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Agriculture

USDA invests $80 million to expand timber markets, protect forests

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently announced the U.S. Forest Service is awarding $80 million in Wood Innovation Grants to spur wood products manufacturing, expand active forest management, and accelerate energy innovation across America’s timber-producing communities. “The United States is blessed with a bounty of natural resources that we must properly manage to sustain our future economy and boost rural communities. Proper forest use and management lowers our reliance on foreign products and is inherently aligned with President Trump’s America ...

USDA launches new plan to bolster meat and poultry safety

ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a comprehensive plan to bolster USDA’s efforts to combat foodborne illness July 15 at the opening of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new, modernized Midwestern Food Safety Laboratory. The plan better positions USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which is responsible for ensuring meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, and properly labeled, to protect the nation’s food supply. FSIS will continue to work in close collaboration with partners like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ...

USDA invests $80 million to expand timber markets, protect forests

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently announced the U.S. Forest Service is awarding $80 million in Wood Innovation Grants to spur wood products manufacturing, expand active forest management, and accelerate energy innovation across America’s timber-producing communities. “The United States is blessed with a bounty of natural resources that we must properly manage to sustain our future economy and boost rural communities. Proper forest use and management lowers our reliance on foreign products and is inherently aligned with President Trump’s America ...

Urban Agriculture Tour continues in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and Labor and Industry Secretary Nancy A. Walker continued the Shapiro Administration’s 2025 Urban Agriculture Tour in Philadelphia in July. The tour stopped at Sankofa Farm at Bartram’s Garden, where investments under Governor Josh Shapiro’s leadership are feeding the future of Philadelphia neighborhoods through career training for young adults. “Young people across Pennsylvania are receiving priceless life skills, confidence, and in some cases, starting their careers debt-free, with stellar credentials and ...

Penn State Extension to offer arborist workshop in September

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State Extension will offer a four-day workshop designed to increase working tree knowledge and prepare participants for the International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist exam. The “Arborist Short Course” workshop is an in-person course aimed at arborists and other tree workers, landscape contractors, municipal workers, landscape architects, and park and grounds maintenance staff, but is open to all who wish to attend. Organizers point out that while the course provides good preparation for the arborist certification exam, the exam is not ...

Rollins defends farm security

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins recently announced continued actions to protect American agriculture. This follows Tuesday’s announcement of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Farm Security Action Plan. As part of this latest suite of actions, Secretary Rollins released a Foreign Farm Land Purchases map that is searchable by country, launched a new web portal to report violations of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding related to the implementation of the Committee on ...