Higher interest rates, heavier debt and increased costs have Midwest farmers drawing comparisons to 1980s struggles

   

Photo by Jesse Gardner on Unsplash

In a report for Wisconsin Public Radio, Hope Kirwan reminds listeners of an agricultural downturn of 40 years ago when “a decline in crop prices and farmland values, massive amounts of farm debt and high interest rates led to a landslide of farmers forced to leave the industry. By the end of the decade, an estimated 300,000 farms went bankrupt or foreclosed.”

While the comparison is understandable — a conflict with Iran, higher fuel and fertilizer prices — farmers and economists alike recognize that unlike then, the federal government now provides more safeguards, such as crop insurance. But the difficulties still are threatening, as Kirwan reports, “Profit margins for U.S. corn and soybeans have been negative for the past two years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

The WPR report quotes Seth Meyer, an agriculture economist at the University of Missouri, who says today’s safeguards “won’t keep people from exiting” but can allow “a more orderly result. So folks aren’t knocked out by one bad situation, some of which is out of their control.”

One such situation has California lettuce growers plowing their crops back into the ground. The Wall Street Journal reports that the outbreak of the cyclospora virus, even though it has not been connected to domestic production, has instilled so much fear in consumers that “growers can’t afford the expense of picking and storing crops they might not be able to sell.”

In response to the challenges farmers are facing, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced on Tuesday at Minnesota Farmfest that the federal government is implementing “a series of data modernization payment flexibility, and enhanced crop insurance options to benefit farmers.” In a USDA press release, Rollins said, “We’re modernizing how USDA serves farmers, providing common sense flexibility when it’s needed most, and strengthening the risk management tools producers depend on.”

The Wisconsin farmer quoted in the WPR report said he’s hoping to hang in there until commodity prices begin to rise again. “Everything we do is managing risk, and there’s a cost to that,” he said, while expressing optimism.

The California lettuce farmer quoted by WSJ seemed to agree. “You can’t afford to be downcast very long,” he said. “You better pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep pushing forward.”

New World Screwworm enters the U.S.

NWS infestations were discovered just days apart on calves that grazed
roughly 5.6 miles from each another. (Photo via Hoosier Ag News) 

Despite ongoing efforts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Mexican government and on-the-ground teams along the U.S.-Mexico border, last week the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed two cases of New World screwworm in Texas livestock, reports Jennifer Carrico of Progressive Farmer. In both cases, the flesh-eating blowfly larvae were discovered in young calves about 6 miles apart in Zavala County, Texas.

After the second case was confirmed, Texas Governor Greg Abbott "issued an updated statewide disaster declaration for the NWS infestation," Carrico writes. At a news conference, Abbott encouraged the use of "all state resources to combat the NWS." Additionally, the executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission, Budd Dinges, reminded the public that NWS isn't a threat to consumer food safety but rather poses a threat to livestock production. 

In response to the infestations, APHIS has "deployed mobile response trailers, and sterile fly releases are underway with 2 million aerially and 4 million released on the ground per week," Farm Journal reports. "Movement control zones have been activated at a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) radius around each site."

Both NWS cases were found in Zavala, Texas, 
in red above. (Wikipedia map)

The discovery prompted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to place "temporary restrictions on livestock imports from Texas," reports C.J. Miller of Hoosier Ag Today. "Under the order, cattle, horses and other livestock that originated in Texas or were present in the state within 21 days before entering Canada will be denied entry."

Although the USDA intensified its battle to prevent the NWS from reentering the U.S. including banning Mexican livestock from entering the U.S. beginning in July 2025, some ranchers don't think the government's response was enough.

"On Friday, about 100 ranchers in mud-splattered boots and cowboy hats packed a small high school cafeteria for a Texas Animal Health Commission briefing on screwworm, peppering officials with questions and venting frustration over what they saw ​as a slow federal response,” reports Heather Schlitz of Reuters. 

Even as the USDA works to contain NWS infestations, they are likely to spread throughout the summer months, Miller reports. Prior to last week, the NWS hasn't been found in the U.S. for at least 60 years.

Opinion: SNAP program changes may mean fewer retailers offering healthy food in rural and low-income areas

SNAP changes a may further limit access to healthy food. 
(Photo by Maria Lin Kim, Unsplash)

U.S. retailers will face new rules if they want to continue participating in the Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. "Starting on Nov. 4, 2026, any retailers that accept SNAP benefits from their customers will have to stock a wider variety of food, some of it perishable," writes community health expert Benjamin Chrisinger in his opinion for The Conversation.

The USDA is touting its stricter requirements as a way to make healthier food more available to the roughly 38 million Americans who rely on SNAP for groceries but, as Chrisinger explains, the new rules could hurt overall grocery access because the added expense in complying with USDA changes may lead smaller stores to stop accepting SNAP.

Current USDA rules require all SNAP-participating retailers to sell at least three items in each of four staple food categories, which include dairy, produce, grains and protein. "Under the stricter new rules, all retailers accepting SNAP as payment must sell at least seven kinds of food in each of those four categories," Chrisinger writes. "And they need to offer at least one perishable variety in three of the four."

The stricter rules will not require changes from larger retailers because they already sell a wide variety of items across all USDA staple categories. But small shops and convenience stores, which are often found in rural and low-income areas, may find the changes too expensive.

"A big industry group that represents convenience stores and an anti-hunger organization are both warning that instead of making it easier for low-income people to follow a balanced diet, the new USDA rules might lead many small shops to stop accepting SNAP benefits," Chrisinger writes.

While small stores that now accept SNAP offer convenient options to area residents, getting them to stock healthier food may not happen because grocery items already have razor-thin profit margins and "many smaller retailers are not familiar with how to source and stock healthier food, especially produce," Chrisinger adds. "And many question whether these products will sell."

A USDA miscount of 4.5 million acres of corn is adding to a loss of trust among farmers in federal data

For profit-parched farmers, USDA data report errors can be costly. Farmers already face losses, and many fear they can no longer rely on USDA predictions. (Graph by Lori Hayes, Farm Journal)

After one of its worst corn-harvest predictions "in recent memory," the U.S. Department of Agriculture blamed a lack of farmer survey responses for its miscount. But the steep decline in the number of farmers who returned surveys points to farming communities that may no longer trust the USDA, reports Kevin Draper of The New York Times. "Corn estimates were off by 4.5 million acres last year. A lack of survey responses, not job cuts, led to the miss, the Agriculture Department said."

While a 5% undercount may not seem like much, it may have affected commodity purchases and farm incomes. Draper explains, "Estimates of crop size are some of the most closely read [USDA] reports." Traders use those reports to decide on commodity purchases, which influences the prices farmers receive for their crops. Farmers use the information to decide when to sell their crops for the best price.

But amid deep staffing cuts at the USDA, many farmers worry that its reports are no longer reliable. "The corn miss prompted Farm Journal, an agricultural publication, to ask respondents to its monthly survey whether they remained confident in department data," Draper writes. "Most of the farmers, ranchers and economists polled responded 'no.'"

Because farmers compete in commodity trading markets, the accuracy of USDA data helped them gain a leg up over traders who use sophisticated algorithms to manage their purchases. Shay Foulk, who farms 1,500 acres and runs a seed business near Peoria, Ill., told Draper, "People trade the reports whether the reports are true or not. . . .The farmer just feels they are at a disadvantage if those numbers are inaccurate."

Among the USDA sections where Department of Government Efficiency cut thousands of jobs, the "National Agricultural Statistics Service, which produces crop reports, was one of the hardest-hit divisions; it lost 34% of its staff," Draper reports. NASS used to employ roughly 800 employees. It now has about 500.

Quick hits: USDA plans fertilizer production in U.S.; farmers' 'stops' that aren't seasonal; curiosity builds community

Brooke Rollins

The Department of Agriculture plans to use tariff dollars and trade renegotiation resources to help fertilizer production in the United States. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the "USDA is focused on helping move fertilizer supplies more quickly, but cautioned it will take time for crop nutrient prices to begin falling," reports Kim Chipman of AgriPulse. "Rollins said she hosted a meeting with executives of four top fertilizer companies and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett." The Trump administration hopes to roll out its full plan to move fertilizer production back to the U.S. sometime this week.

The University of Maine's Fort Kent campus will provide dorms,
 a lounge and a cafeteria for recovering teens. (UofM photo)

Just like some adults, preteens and adolescents can end up with severe drug and alcohol addictions that can end in an overdose or many failed recovery attempts. Recovery advocates in the tiny town of Fort Kent, Maine, will "use new funding to try a novel solution to the problem: a public boarding school for high schoolers in recovery," writes Lanan Cohen for The Hechinger Report. The new approach will "focus on abstinence and mental health to help students overcome their substance abuse problems." Educators hope the boarding school structure will allow students time to solidify new choices and coping strategies while remaining in school.

Graphic by A. Dixon, Offrange

It's not a farmers market. It's a farmers "stop," and it's open all year long. Farming advocates hope the concept continues to catch on. "The Argus Farm Stop model is built on a consignment basis with a 70/30 split: Farmers set their own prices and keep 70% of every sale, while Argus retains 30% to cover operating costs," reports Heidi Roth for Offrange. "A café inside each location accounts for roughly a third of sales but about half the profit, effectively subsidizing higher farmer payouts while creating a community hub where farmers can gather, and customers can meet producers." Not all farmer stops have the same elements, but all aim to support local farmers while fostering community spirit.

Musical talent from far-flung places often took center stage at the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. "The festival is rich with rural tradition, pulling in rural musicians from across the states and every continent except Antarctica (as far as I know)," reports Phillip Norman of The Daily Yonder. "I caught an ambient country jam by Setting in the backroom of Boyd’s Jig and Reel Scottish Pub, and hit the Knoxville Art Museum to witness the electric saxophone wizardry of Sam Gendel. . . . Big Ears is a festival for music nerds who are interested not only in how a concert sounds, but also how it reflects the lived experiences of the people making the music."

Beth Howard (Illustration by N. Nichols)

As an activist and community organizer for Appalachia and the broader South, Beth Howard hopes her memoir, Song for a Hard-Hit People: A Memoir of Anti-Racist Solidarity From a Coal Miner’s Daughter, helps readers see Southern differences through a lens of curiosity that they can apply to their daily interactions with other people, writes Nhatt Nichols of Rural Assembly. Howard said, "I think one of the biggest lessons for me when I was learning to organize is the importance of listening and asking really good, open-ended questions." Nichols adds, "Howard advocates for getting out into your community and finding other people who are doing organizing work that resonates with you, and offering to lend a hand, to learn more about your community without centering your own ideas."

Forest Service will close 57 of 77 research facilities. Critics warn closures threaten wildfire research.

Many of the research facilities slated for closure conducted
wildfire research. (Photo via Rocky Mountain Research Station)

As part of its ongoing restructuring plan, the U.S. Forest Service announced it's "closing 57 of its 77 research facilities in 31 states," reports Eric Niiler of The New York Times. Critics say the shake-up threatens wildfire and climate research on forests, just as wildfires are becoming more common and more severe in several parts of the United States.

USFS leadership said the consolidation will streamline research facilities into a main hub in Fort Collins, Colorado, and relocate staff to nearby states. Niiler writes, "But employees said they feared the move would lead many scientists to leave instead." The USDA already announced plans in late March to relocate USFS headquarters and 260 agency employees from Washington to Salt Lake City.

The closures include "six research and development facilities in California, five in Mississippi, four in Michigan and three in Utah," Niiler reports. The agency will also shutter all nine of its regional offices, which "currently manage 154 national forests," Niiler explains. "Some states will have their own offices, and others will be consolidated."

USFS oversees a massive amount of land -- some 193 million acres -- that includes several laboratories and "experimental forests where scientists can monitor the effects of environmental changes over long periods of time," Niiler writes. They also investigate wildfire risks, prevention and how forests recover after a severe wildfire.

Thomas M. Schultz, Jr., the Forest Service chief, told the Times, "Forest Service R&D has produced world-class science for over a century, and that will continue. The consolidation is about organizing the research enterprise more efficiently, not diminishing it."

U.S. Forest Service headquarters will move from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah

Almost 90% of  U.S. Forest System land is in
the West. (Western Ag Network photo) 

The U.S. Forest Service headquarters will move from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of the Trump Administration's continued efforts to shrink the USDA by closing "research facilities in 31 states and concentrating resources in the West, reports Hannah Schoenbaum and Susan Montoya Bryan of The Associated Press. 

The restructuring will move 260 USFS staff positions to Salt Lake City, while 130 positions will stay in Washington. The move is expected to be completed by summer 2027.

Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins said the relocation will help "bring leaders closer to the landscapes they manage and the people who depend on them," AP reports.

While western states encapsulate "nearly 90% of National Forest System land. . . Utah is only the 11th-ranked state for national forest coverage, with about 14,300 square miles," Schoenbaum writes. In contrast, Idaho has roughly 31,875 to 32,000 square miles of NFS land.

According to Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden, Salt Lake City was chosen for its affordability, access to an international airport, and the state’s family-centric reputation, AP reports. "It’s a Democratic-led capital city in a red state with values rooted in the locally headquartered Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church."

Taylor McKinnon, a director of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, expressed concern that the relocation would benefit corporations seeking to mine or drill on public lands.

McKinnon told AP, "National forests belong to all Americans. Our nation’s capital is where federal policy is made and where the Forest Service headquarters belongs.”

California lawmaker launches bill to highlight healthier foods in grocery stores

A California bill would give non-ultraprocessed food a seal and 
premium placement on grocery store shelves. (Unsplash photo)

A California lawmaker is promoting a bill that would give non-ultraprocessed foods a “California Certified” seal of approval and premium grocery shelf space to help educate consumers about which foods are the healthiest, report Nicole Norman and Rachel Bluth of Politico. "The legislation is the latest in a broader war on unhealthy food."

On a federal level, the Food and Drug Administration and USDA continue to tease out a national definition for ultraprocessed food. But California lawmakers created their own ultraprocessed food definition in October 2025, which labels ultraprocessed food as "any food or beverage that contains flavor or color enhancers and that is high in saturated fats, sodium or specific added sugars or sweeteners," Norman and Bluth write.

Educating American consumers about the health risks of ultraprocessed foods and removing them from the national diet are "both popular and bipartisan," Politico reports. "It’s a cause popularized at the federal level by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement."

Unsurprisingly, companies that make ultraprocessed foods are ramping up their opposition to new laws that decrease their market share of U.S. grocery budgets. Norman and Bluth write, "National manufacturers argue that regulatory burdens drive up the price for consumers and that state regulations on ingredients 'risk undermining the system.'"

California's approach, which labels healthy food, is a new twist on the labeling ultraprocessed food debate. Over the past decade, Latin countries have passed laws that require "warning" labels or color-coded nutritional labels on the front of boxes or wrappers. 

In 2024, the FDA began considering requiring food labels that "might flag certain health risks, such as high levels of salt, sugar or saturated fat," The Wall Street Journal reports. According to its website, the FDA is currently "proposing a rule that would require a front-of-package (FOP) nutrition label on most packaged foods to provide accessible, at-a-glance information to help consumers quickly and easily identify how foods can be part of a healthy diet."

Thousands of rural homes could become unaffordable for tenants as Section 515 phases out

Finding affordable rural housing has been a long-term
problem for residents. (Photo via Insight News)

A federal housing program that has supported affordable housing since 1963 is being phased out, leaving "half a million rural homes at risk," writes Brian Y. An, a public policy expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology, for Insight News, which serves the greater Minneapolis area. As Section 515 mortgages get paid off, landowners no longer have to guarantee lower rental costs.

While many Americans may see affordable rents as a more urban problem, finding and affording rental housing in rural areas has also been a long-term challenge, which the USDA sought to mitigate with incentivized loan programs like Section 515.

By offering below-market interest rates, Section 515 attracted private and nonprofit developers to "build and manage residential housing for low-income residents in small towns and rural counties," An explains. "Since its inception, the program has supported the construction of over 533,000 apartments, townhouses and other small, multifamily rental homes."

In 2011, the USDA stopped issuing Section 515 loans, which means the majority of properties built with Section 515 financing will mature by 2045. Once a Section 515 property is paid off, its owners can set their own rents, sell the property or end current home leases. An adds, "Because of this flexibility, a large share of rural affordable housing units could soon be converted to properties rented at market rates."

Rentals owned by nonprofits are the least likely to convert low-rent to market-rate rent. An writes, "Nonprofit-owned buildings. . . are 30% to 40% less likely to convert formerly Section 515 affordable housing into market-rate properties after the owners pay off their loans."

Washington lawmakers are working to address the gradual end to rural housing support through Section 515 rentals. The bipartisan Rural Housing Service Reform Act serves as an example. An explains, "It would modernize USDA rural housing programs and allow certain rental assistance contracts to continue after mortgages mature. As of early 2026, the bill remains under consideration."

'Onerous' reporting requirements prevented many specialty crop farmers from applying for USDA aid

Specialty crop farmers don't grow hundreds of acres of one 
type of plant. (Photo by Zoe Richardson, Unsplash)

Despite the need for an economic boost, many specialty crop farmers chose not to participate in the Department of Agriculture's recent $1 billion Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers program. 

"Small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers are skipping out on federal farm aid, citing onerous reporting requirements they say are not compatible with their farms and may not substantially pay off," reports Rebekah Alvey of Civil Eats.

Although the USDA let smaller-scale farmers know they had until March 13 to complete their acreage reports to apply for assistance, the agency did not inform them when and how the aid would be distributed. Alvey explains, "Without knowing the potential benefits of the assistance, many specialty-crop farmers decided not to submit an acreage report, disqualifying them from the aid."

The current USDA acreage reporting forms are geared toward commodity row-crop farmers, leaving many specialty farmers unsure how to meet the requirements. Minnesota-based farmer Sara George told Civil Eats, "If you have kale, you have to do acreage reporting of your kale. I don’t plant an acre of kale, I plant two rows of kale.”

An average corn farmer is likely to plant thousands of acres, which is far different from the "small, diversified specialty-crop operations [that] grow a range of crops, on a fraction of an acre of land, and sell to a variety of sources," Alvey explains. "Under those conditions, a detailed crop report can be difficult to put together."

Specialty farmers who chose to apply for the ASCF program were told to work with their local Farm Service Agency to resolve reporting questions, but getting help from the FSA proved difficult for some. "George reached out to [her] local FSA offices with questions about the forms," Alvey reports. "But staff seem to have limited information as well and are also new to filing these reports for specialty crops."

A $700 million regenerative farming pilot program may falter without the needed USDA staff and expertise

Clover is a "workhorse" cover crop used in regenerative
farming. (Photo by Veronica White, Unsplash)

Despite a $700 million budget and farmers excited about the program, the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative may have trouble getting off the ground. "The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has lost more than 2,000 employees since January 2025, potentially harming the department’s ability to roll out the initiative," reports Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder.

The initiative was announced last December as a joint effort by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services to help farmers incorporate more regenerative farming practices, such as cover crops and no-till farming.

For the most part, the Trump administration's NRCS layoffs mostly terminated newer or early-career employees, who "are the employees who would have likely helped with the rollout of the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative," Carlson reports. "Without the necessary staffing, the initiative could falter — even though it’s likely to be very popular among farmers."

At its current staffing levels, the NRCS doesn't have enough employees to help farmers through the application and award process, and it may lack personnel with the right expertise, Carlson reports. 

When the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative was announced, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy,Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz issued a shared press release extolling the need for "American farmers [to] adopt practices that improve soil health, enhance water quality, and boost long-term productivity, all while strengthening America’s food and fiber supply."

It's unclear how American farmers can meet those goals without the necessary USDA staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service to support farmers who want to participate in RAI. Carlson adds, "For farmers planning to apply for funds through the initiative, it’s quite possible their questions to the agency will go unanswered with fewer people on the job to assist."

USDA can remediate 'forever chemical' pollution on U.S. farmlands, new study shows

The new report found that the USDA can respond to
PFAS contamination on U.S. farmland. (TNL photo)

The Department of Agriculture has the resources to address PFAS contamination on U.S. farmland, a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine report finds.

The study, which was partially sponsored by the USDA, lists the various tools and remediation planning that can be used to reduce contamination caused by "human-made chemicals that accumulate in the environment and the bodies of humans and animals," which are collectively called "PFAS" or "forever chemicals," reports Shannon Kelleher for The New Lede.

Fertilizer use is one way farmers have unintentionally polluted their soil with forever chemicals. Kelleher explains, "PFAS end up on agricultural lands when farmers apply tainted sewage sludge as a fertilizer, contaminating crops and soil with chemicals linked to certain cancers and other health harms." Forever chemicals can also be added to soil through PFAS-laced pesticides.

The report included a remediation outline and noted that the USDA could leverage its considerable resources to address the farmland PFAS crisis. Researchers suggested the USDA use predictive models, on-site testing and "develop PFAS screening levels for different types of agriculture facilities, soil types and climates," Kelleher reports.

The report also recommends the USDA analyze how forever chemicals interact with different soils and climates to "develop better mechanisms to trap or sequester PFAS, and research ways to minimize the uptake of PFAS in plants and animals," Kelleher writes.

The February Farm Bill draft includes "language that would permit research grants on the agricultural impacts of PFAS in land exposed to firefighting foams, sewage sludge or compost containing the chemicals," Kelleher adds.

First animal case of New World screwworm in 10 years discovered in Florida

An animal wound with New World screwworm eggs,
larvae and an adult. (Photo by Samantha Gibbs, FWS)

The first New World screwworm animal case in 10 years was discovered in Florida earlier this week, prompting farm leaders and state officials to acknowledge that, although current protocols prevented this infected animal from entering the U.S., the noxious pest's reentry may be inevitable.

The blowfly larvae rode in on a horse "from Argentina [that] presented for routine inspection at an import quarantine facility in Florida," report Chris Torres and Joshua Baethge of Farm Progress. Larvae samples collected from a wound during the horse's examinations were "shipped to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Iowa, and it was confirmed that the larvae were New World screwworm."

Sid Miller, Texas agriculture commissioner, said "the detection is proof of the importance of USDA’s import inspection and quarantine protocols," Torres and Baethge write. According to Miller, "Our federal inspection system is working exactly as designed and is an additional biosecurity tool that will protect our industry."

At the annual Lancaster Cattle Feeders Day in late January, Colin Woodall, the CEO for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told fellow cattle producers, "You should be worried about [NWS] because no doubt there will be a market impact." Torres and Baethge add, "Woodall said beef producers should be prepared for an outbreak."

Using millions of sterile male NSW blowfly dispersals, the USDA and Mexican authorities have been trying to get ahead of the pest's travel through Mexico and into the U.S., where it's most likely to cross into Texas. Farm Progress reports, "The USDA also announced a new dispersal area for sterile flies going as far as 50 miles into Texas to stop the insect’s northern spread."

Female screwworm flies most often lay their eggs in the open wounds or scratches of sheep or cattle, but the larvae will feed on the flesh of any warm-blooded animal, which should leave more than cattle producers worried. Torres and Baethge explain, "Miller says screwworms can infest any of the 200 mammal species in Texas. That’s bad news for pet owners, not to mention the state’s multibillion-dollar wildlife industry."

New USDA nutritional guidance changes 30-year-old food triangle and calls for far fewer ultra-processed foods

The inverted nutritional triangle recommends Americans 
eat more dairy than whole grains. (USDA graphic)

The Trump administration rolled out new U.S. dietary guidance this week that "inverts" the 30-year-old food triangle and advises Americans to "limit highly processed foods, such as those high in added sugars and sodium," reports Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post. "The administration [used] a revised pyramid with images of steak, a block of cheese and a carton of whole milk at the top," and whole grains at the bottom.

The guidelines focus on strictly limiting ultra-processed foods, which currently make up more than 50% of the American diet. The overhaul reflects Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opinion that processed foods are major contributors to chronic illnesses, particularly those in children, such as obesity and diabetes.

The recommendations emphasize "eating whole foods — such as fruits and vegetables in their original forms — and foods rich in protein and whole grains." Kennedy told reporters he wants Americans to “Eat real food.”

"Nutrition experts generally praised some of the main changes, such as the move away from processed foods, while a few raised concerns about promoting some fatty foods," Roubein writes. "The American Medical Association praised the dietary guidelines as offering 'clear direction.'"

U.S. nutritional guidance is developed by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture every five years. Its goal is to promote health, and the document is "considered a cornerstone of federal nutrition policy," Roubein explains. "The guidelines influence federal nutrition programs and the foods served in school lunches and to members of the military."

Does SNAP need tweaks to prevent fraud and abuse, or a complete overhaul?

Opinions on the degree of fraud in SNAP vary.
(Adobe Stock photo)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides a lifeline for Americans who struggle to afford enough groceries to survive. The program is critical to rural communities where one in seven rural households relies on SNAP, according to Food Research & Action Center 2025 research.

Despite its importance to millions of Americans, the SNAP system, formally known as food stamps, is considered by the Trump administration to be fraught with fraud and errors that cost American taxpayers millions each year. 

Trump appointees tend to see SNAP fraud as a pervasive problem "perpetrated by organized criminal organizations, individual recipients and retailers willing to break the laws for profit," reports Geoff Mulvihill of The Associated Press. "Some experts agree that SNAP fraud is a major problem."

The sheer size of SNAP spending means taxpayers should expect some losses from errors and fraud. Christopher Bosso, a professor at Northeastern University, who published a book on SNAP, told Mulvihill, "If you’re spending $100 billion on anything, you’re going to have some leakage."

Despite various levels of fraud-prevention and detection investments at the federal and state levels, there are many ways SNAP can be misused. "Organized crime groups put skimmers on EBT readers to get information used to make copies of the benefit cards and steal the allotments of recipients," Mulvihill explains. Crime groups also steal identities and use them to receive benefits. Other times, recipients sell their card benefits.

Mark Haskins and Haywood Talcove, executives at LexisNexis Risk Solutions Government, which helps design fraud-prevention strategies, both "believe fraud costs significantly more than the USDA’s $9 billion estimate," Mulvihill reports. Haskins told AP, "The system is corrupt. It doesn’t need a fix here and there, it needs a complete overhaul."

Researchers and supporters often refer to SNAP fraud as "troublesome," Mulvihill writes. But they don't see program misuse as "massive" enough to require a total overhaul.

Although SNAP fraud data isn't readily available in any public repository where Americans can evaluate it, an April 2025 survey of 1,000 registered U.S. voters commissioned by The Food Industry Association found that 19% of Americans believe that SNAP benefits should be cut due to fraud and abuse, while 21% think people should receive SNAP because they need help. Overall, 64% of respondents had a favorable opinion of SNAP.

Most stakeholders, lawmakers don't support USDA restructuring plan

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Headquarters complex in 
Washington, D.C. (Adobe Stock photo)

After the Department of Agriculture announced in July plans to reorganize and relocate thousands of its Washington, D.C., workers, close its flagship D.C. research facility and create five regional hubs, employees, lawmakers and agriculture stakeholders voiced concern that the consolidations could "lead to a significant brain drain and disruptions to key farmer-support programs," reports Eric Katz of Government Executive. 

The restructuring plans currently include keeping 2,000 USDA employees in Washington, D.C, but the remaining 2,600 people would be offered positions in newly formed USDA hubs in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

The USDA requested public comments via email from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, to which it "received nearly 47,000 responses, most of which were from form letters or part of an organized campaign," Katz writes. "Of the 14,000 remaining messages, 82% expressed a negative sentiment, according to USDA’s analysis of the responses. Just 5% expressed a positive tone."

"Among the most common concerns, USDA said, were for the impacts of reductions in personnel and resources," Katz explains. "'Stakeholders worry that cost-cutting measures will prioritize efficiency over service quality, undermining public trust,' the department said in its analysis."

Lawmakers and commentators criticized the USDA's lack of transparency about its plans."As the department looks to slash regional offices across the country, stakeholders raised concerns about the loss of 'local oversight and expertise,'" Katz reports. "Lawmakers...expressed concern over the potential loss of local input."

Employee unions "cited USDA’s relocation of two offices in 2019 to Kansas City, which resulted in the loss of more than half of their staff and significant drops in productivity," Katz adds. 

Despite the negative feedback, the Trump administration seems unwilling to change course. Katz adds, "Several employees told Government Executive the plan is proceeding full steam ahead."

U.S. sugar farmers take a beating as price per ton tanks

A truck unloads sugar beets. (Red River Valley Sugarbeet 
Growers Association photo)

U.S. soybean and corn farmers aren't the only ones taking a beating in this year's agriculture market. Sugar beet farmers will also see abysmal payments for their record 2025 crop, report Jenny Schlecht and Kjersti Maday of AgWeek.

American Crystal Sugar announced it will pay farmers $43.85 per ton for its record 2025 crop, a "far cry from the $78 it paid last year or the $83.18 it paid for the 2023 crop," Schlecht writes.

The Minnesota-based sugar cooperative explained the lower prices, saying "net sugarbeet payments per ton for 2025 will be far less than payments in recent years due to low sugar prices blamed on sugar dumping by companies that heavily subsidize their sugar crops," AgWeek reports.

Sugar beets are white-rooted.
 (Merriam-Webster drawing)

Sugar beet growers, like other American farmers, have faced high input costs for labor, fertilizer and machinery. They are also grappling with less demand. Demand is down about 4% from a high several years ago, according to the article. Inflation, shifts in the American and even changes in SNAP allowances can all be contributors to less demand.

But Tom Astrup, the president and CEO of American Crystal Sugar, said price worries are the "greatest threat to the sugar industry since Mexican sugar dumping more than a decade ago," Schlecht explains. "The industry has been 'hammered' by the imports of world sugar, which Astrup said the Department of Agriculture has lost control of. That, he said, has led to the highest stocks of sugar in the U.S. in 25 years."

Secretary of Agriculture plans to have all food stamp beneficiaries recertify to receive benefits

Recent SNAP spending peaked around 2020 during the Covid pandemic. (The Conversation graph, from USDA data)

The secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, announced last week that all Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients will be required to recertify to continue receiving benefits. 

Rollins said recertification is needed to help root out fraud and corruption in the SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, reports Grace Yarrow of Politico. 

Rollins told Newsmax that she plans to “have everyone reapply for their benefits, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through . . . food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable and they can’t survive without it.”

The most common types of SNAP fraud include applicants who lie about their living or financial situations to qualify for benefits, enrollees who trade their food benefits for cash and criminals who "skim" EBT cards to steal their benefits.

Rollins did not give a process or timeline for all SNAP beneficiaries to recertify, but she has "teased an announcement of a new plan to overhaul the program in the coming weeks," Yarrow writes.

President Donald Trump maintained that SNAP is intended for people who can't afford the most basic grocery items and are unable to work.

He told Fox News, "SNAP is supposed to be if you’re down and out. . . But people who are able-bodied can do a job — they leave their job because they figure they can pick this up, it’s easier. That’s not the purpose of it.”

Although SNAP spending peaked at $128 billion during the pandemic, U.S. taxpayers still paid $100 billion for the program in 2024, which served roughly 42 million Americans. 

$12 billion aid package for farmers is ready and waiting for federal government shutdown to end

Economic headwinds have left U.S. farmers struggling 
to plan 2026 crops. (Photo by Luke Thornton, Unsplash)

The Trump administration is preparing a $12 billion initial bailout package to help U.S. farmers "harmed by the president’s tariff policies," report Grace Yarrow and Meredith Lee Hill of Politico. 

The federal government shutdown is the one thing holding back the current farmer aid package. Politico reports, "Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told reporters that a Market Facilitation Program — similar to the $28 billion farmer bailout Trump issued during his first-term trade wars — is 'all teed up and good to go.'"

The announced aid comes on the heels of the declared tariff truce between the U.S. and China. According to the article, "Trump secured new commitments from China to purchase U.S. soybeans, sorghum and wood, and to drop retaliatory tariffs on other agricultural products like meat, wheat and dairy."

American farmers have been trying to make a living despite tariff limitations, high labor and machinery costs and low commodity prices. Added economic stressors have made it difficult for farmers to plan 2026 crops.

States warn millions of SNAP and WIC recipients that a continued shutdown will pause November benefits

Area food banks are preparing for a surge in need.
(Adobe Stock photo)

At least 25 states issued benefit gap warnings to the more than 41 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients and nearly 7 million families who receive aid from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC," report Leah Douglas and P.J. Huffstutter of Reuters.

Minerva Delgado, who directs Alliance to End Hunger activities, told Reuters, "Families are going to be hurt by this should it continue, at a time we know families are struggling to make ends meet."

Food banks in states that issued SNAP and WIC warnings are already hard at work to meet increased demand. But some food pantries already face food shortages due to USDA cuts to its food bank support earlier this year.

Potential loss of grocery benefits would disproportionately hurt rural residents, veterans and elderly individuals who tend to be more dependent on SNAP benefits. Additionally, rural food pantries will face significant supply challenges because they rely more heavily on Department of Agriculture programs and have fewer private donors to help them.

According to Reuters, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told NewsNation that SNAP benefits would "go away" without a deal to reopen the government by November.

The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities "estimates that about $5 billion is available in a contingency fund and is calling on the administration to use that for partial benefits in November," reports Geoff Mulvihill of The Associated Press. "Forty-six of the 47 Democrats in the U.S. Senate sent a letter Thursday to Rollins calling on her to release the contingency money."

States that issued verifiable benefit loss warnings include: Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Kentucky, Florida, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia pledged to maintain food aid to recipients despite potential gaps in federal funding.