USDA Announces Enrollment Period, Payment Rates for Specialty Crops Program

Clint ThompsonGeorgia

By Clint Thompson The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Assistance for Specialty Crops Farmers (ASCF) program will account for $1.625 billion in payments to eligible producers in response to high input prices and market disruptions resulting from unfair trade practices with foreign countries. The program was announced last week and drew praise from industry leaders, including Chris Butts, executive vice …

Cargo ships docked at Saigon port with containers and city skyline

USDA Official: Trade Relationship with Vietnam is Lopsided

Clint ThompsonTrade

By Clint Thompson and Dale Sandlin The U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam was more than $178 billion in 2025. That’s “unacceptable” for President Trump and his administration. More American goods need to be exported to Vietnam, and that includes agricultural crops. In an interview with AgNet Media, Luke Lindberg, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. …

USDA Issues Second Supplemental Disaster Payment to Farmers

Clint ThompsonUSDA

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced last week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is maximizing disaster assistance support for producers by issuing a second Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) payment to eligible producers who have approved program applications for losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has already provided …

USDA Deputy Secretary Discusses Specialty Crop Economic Aid

Clint ThompsonUSDA

By Clint Thompson and Dale Sandlin Amid calls for increased dedicated financial aid for specialty crops, Stephen Vaden, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary, emphasizes that additional appropriations cannot be made possible without congressional approval. In an interview with Dale Sandlin, Ag News Director for Southeast AgNet, Vaden was asked about the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program, which allocated $12 …

USDA Announces Specialty Crop Investment

Clint ThompsonUSDA

(Lansing, MI) — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the availability of more than $275 million in grant funding in FY2026 for the specialty crop industry in the United States through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), and the Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP). Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cuts, …

USDA NASS Report: Most of U.S. Rented Farmland Is Owned by Non-Farmers

Clint ThompsonFlorida

More than two million landowners rented out 348 million acres of farmland, according to the results of the 2024 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey, released this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Of these acres, 79% are owned by non-farming landlords. Non-operating landlords include entities who rent out agricultural land …

Florida Freeze

USDA Applauded for Issuing Disaster Declaration for Florida

Clint ThompsonFlorida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson issued the following statement after U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced a U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster declaration that supports Florida’s agricultural producers impacted by the recent historic freeze events:  “I appreciate President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for always putting America’s farmers first, and for …

USDA Announces Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Impacted by Unfair Market Disruptions

Clint ThompsonUSDA

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing $1 billion in Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) Program assistance for specialty crops and sugar, commodities not covered through the previously announced Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program. These one-time bridge payments will help address market disruptions, elevated input costs, …

USDA Launches Online Portal for Reporting Foreign-Owned Ag Land Transactions

Clint ThompsonUSDA

(Washington, D.C.) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is launching a new online portal to streamline reporting of transactions involving U.S. agricultural land by foreign persons, which can include businesses and governments, under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA). The new online portal is part of a broader effort to strengthen enforcement and protect American farmland …

USDA Advances Farm Security Action Plan to Protect U.S. Farmland, Federal Programs

Clint ThompsonUSDA

(Washington, D.C.) – As committed to under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Farm Security Action Plan (PDF, 1.2 MB) U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins has announced a number of coordinated actions that emphasize American agricultural research and innovation by ensuring ideas stay in America or among our allies, not with hostile nations. These historic actions strengthen …