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Agriculture

Urban Agriculture Tour highlights state’s investments in innovation

PITTSBURGH — Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, Education Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe and Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger kicked off the Shapiro Administration’s 2025 Urban Agriculture Tour at Bidwell Training Center in Pittsburgh on July 14, where a high-tech greenhouse expansion funded through a historic Agricultural Innovation Grant is underway, and urban students are training for in-demand culinary and horticulture careers. “Feeding opportunities for growth and economic prosperity in urban neighborhoods feeds all of our futures,” Secretary Redding ...

Voluntary removal of artificial dyes from ice cream applauded

WASHINGTON — While scooping ice cream on the steps of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Headquarters, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins congratulated the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) announcement on the dairy industry’s commitment to eliminate artificial food dyes from their ice creams. This is a voluntary, proactive pledge to eliminate the use of Red 3, Red 40, Green 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 from ice cream and other frozen dairy desserts by 2028. “I appreciate IDFA members for spearheading this new initiative and finding ways to ...

USDA blocks additional specialty sugar imports

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in alignment with Secretary Rollins’ Farmers First policies, announced no additional imports of specialty sugars beyond what U.S. international obligations dictate. “Production agriculture has seen devastating impacts from natural disasters, Biden-era policies, and extraordinary increases to cost of production,” said Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Alexander Vaden. “Worse, a trade landscape that, over the last four years, favored foreign competitors over America’s farmers, ranchers, and producers, lead to what is ...

Trump secures victory for American poultry producers

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced American poultry producers will have greater market access to Namibia, which will now accept fresh, frozen and chilled poultry exports from the United States. The Trump Administration continues to break down non-tariff barriers and defend current market access for farmers and ranchers. “President Trump is renegotiating the status quo of bad trade deals that have left behind American farmers and ranchers for far too long. Our agriculture is the best in the world, and under President Trump’s leadership, we are providing ...

USDA announces phased reopening of southern ports for livestock trade

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently announced risk-based port re-openings for cattle, bison and equines from Mexico beginning in July. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), following extensive collaboration between USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) experts and their counterparts in Mexico to increase New World Screwworm (NWS) surveillance, detection and eradication efforts, began with a phased reopening of the southern ports starting with Douglas, Arizona. Progress has been made in several critical areas since the ports were ...

PestWatch webpage provides updates to vegetable growers

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State Extension now publishes the PestWatch Report, a weekly online report that provides sweet-corn growers with statewide pest trap counts and timely management recommendations. Heather Grab, assistant professor of vegetable entomology in Penn State’s College of ...