambs, yearlings and hogs. • Dairy also is eligible. • Payment limit has been set at $250,000 per person or entity for all commodities combined. Applicants who are corporations, limited liability companies or limited partnerships may qualify for additional payment limits where members actively provide personal labor or personal management for the farming operation. Producers will also have to certify they meet the adjusted gross income limitation of $900,000 unless at least 75% or more of their income is derived from farming, ranching or forestry-related activities.
Producers must also be in compliance with
Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation provisions. • Producers can apply for assistance through their local FSA office. The basis on which payments will be computed also is available there and at the farmers.gov/cfap website. • USDA Service Centers are open for business by phone appointment only and field work will continue with appropriate social distancing. While program delivery staff will continue to come into the office, they will be working with producers by phone and using online tools whenever possible. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.
High poverty concentrated in rural areas
Nearly 42 million Americans (13.1% of the U.S. population) lived below the Federal poverty line in 2018.
Just as being poor presents individuals with challenges such as difficulty in achieving food security and housing stability, areas where a large share of the population is poor face additional socioeconomic challenges.
The higher the poverty rate and the longer it endures, the greater the likelihood that associated problems become systemic, affecting both the resident poor and non-poor. For instance, areas of extreme poverty more often lack availability of health care, healthy and affordable food, safe and affordable housing, quality education, and adequate protective service and transportation systems compared with more affluent localities.
Researchers from USDA’s Economic Research Service have identified high and extreme poverty areas by rural (nonmetro) and urban (metro) county designation and have found there were 664 high poverty counties in which an average of 20% or more of the population had lived below the Federal poverty level since 2014.
Most were rural (78.9% — 524 counties) and represented about one of every four rural counties, compared with about one of every 10 urban counties.
Fifteen of the 664 counties were extreme poverty areas, where the poverty rate was 40% or greater. The extreme poverty areas were also persistent poverty counties, with poverty rates of at least 20% over the past 30 years.
In 2018, all of the extreme poverty counties were in rural America and were disproportionately located in regions with above-average populations of racial minorities. In South Dakota, for example, there were six counties where Native Americans made up more than 50% of the population.
Also, in Mississippi, there were four counties with a historically high incidence of poverty among the African American population.
Agreement reached to maintain food processing operations
The USDA and Food and Drug Administration have announced a Memorandum of Understanding to help prevent interruptions at FDA-regulated food facilities, including fruit and vegetable processing, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials consider the action an important preparedness step as peak harvesting seasons approach, and many fruits and vegetables grown across the nation go to freezing and canning operations.
The MOU creates a process for the two agencies to decide on circumstances in which the USDA could exercise its authority under the Defense Production Act with regard to certain domestic food resource facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold foods, as well as to those that grow or harvest foods that fall within the FDA’s jurisdiction.
While the FDA will continue to work with state and local regulators in a collaborative manner, further action under the DPA may be taken if needed to ensure the continuity of the food supply. The goal is to resume or maintain operations while keeping employees safe.
Food, beverage plant employment leads manufacturing sector
The U.S. food and beverage manufacturing sector employs more than 1.7 million people, or just over 1% of all U.S. nonfarm employment, according to a recent tabulation by USDA’s Economic Research Service.
Within the U.S. manufacturing sector, food and beverage manufacturing employees accounted for the largest share of employees (14.6%). In thousands of food and beverage manufacturing plants located throughout the country, these employees were engaged in transforming raw agricultural materials into food pr oducts for intermediate use or final consumption.
Meat and poultr y plants employed the largest share of food and beverage manufacturing workers (29.3%), followed by bakeries (15.5%) and beverage plants (12.2%).
Manufacturing jobs include processing, inspecting, packing, janitorial and guard services, product de velopment and record keeping, as well as nonproduction duties such as sales, delivery, advertising, and clerical and routine office functions.
