Rollins is taking credit for a Biden administration action.
Biden-Harris Administration Highlights Historic Food System Investments
excerpts:
President Biden has prioritized strengthening America’s food system across every segment of the food supply chain from farm to fork. The Biden-Harris Administration has invested in a food system that is fair, competitive, distributed, and resilient. By taking a whole-of-government approach, the Administration is bringing new revenue to farms and ranches, bolstering local and regional food markets, and supporting workers across the agriculture and food supply chain, while making nutritious food more accessible and affordable for families and ensuring consumers have the information they need to make informed, healthy choices.
Today, the Administration took another significant step to help empower consumers and create a healthier food supply. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule that, if finalized, would require a label on the front of food and beverage packages that indicates if an item is high, medium, or low in added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat. Consumers would then have simplified, at-a-glance nutrition information that helps them quickly and easily make more informed choices.
BUILDING NEW MARKETS AND INCOME FOR FARMERS AND RANCHERS
The Biden-Harris Administration is helping farmers keep farming by removing barriers and supporting opportunities for farmers and ranchers to diversify their income—increasing the resilience and profitability of their operations.
Investing in Climate-Smart Agriculture and Renewable Energy
President Biden knows that agriculture has great potential to fight climate change, and that climate-smart practices offer farmers, ranchers, and foresters new revenue streams.
Through the novel Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) invested over $3 billion in 135 five-year projects that provide farmers a financial incentive to implement climate-smart practices. The program has connected over 14,000 participating farms to climate-smart markets, premiums, and incentives; enrolled more than 3.2 million acres of working land into climate-smart practices, with over half of participants being new adopters of climate-smart agriculture; sequestered over 400,000 metric tons of carbon; and made over 40 climate-smart commodities available to consumers.
Powered by the Inflation Reduction Act’s historic injection of $19.5 billion to support on-farm conservation practices, USDA is addressing its backlog of popular conservation programs for farmers wanting to use water-saving, soil-protecting, carbon-storing practices. Through the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), USDA since 2021 has enrolled nearly 190,000 farmers in conservation programs and awarded 28,622 contracts through the Inflation Reduction Act for a total of nearly $2 billion.
Also supported by President’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program is the largest investment in rural America’s electric system since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936. It invests $9.7 billion to help member-owned rural electric cooperatives provide their communities with clean, reliable, and affordable energy. USDA announced approximately $9 billion through New ERA across 24 states so far, with the rural electric cooperatives building or purchasing nearly 12 gigawatts of clean energy.
The Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) funds new clean energy and energy storage projects to make it more affordable for rural Americans to use clean, reliable energy. In 2024, USDA awarded 34 projects totaling $917 million. And since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA has invested more than $3 billion through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) in 9,901 renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements helping farms and small businesses lower their energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen the resilience of their operations.
All five programs advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
The Administration has also galvanized unprecedented science-based investments in climate-smart agriculture on a global scale. Launched by President Biden at COP26, the Agricultural Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) has mobilized $29.2 billion for research and innovation, funding nearly 130 projects to advance climate-smart agriculture and strengthen food systems around the world.
...
USDA spearheaded several new rules to improve fairness and competition, including final rules to promote transparency in poultry farming contracts and prohibit discrimination and ban retaliation against farmers and ranchers in meat markets, as well as a proposed a rule to protect poultry growers from unfair deductions and variations in pay.
USDA also finalized a new rule that only permits the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” claim to be applied to meat and poultry products that are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States, which better aligns with consumer understanding of what the label means. USDA stood up the first-ever Farmer Seed Liaison initiative to work across the Federal government, including with the U.S. Patent Office, to promote transparency, farmers’ and plant breeders’ voice, and researcher access to germplasm.
https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/14/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-highlights-historic-food-system-investments/
= new reply since forum marked as read
