The monthly costs for the thrifty plan for a family of four participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is increasing by 31% over the last three years.
The United States Department of Agriculture stated the food stamp benefit amounts are based every year upon the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan.
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Farmers from the East Palestine region met with officials from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) on Thursday to discuss the potential effects of last month’s Norfolk Southern hazardous train crash on their crops and livestock.
The conference was held in order to address any worries local farmers might have regarding the forthcoming planting season, even though the ODA has stated it has no reason to believe crops cultivated in the area would be harmful.
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On Wednesday, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the department is investing $1.4 billion to help a diverse rural America keep resources and wealth right at home through job training, business expansion, and technical assistance.
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This week’s Golden Horseshoe goes to the USDA for $50 million in “climate smart agriculture” grants the department will award preferentially in the name of “racial equity and justice” to “socially disadvantaged” racial and ethnic classes of farmers and ranchers, as well as to “historically underserved producers.”
Despite a recent court ruling against the department for a race-based loan forgiveness program, the USDA posted notice on Aug. 25 of a funding opportunity for a new program involving such preferences, Conservation Outreach: Racial Equity and Justice Conservation Cooperative Agreements.”
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The White House hasn’t addressed the court-ordered injunctions against President Joe Biden’s loan forgiveness program that excludes white farmers.  The latest ruling came late last week through a Tennessee farmer’s challenge to the program’s alleged racial discrimination. United States District Judge Thomas Anderson agreed with the Tennessee farmer’s take on the program’s discriminatory practices, ruling the program unconstitutional and issuing a nationwide injunction to halt it on Thursday in the case, Holman v. Vilsack et al. Another federal judge in Wisconsin issued a similar ruling last month, and a little over two weeks ago a federal judge in a similar Florida case offered a concurring ruling.Â
The Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) and Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) brought the case with the latest ruling on behalf of Tennessee farmer Rob Holman. According to the Biden Administration’s loan forgiveness program in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Holman was ineligible for forgiveness on his farm loans solely because he’s white. According to the law, only “socially disadvantaged groups” were eligible for the program granting up to 120 percent of loan forgiveness, re-application for government backed loans, and a cash gift of 20 percent of the loan’s value to cover any income tax liability. Socially disadvantaged groups were defined as those with members who faced racial or ethnic prejudice.
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