U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Trump administration wants to reopen logging in Superior National Forest

Jimmy Lovrien — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 15:42:47 GMT

DULUTH — The Trump administration said Monday, June 23, it wants to reopen logging on about 59 million acres of national forest land throughout the country, including 62,000 acres of the Superior National Forest, much of it adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the so-called "roadless rule," which prohibits timber harvesting and the construction of roads to access timber stands, was burdensome.

"Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule,” Rollins said in a news release.

The roadless rule was established in 2001 during the final days of the Clinton administration and covers just 2.2% of all national forest land in Minnesota. The Chippewa National Forest does not have any land covered by the rule.

Nationally, the rule covers approximately 30% of the 190 million-acre national forest system, primarily in the western U.S.

The roadless rule is not the same as official federal wilderness, and, despite its name, the areas may have roads that predate the 2001 rule. Instead, it prohibits new roads and logging but allows motorized recreation, such as snowmobiles and ATVs. It also allows mining.

Rollins said reversing the rule "opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests."

"It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land,” Rollins said.

But Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the roadless rule already included flexibility that allowed for wildfire mitigation in those areas, like the removal of small-diameter trees, as long as new roads weren't built.

"It's a handout to the timber industry," Spivak told the News Tribune. "(Trump) has no regard for ecology, natural areas, or the fact that they may be critically important to our water supplies, and recreation, and even sustainable communities. No, he just sees our national forests and other public lands as places to exploit so industry can turn a profit — there's no mystery there."

Ray Higgins, executive vice president of Minnesota Timber Producers, said that while more wood on the market is good for the industry, "it's not going to make a ton of difference."

"There's a reason these are roadless areas. ... They're hard to access. They're not close to any forest products mill like a paper mill or a big sawmill," Higgins told the News Tribune.

"So it's not like we've been knocking on the door trying to get the timber," Higgins said, "because it is hard to access."

But, he said, it could "give the Forest Service another tool in the toolbox" to take wildfire mitigation steps, like removing balsam fir left dead or dying by the spruce budworm outbreak, which contributed to last month's wildfires near Brimson.

Spivak, however, said additional roads in these areas could lead to more fires since people start most wildfires.

A timeline on when the rule could be reversed was not provided by the USDA. A potentially lengthy process must play out first.

Spivak said if the Trump administration wants to reverse the rule, it will have to justify its actions and have the change go up for public comment.

"They're going to have a very, very steep hill to climb to overturn the roadless rule," Spivak said. "It's incredibly popular, justified by science, held up in the court numerous times."

The George W. Bush administration attempted to reverse the rule, only to have a federal judge restore it in 2006.

Later, in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court did not consider an appeal challenging the rule, which kept it in place.

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Mothballed: Without federal funds, state cancels spongy moth treatments

Jimmy Lovrien — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 23:30:10 GMT

DULUTH — Plans to spray for spongy moths in five Minnesota counties, including three in the Northland, have been scrapped after the federal funding for the aerial treatments didn't come through.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture said it planned to spray more than 2,700 acres throughout St. Louis, Carlton, Itasca, Anoka and Winona counties this spring, striking in the short period in the invasive insect's lifespan when the bacterial insecticide is effective against it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service's Slow the Spread program funded such work for decades, reducing the moth's spread by 60% and treating more than 1 million acres. But the state agency said it has not received the money it needs in time to carry out this spring's aerial assault.

The agency planned to spray Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki, or Btk, a naturally occurring soil bacteria that kills gypsy moth caterpillars feeding on canopy foliage. Btk is nontoxic to people, bees, pets and other animals.

“Having to cancel Btk aerial management operations in these areas jeopardizes the future success of this program," Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen said in a news release. "Spongy moth populations in these areas will likely increase and advance quicker into neighboring areas, making future years of management more complicated and costly."

The USDA and Forest Service did not immediately respond to the News Tribune's request for comment Tuesday evening.

The state agency said it still plans to aerially apply a mating disruption pheromone to stop the moths from reproducing on 112,000 acres across Minnesota and conduct its annual spongy moth population survey, but both those rely on federal funding, too.

"Overall, federal funding for these strategies is still uncertain; however, the MDA has been assured to receive initial funding for the spongy moth survey," the agency said in a news release. "It is still unknown if federal funds to perform aerial mating disruption operations will be distributed in 2025."

The agency said it may need to put temporary quarantines in place to prevent spongy moths hitchhiking on woody tree material from leaving the area.

Formerly called gypsy moths, the spongy moths are native to Europe and are considered a major problem for North American trees because they have few natural enemies here and can overwhelm patches of forest, defoliating trees quickly. They will munch on more than 300 species of trees and bushes, including aspen, birch and oak.

Spongy moths first came to the eastern U.S. from Europe in the 1860s, arriving by ship, and have been expanding ever since. They travel slowly on their own but have ridden west as egg clusters on cars, trucks, trains, trailers and campers. They have been in eastern Wisconsin since the 1970s and have now spread across the entire state and into eastern Minnesota.

The moth does its damage when it's in its caterpillar stage. Forest health experts say the moths can't be stopped. But their westward movement can be slowed, and outbreaks can be kept smaller, with annual aerial spraying efforts where the largest concentrations of moths are located.

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USDA to begin accepting applications for $10B Emergency Commodity Assistance Program

Jenny Schlecht — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 17:01:00 GMT

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will start accepting applications for the $10 billion in market-based assistance passed by Congress as part of year-end legislation in December, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., announced Tuesday, March 18.

Congress on Dec. 21, 2024, passed the American Relief Act of 2025, a continuing resolution that stopped a government shutdown but also included $21 billion designated toward aide for farmers with losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, along with $10 billion in farm economic assistance to offset low commodity prices. The bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden.

With the $10 billion in funds set aside for economic assistance, USDA set up the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program to provide economic assistance payments to eligible producers of eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year to help farmers "cope with losses from natural disasters and a difficult farm economy" and to "help preserve family farms and ranches across the country while also continuing to ensure food and agricultural security for our nation," according to a Federal Register document scheduled to publish Wednesday, March 19.

“This $10 billion in assistance is an important step to help producers recover from the challenging markets and comes as part of our commitment to keep our farmers and ranchers in the game, whether they face natural disasters, challenging markets or trade disputes,” Hoeven said in a statement.

“Producers are facing higher costs and market uncertainty, and the Trump Administration is ensuring they get the support they need without delay,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. “With clear direction from Congress, USDA has prioritized streamlining the process and accelerating these payments ahead of schedule, ensuring farmers have the resources necessary to manage rising expenses and secure financing for next season.”

Hoeven said he is continuing to work with USDA on advancing the $21 billion in weather-related assistance for losses in 2023 and 2024, which includes $2 billion set aside for livestock producers, including those with losses due to wildfires.

Eligible commodities for ECAP include wheat, corn, sorghum, barley, oats, soybeans, dry peas, lentils, chickpeas, canola, flax and sunflower, among other crops. Only one application is required for all ECAP eligible commodities. ECAP assistance will be based on acreage and calculated using a flat payment rate for the eligible commodity multiplied by the eligible reported acres. For acres reported as prevented plant, ECAP assistance will be calculated at 50%.

Hoeven, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and is a senior of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he has been working with Rollins to find ways to quickly deliver the assistance, including encouraging USDA to use a streamlined application process to help ensure an efficient and timely process.

According to Hoeven's office, USDA will send producers pre-filled applications based on 2024 acreage reporting data after program signup begins on March 19. Producers who still need to submit their 2024 plant and prevented planting data may do so until the program deadline of Aug. 15, 2025. Applications may be submitted online or to local Farm Service Agency offices.

“Secretary Rollins has committed to getting the funds distributed as quickly as possible, with payments to start going out by March 21,” Hoeven said.

His office said the initial payments will come to 85% of the total, with a supplemental payment to follow in the summer.

Hoeven said it's important that a new farm bill get passed that invests in the farm safety net so that such ad-hoc disaster assistance will no longer be needed. The current farm bill, officially called the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, originally was set to expire in 2023 but now has gotten two one-year extensions. The expiration date now is Sept. 30, 2025.

"Of course, we needed to do that because we don't have the new farm bill in place yet," Hoeven said in a recorded message about the assistance package. "So this is important, but the key is we need to get that farm bill done and it needs to work for our farmers and ranchers."

Payment rates

USDA has announced the following per-acre payment rates for crops under ECAP:

Wheat: $30.69 Corn: $42.91 Sorghum: $42.52 Barley: $21.67 Oats: $77.66 Upland cotton and extra-long staple cotton: $84.74 Long and medium-grain rice: $76.94 Peanuts: $75.51 Soybeans: $29.76 Dry peas: $16.02 Lentils: $19.30 Small chickpeas: $31.45 Large chickpeas: $24.02 Canola: $31.83 Crambe: $19.08 Flax: $20.97 Mustard: $11.36 Rapeseed: $23.63 Safflower: $26.32 Sesame: $16.83 Sunflower: $27.23

Hoeven's office said more information on ECAP will be available at https://fsa.usda.gov/ecap.

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Small food businesses that won Business Builder awards from USDA face uncertainty due to funding freeze

Ariana Schumacher — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:00:00 GMT

BRANDON, S.D. and MEDINA, N.D. — Five years ago, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, things like the temporary shutdown of meat packing plants or food processors due to employee illness, changes in transportation and a shift toward more eating at home revealed some limitations to the food chain and some opportunities for enhancing regional food systems.

During the pandemic, eggs were scarce in the grocery store. That’s when Stephanie Peterson of Brandon, South Dakota, saw business at her small poultry operation, Fruit of the Coop, really increase.

“I sold more eggs during the pandemic than I’ve ever sold because people couldn’t get stuff in the grocery store and couldn’t go out,” she said. “Small farms will help with that community resiliency in the face of crisis in our feed system.”

In one effort to enhance regional food systems, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service used funding passed through the American Recovery Plan Act to develop 12 Regional Food Business Centers. In 2022, then-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called the centers "a new, critical asset as we continue our work to strengthen and enhance local and regional food systems across the nation.”

One way the 12 Regional Food Business Centers have worked to enhance local food chains has been to give out Business Builder awards, to provide direct financial assistance to farms and food businesses. The North Central USDA Regional Food Business Center awarded funding to 15 projects across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota — including one to Fruit of the Coop. Kramlich-Deede Meats of Medina, North Dakota, also received funding.

"They're real important to small — especially small town — North Dakota," said Joe Deede, who owns Kramlich-Deede Meats with his wife, Melinda Kramlich-Deede, of such funding opportunities.

But now a federal funding freeze enacted by the Trump Administration has cast uncertainty on whether the projects will ever receive their full funding. On Feb. 26, farmers and businesses that had been awarded the 2024 Business Builder Grant from the USDA’s North Central Regional Food Business Center received an email saying that grant funding had been frozen.

With few answers from the government or lawmakers, funding recipients are uncertain what will happen next.

Region Five Development Commission is the lead cooperative partner for the North Central USDA Regional Food Business Center. Many of the activities and initiatives for the center are on hold.

“We maintain close communication with our 31 partner organizations across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota as we wait, but the financial implications of federal funding decisions have resulted in a pause in their activities," said Candice Zimmermann, program coordinator for Region Five Development Commission in a statement to Agweek. "We are also working closely with the 15 Business Builder award recipients from Round 1 to maintain fiscal responsibility. The Center remains hopeful that funding will be restored soon so we can open Round 2 of Business Builder Grants and continue providing support and resources to farms and food businesses, helping them grow and reach new markets.”

They will continue to update their website as more information becomes available.

A need in the communities

Peterson grew up in South Dakota, went to Augustana University, worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and then moved back to South Dakota, where her love of raising backyard chickens was able to flourish.

“I had backyard hens in a very urban setting and then when we moved here to South Dakota ten years ago, I was able to get this small farm and just go crazy with chickens,” Peterson said.

She started her business, Fruit of the Coop, around eight years ago.

“I had too many chickens and too many eggs, so basically, I decided I was going to start selling eggs to restaurants,” Peterson said. “I had a few friends that owned restaurants and were chefs, so I started there, and it has grown over time.”

Right now, Peterson has 125 laying hens, and she buys and markets eggs from other suppliers as well. Overall, her company supplies 200 dozen eggs per week for local restaurants and consumers. She will be getting an additional 75 chickens on her operation this year.

Along with the egg production, Peterson also has an on-farm Airbnb and teaches classes on raising chickens. This summer, she plans to open an on-farm outdoor event space.

Last year, Peterson knew it was time to start increasing her business. That’s when she learned about the Business Builder awards, designed to help local and regional farm and food businesses expand.

On June 28, 2024, Peterson found out she had been awarded $35,000. She put $4,000 toward supplies for delivering and packaging eggs and used the remainder to hire a part-time employee for two years to help with egg processing and delivery.

“I hired her last fall and it’s been incredibly helpful to have all those hours in front of an egg washer. I can hand that over to someone else while I work on growing the business,” Peterson said.

Kramlich-Deede Meats opened more than a year before the pandemic and started out just cutting meat in a small room, making sausage and other products using recipes already popular in the community because of a previous meat company owned and operated by Kramlich-Deede's family. It evolved over the years into selling groceries after the small central North Dakota community's grocery store closed, and eventually to being a full butcher shop.

"We started from just selling meat out of this little room to being a full meat processing center now," Deede said. "We're just about under our three or four weeks now being USDA here every week, doing federal inspection and processing on beef and pigs."

The move to being USDA inspected allows producers to sell meat into retail establishments.

"We're bringing in beef now that people are getting processed, and they're selling it to bars or restaurants, or that type of thing in their hometown," Deede said. "We're in the local supply chain. We ... have a local producer here is gonna do hogs on a regular basis, and he's wanting to get those into in the stores and different locations, health food stores."

The business has used a variety of grant and loan programs in their expansion efforts over the years, including interest buy-down programs, loans and grants, including programs through the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, USDA Rural Development and the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.

As part of their latest expansion into USDA inspection, Kramlich-Deede Meats applied for the Business Builder award. The $50,000 award they received was to be used for equipment to enhance efficiency.

"We were going to buy a new hamburger tie machine and a new mixer grinder that we could grind into from our grinder we have now," he said.

They elected to take the $50,000 over three years. They received $20,000 in 2024, but since none of the equipment they intended to buy cost under $20,000, they were advised to just hold onto the money until they received their 2025 installment. But with the funding freeze, they're uncertain when or if that money will come.

"So right now, we still have the $20,000. We're waiting for this year's second payment, and then we could order our equipment, but now they've told us, don't do anything until we get notification," Deede said.

The funding also was being awarded to Peterson in installments.

“I’m not sure if I’m going to be getting those payments or not,” Peterson said. “No one knows what’s going on, so it’s a little confusing. From a business standpoint, it’s hard to continue on this plan that I have when I’m not sure of where that money’s coming from.”

With current upgrades and expansions in the works on the farm, Peterson said it will be difficult to go forward without that anticipated grant funding.

“Like I’ve said, I’ve hired a part-time employee, and I don’t know what to tell her, you know, if she has to go seek employment elsewhere. She was counting on me as well,” Peterson said. “We’re just kind of in a gray area, and I’m going to try to forge ahead as best I can, but we’ll just see what happens.”

Kramlich-Deede Meats will still operate under USDA inspection; not getting the updated equipment will just mean slower processing for the time being, Deede said. He has not been able to get answers on what happens next.

"I just talked to (Region Five Development Commission) this morning, and they said, right now, they have not heard anything, so we're all on standstill until we hear something," he said on March 10.

Confusion and contradictions

When she found out the funding was frozen, Peterson reached out to U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, a Republican who is South Dakota's lone representative in the House. In a response to Peterson on March 7, Johnson indicated that on Jan. 29, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget "rescinded a memo regarding a spending freeze on federal loans and grants."

Dusty Johnson Response.pdf by Jenny Schlecht on Scribd

"It is important to note that this directive did not apply across-the-board, and any payment required by law would have been paid without interruption or delay. Specifically, any program that provides direct benefits to Americans was explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process," Johnson wrote. "These programs include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Pell Grants, and Head Start. Further, funds for small businesses, farmers, rental assistance, and similar programs would not be paused."

"To be honest, this response seems to imply that this freezing fund isn't happening and is not affecting farmers and small businesses," Peterson said. "Does he want me to question my own reality? If so, I can assure you, my funds have been frozen, and this freeze is real and is having a direct effect on me and my peers."

Peterson also reached out to U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds and John Thune, both Republicans from South Dakota, and did not get a response from either as of March 11.

Grants like these are crucial to small farmers like Peterson.

“Small farms often have difficulty with traditional lending opportunities because we’re small and considered a higher risk,” Peterson said. “We don’t have banks or, you know, other organizations that will lend us money. So, we do rely on those grants when they are available.”

Peterson said she understands there is an issue with government spending, but she doesn’t think this is the way it should be handled.

“I understand there is government waste and fraud. Of course, in a system as large as ours, there’s going to be. But I really don’t know that this is the best way to go about finding that waste — putting people’s lives on hold while they’re looking for that,” Peterson said. “I hope that they see that this funding freeze needs to be lifted and at least, I would like the U.S. government to honor the contract that I signed with them, you know, a lawful signed contract. I’m holding at my end of the deal. They’re the ones who have broken the contract.”

Peterson hopes all the current grant recipients are able to get the remainder of their grants.

“Then, you know, we can talk about future grants and trying to find places there where we don’t want to spend money,” she said.

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Federal funding freeze pulls rug out from budding emerging farmer groups

Noah Fish — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 15:43:56 GMT

NEW HOPE, Minn. — After the U.S. Department of Agriculture silently reneged on a five-year American Rescue Plan contract with The Food Group, three participating emerging farmer groups saw their budgets decimated, including the Village Agricultural Cooperative in Rochester.

On the morning of Valentine's Day, Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of The Food Group, dwelled with the group's farm director, KaZoua Berry, on what felt at the moment like a bad divorce.

From 2023-27, The Food Group Inc. is a contracted recipient of USDA's American Rescue Plan Act's Technical Assistance Investment Program, which ensures "equitable participation in the full range of USDA programs and services among underserved farmers. The funding is dispersed by Big River Farms, which operates under The Food Group, and shared with Village Agricultural Cooperative in Rochester, the Sudanese Farming Group LLC and Somali American Farm Institute.

The freeze

The Food Group scrambled to action after the federal funding freeze was announced in late January, and Lenarz-Coy said it completed its full billings and expenses for the month to ensure reimbursements. Then their account in the USDA portal was suspended.

Rather than focusing on the legality of the freeze, which legal experts say is unlawful, Lenarz-Coy said it's more important for the public to know that even a temporary freeze can be a major cash flow issue for nonprofits.

"The smaller organizations that we subcontract with, this is devastating," she said. "The Food Group, at least, has a diversified enough revenue source that we're able to kind of shuffle things around and keep a lot of the work going, but our subcontractor payments, especially in our USDA grant, has dramatic, negative ripple effects."

When The Food Group discovered it had been locked out of USDA's payment system, it informed the groups partnering on the ARPA program to stop their spending plan for the next growing season.

The Village

Amanda Nigon-Crowley, executive director of the Village Agricultural Cooperative, said the two federal funding streams that made up about half the small budget of the Village were frozen. She said the nonprofit can't risk going into debt while they wait to hear if contracts will be honored.

The nonprofit ceased all part-time farm and technical assistance work — laying off five employees who were all hired to lead the farming communities they belong to.

"We have become an office of two, down from seven, and lost much capacity to move our mission forward," Nigon-Crowley said in a statement on social media. "We hope that the USA is a country that can rise above corruption and pay invoices for work that was completed under contract, and honor contracts that are halfway to completion — to see them through until the end. If not, we surely cannot claim to be a 'developed' country any longer."

The farm managers who were vital to the growth of the cooperative will still participate in farming with their communities in the Village, which is why they were chosen for the paid roles.

"They're as diverse as we are. We need people who speak those languages. So we have a Cambodian person, a Latino person, Hmong person, a Cameroon person. I have all these people on my staff so that we can communicate and work within our community," she said. "These people are still going to show up. I have no doubt that our team is going to continue to volunteer their time as much as possible."

A step back

Outside of The Food Group warehouse is a plot farmed by the Sudanese Farming Group. Berry is particularly excited about the growth of the community of farmers in the time she's worked with Big River Farms. She said what started out as a community group wanting to learn how to farm is now a graduate of the Big River Farms training program, and its members are asking how they can train their youth to pass down wisdom and knowledge from the elders.

"They're building their own capacity with culturally connected food, which is really important," Berry said. "I think with the pause of funding so abruptly, it makes it hard for them to think about what they are gonna do this growing season."

Berry joined The Food Group at the beginning of the pandemic. Farming was always the way her family fed itself, from growing up in Milwaukee with seven siblings to now with her husband and four kids at a small-scale farm in Maplewood. It's personal to her.

"Being economically poor like I did growing up, I didn't know that because of the food that my mom and dad had always cultivated for us," she said.

Aside from her mother taking up the entire yard of an apartment complex where they lived, they also had a small plot of land 2 miles away where they would walk every day in the summer before sunrise to get the day's work done before it was too hot.

"It was enough to grow food for our family of eight kids," she said. "I truly believe that if people have the resources and they want to, it should be a right they're able to grow their own food, especially culturally connected to them."

Before entering a position with The Food Group, where she was managing the disbursement of federal funding, Berry said she'd been aware of the relationship between USDA and underserved producers, and the systemic discrimination in its history to the people it was supposed to be serving.

She felt that changed under the Biden administration.

"Where the last four years, I feel like (USDA) staff have been trying really hard to amend and reverse some of those, and bring about some kind of healing, relationship building," she said. "I think it's really interesting that we're at a time like this, where it's kind of reversing, or going back, or even probably creating deeper harm that is going to take more than four years to also repair."

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Bringing Fido abroad? It’s about to get very complicated bringing him home to the US

John Myers — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 11:00:00 GMT

DULUTH — New federal regulations are set to take effect on Aug. 1 that will impact anyone bringing a dog into the U.S. — even if they are U.S. citizens returning home with their U.S.-based dogs.

The new rules will require that any dog entering or returning to the U.S. be at least 6 months old, certified as vaccinated against rabies, microchipped by a veterinarian and healthy at the time of entry.

But the new rules go far beyond basic vaccination certificates, requiring multiple forms that must be filled out, mostly online, in advance of going abroad.

You’ll even need a current photo of your dog to upload.

The rule applies to Canadians and others entering the U.S. for shopping or leisure, but it also applies to all U.S. citizens who may bring their dogs into Canada or Mexico briefly for a hunting, fishing or leisure trip and then return home.

The new rules are a joint program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and are aimed at stemming the movement of rabies into the U.S. While rabies among domestic dogs had been essentially eradicated in the U.S,. the deadly disease is flourishing in many nations and is spreading back to the U.S. as infected and unvaccinated dogs are imported.

The rules — which have not been broadly publicized or reported — appear to require extensive new duties by U.S. veterinarians who will have to complete and submit forms for each of their client’s traveling dogs, either a Certification of U.S.-Issued Rabies Vaccine form that was endorsed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture before the dog departed the United States or a U.S. Department of Agriculture-endorsed Export Health Certificate. The export certificate must demonstrate the dog is 6 months of age or older and is vaccinated, and list the dog’s microchip number.

David Daigle, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there has been no agency discussion of delaying the rules until more people are made aware of them.

“CDC announced the updates to its dog regulation in May, understanding the effective date of the regulation is Aug. 1, 2024. This nearly three-month gap was purposeful to ensure awareness of the requirements for dog importations,” Daigle told the News Tribune.

Daigle also said there has been no consideration for exempting dogs returning from nations with very low incidences of rabies, such as Mexico and Canada.

Some dog owners who travel across the border frequently have complained that the new regulations are an unnecessary burden for U.S. dog owners when the issue is spurred by dogs from other countries entering the U.S. unvaccinated. Until now, a simple vaccination certificate has been enough to prove that a dog was vaccinated.

Officials from the offices of Minnesota’s U.S. Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar said they are looking into the new regulations.

“We have heard from Minnesotans about this,” a statement released from Smith's office noted. “The Senator recognizes that these new regulations are both an inconvenience and causing confusion and concern, especially for Minnesotans who live near the Canadian border. We are closely monitoring feedback from Minnesotans and exploring possible actions to address these issues to mitigate inconveniences for people.”

“Travel between Minnesota and Canada is crucial for our economy and integral in the lives of so many who live close to the border,'' Klobuchar said in a statement to the News Tribune. "I have heard understandable concerns and anger about this new CDC regulation for dogs crossing the border, and I am working with my colleagues to push for a change that works for travelers and keeps people and animals safe."

Officials from the office of U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber did not return a reporter's request for comment on the new rules.

Here are the new requirements for all U.S.-based dogs returning to the U.S. starting Aug. 1:

Be at least 6 months of age at the time of entry or return to the United States. No younger dogs will be allowed entry. Be vaccinated against rabies with proper documentation of vaccination. Have an International Organization for Standardization-compatible microchip implanted prior to any required rabies vaccination. The microchip number must be documented on all required forms and in all accompanying veterinary records. Appear healthy upon arrival. Have a receipt after filling out a CDC Dog Import form. The free form should be completed online 2-10 days before each arrival. But, if you have internet access, it can also be completed right before travel, even in line at the border crossing. If the information on the form changes before the dog arrives, you must submit a new form and indicate you are making changes to an existing form. All information, including the port of entry where the dog is arriving, must be correct at time of arrival. This form requires you to upload a clear photograph of the dog showing its face and body. Dogs that will be less than one year of age at time of arrival should have the photograph taken within 10 days before arrival.

Recommended to begin 30 days or more before travel out of the U.S.:

Contact your accredited veterinarian to have them complete either the Certification of U.S.-Issued Rabies Vaccination form or the U.S.Department of Agriculture-endorsed export health certificate if your dog will be only in dog rabies-free or low-risk countries such as Canada. Have the USDA-accredited veterinarian that administered the rabies vaccine to your dog complete the Certification of U.S.-Issued Rabies Vaccination form. Ensure the veterinarian submits this form to the USDA for official endorsement. (Accredited veterinarians can access the form and its instructions at the aphis.usda.gov/pet-travel/vehcs. Instructions for veterinarians are available at cdc.gov/importation/pdf/PRA-2-1-Template-Change-TI-for-US-Vaccinated-Dogs_USDA.pdf.) Print a copy of the Certification of U.S.-Issued Rabies Vaccination form or USDA APHIS-endorsed export health certificate from USDA. Arrive at the location listed on the CDC Dog Import Form receipt. This can be any airport, land border crossing or seaport, but you must select this location when you complete the CDC Dog Import form. Call your vet to make sure they are accredited, or you can look for accredited vets at vsapps.aphis.usda.gov/vsps/public/VetSearch.do?method=display. The CDC Dog Import Form will be accessible beginning July 15. You can find the form at cdc.gov/importation/bringing-an-animal-into-the-united-states/required-forms-for-importing-dog-united-states.html.

Your dog must receive its initial rabies vaccine at least 28 days before leaving the U.S.

U.S. Department of Agriculture-accredited veterinarians should only issue the Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination form for dogs that received their initial (first) rabies vaccine at least 28 days previously. Booster vaccines are considered valid immediately.

For people who cross the border often with their dog, Daigle said the Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination form is valid for the length of the rabies vaccine, usually 1 or 3 years. But the entry point and date-specific CDC Dog Import Form must be filled out online for every trip.

For more information

The complete list of new dog import regulations can be found at cdc.gov/importation/bringing-an-animal-into-the-united-states/dogs-entering-us-after-august-1.html#current-vaccination.

Returning home with your dog after a trip to Mexico or Canada?

Here’s a quick summary of what you will need to do starting Aug. 1:

Dogs must be vaccinated against rabies, microchipped and at least 6 months old. Your veterinarian must submit a form with the rabies certificate and microchip number to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This form is endorsed by the agency and sent back to the vet. The dog owner must carry a copy of the endorsed form. It’s good for the life of the vaccine, usually three years. Each time you plan to enter a foreign county and then return home you must first fill out an online form for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the dog's microchip number, vaccine information, date and location of re-entry to the U.S and a recent photo of the dog. Rabies and human health

Rabies is a rare but serious public health concern in the United States. Before 1960, several hundred people died of rabies each year, mostly from domestic dog bites. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of human and animal health experts, fewer than 10 human deaths are now reported each year in the U.S. and nearly all of those are from wild animal bites.

In the U.S., around 4,000 animal rabies cases are reported each year, with more than 90% occurring in wildlife like bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes.

The decrease in human deaths from rabies is attributed to successful vaccination of pets and animal control programs, public health tracking and testing of human and animal rabies cases and the use of rabies-related medical care, called post-exposure prophylaxis.

Even though rabies is well-controlled in the U.S., over 4 million Americans report animal bites each year with 800,000 of those seeking medical attention. Public health programs can assess each person who may have been exposed to rabies to determine if they need rabies-related medical care, including the post-bite vaccine.

Some people still die from rabies, usually because they didn't get medical help soon enough after being scratched or bitten. It's important to be aware of the risk, especially with bat bites, which can be easy to ignore because they don't always leave an obvious mark.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Audit: Minnesota failed to investigate fraud complaints in child nutrition program

Deena Winter / Minnesota Reformer — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 21:18:27 GMT

The state’s legislative auditor found that the Minnesota Department of Education failed miserably in its duty to properly oversee millions of federal dollars it administered to nonprofits to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a special review by the Office of the Legislative Auditor released Thursday, June 13.

The audit examined how MDE administered a child nutrition program for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and found the agency’s inadequate oversight “created opportunities for fraud.”

Federal prosecutors have charged scores of Minnesotans with ripping off the federal program by at least $250 million in the nation’s largest pandemic fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors say they gave away very little food, but got paid millions of dollars, which they used to buy Porsches and Teslas, vacations in the Maldives and homes from Prior Lake to Kenya.

Prosecutors have charged 70 people so far with being part of the Feeding Our Future case, named after one of two nonprofits at the center of the scheme. Eighteen people have pleaded guilty, one fled the country, and five were convicted of bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges last week. Two were acquitted.

The nonprofits Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition were supposed to oversee other vendors and nonprofits purporting to be giving away ready-to-eat meals at sites all over the state, but instead, prosecutors said they enabled and participated in the fraud, keeping a portion of the federal money doled out. Founded less than five years earlier, they grew from collecting a few million dollars a year before the pandemic to dispersing about $200 million each in 2021.

Auditors found MDE failed to act on warning signs even prior to the pandemic; didn’t exercise its authority to make Feeding Our Future follow program requirements; and was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future.

As far back as 2018, MDE was getting complaints about Feeding Our Future and its food distribution sites, receiving at least 30 complaints from mid-2018 through 2021. And although the agency is required by law to promptly investigate complaints or irregularities, it didn’t investigate some complaints about Feeding Our Future at all. When MDE did follow up on complaints, its investigations were inadequate, to the point where “MDE inappropriately asked Feeding Our Future to investigate complaints about itself,” the report said.

MDE’s procedures emphasized having the complainants and subjects resolve complaints on their own, the report said. The first step of their process was to share the complaint with the subject, so they could investigate their own conduct and try to resolve it without MDE intervention. When that didn’t work, MDE would make a formal report of the complaint, but again they gave the subject an opportunity to respond. This created a system ripe with potential for retaliation.

The legislative auditor found MDE failed in numerous ways to prevent the fraud, including:

By failing to use its authority to deny applications for the program years before the pandemic. By failing to verify statements made by the nonprofit Feeding Our Future before approving applications, especially “high-risk applicants.” By failing to follow-up on its 2018 review of Feeding Our Future’s child nutrition operations which raised concerns By only conducting limited off-site monitoring of food distribution sites.

MDE did stop payments to the nonprofit in 2021, but Feeding Our Future sued the state, alleging racial discrimination. Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann ruled that the state couldn’t halt payments unless they found fraud, so MDE resumed payments.

In a written response to the report, Education Commissioner Willie L. Jett II said MDE’s oversight “met applicable standards” and the agency “made effective referrals to law enforcement.”

“What happened with Feeding Our Future was a travesty – a coordinated, brazen abuse of nutrition programs that exist to ensure access to healthy meals for low-income children,” he wrote. “The responsibility for this flagrant fraud lies with the indicted and convicted fraudsters.”

Jett said the department has made changes to strengthen its oversight, establishing an Office of Inspector General, adding a general counsel’s office, training staff on updated fraud-reporting policy, and contracting with a firm to conduct financial reviews of certain sponsors.

During the recent trial of seven defendants charged with defrauding the program, the director of Minnesota’s nutrition program acknowledged she got some pushback from her own supervisors when she raised concerns about suspiciously high reimbursement claims.

Emily Honer, director of nutrition program services for the MDE, testified that she quickly became suspicious of huge reimbursement requests and alerted her superiors, the USDA, and eventually, the FBI.

Honer testified that she was not aware of any MDE employees who went to the locations where people claimed to be serving unfathomable amounts of meals daily. She said her employees didn’t go to the sites because that was the responsibility of the nonprofit groups overseeing the vendors. And prosecutors said those nonprofits — Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition — enabled and participated in the fraud.

Honer said due to Feeding Our Future’s “very nasty lawsuit,” MDE employees were often hauled into court and had to follow MDE protocol of working through concerns with the nonprofit sponsors overseeing the sites.

Outside of a month where MDE payments were stopped to some sponsors, MDE kept paying reimbursement claims until the FBI investigation went public in January 2022.

Republicans have blamed the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Gov. Tim Walz for failing to prevent the fraud. Walz has said the state’s hands were tied by a court order to resume payments, although Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann disputed that in a rare rebuke.

Honer testified that MDE opted to waive in-person monitoring of sites, but could still do “desk audits.” But Honer said she didn’t do any desk audits and didn’t ask any of her subordinates to do them — despite concerns that prompted her to go first to the USDA Office of Inspector General, and then the FBI, in April 2021.

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USDA announces $83 million for fertilizer plant projects, including in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota

Jenny Schlecht — Thu, 23 May 2024 20:19:56 GMT

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday, May 23, announced that fertilizer projects in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota were among the projects to receive a total of nearly $83 million in funding.

A news release from USDA said the funding in support of fertilizer projects through the Fertilizer Production and Expansion Program is meant to "strengthen competition for U.S. farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers." The USDA under the Biden administration created FPEP in response to rising fertilizer prices. The administration committed up to $900 million through the Commodity Credit Corporation for the program.

In Iowa, Return LLC, a fertilizer manufacturer in Northwood, plans to use a $3.92 million grant to expand its current facility, to improve existing compost/fermenting site infrastructure and to purchase necessary equipment to transport materials and manufacture the finished product. Return's current products include compost made from "locally-harvested, southern Minnesota turkey litter," fertilizer listed for use in lawns, gardens and for perennials and annuals, potting mix and "Worm Poop" for use in gardens, raised beds, potted plants and lawns.

In Minnesota, Sustane Natural Fertilizer Inc. — a family-owned natural fertilizer manufacturer in Cannon Falls — plans to use a $2,397,792 grant to enhance and expand the current facility and purchase new equipment to increase fertilizer production. The company makes a variety of agricultural and home-use fertilizer and innoculant products.

In North Dakota, the Ray Farmers Union Elevator Company plans to use a $1,491,859 grant to assist with a dry fertilizer expansion. This project will increase dry fertilizer capacity by 7,025 tons, to a total of 11,425 tons. The company says the expansion will benefit new and existing customers in the North Dakota counties of Williams, Divide, Mountrail, Burke, and McKenzie, as well as improve fertilizer supply logistics.

Fertilizer prices began rising sharply in 2021, with Producer Price Index industry data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing April 2022 at the second highest level in two decades. Prices remained high throughout 2022 and began dropping throughout 2023, though they generally remain elevated compared to the years before the 2021 spike. Blame for the spike was placed on the war in Ukraine and Russia, as well as lack of competition in the fertilizer industry.

Other projects announced as receiving funding on Thursday were in California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington. The total awards announced Thursday were in the amount of $82,746,447. The projects announced Thursday put total FPEP funding at $251 million in 57 projects across 29 states.

“The Biden-Harris Administration and USDA are committed to bolstering the economy and increasing competition for our nation’s farmers, ranchers and small business owners,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “The investments announced today, made possible through the Commodity Credit Corporation, will increase domestic fertilizer production and strengthen our supply chain, all while creating good-paying jobs that will benefit everyone.”

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US to provide nearly $200 million to contain bird flu spread on dairy farms

Leah Douglas / Reuters — Fri, 10 May 2024 22:00:03 GMT

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said on Friday, May 10 it will provide nearly $200 million to fight the spread of avian flu among dairy cows, in the government's latest bid to contain outbreaks that have fueled concerns about human infections with the H5N1 virus.

The virus has been detected among dairy cattle in nine states since late March. Scientists have said they believe the outbreak is more widespread based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of retail milk samples.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make $98 million available to provide up to $28,000 per dairy farm for efforts to contain the spread of the virus between animals and humans and for testing milk and animals for the virus, the agency said on Friday.

"USDA is doing the work to track and eliminate H5N1 in the dairy cattle herd," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on a call with reporters.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it would provide $101 million through the FDA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to protect public health and the nation's food supply.

"The risk to the public from this outbreak remains low," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said on the call.

The money includes $34 million through the CDC for testing efforts and supporting public health labs, $8 million for vaccines, and $3 million for wastewater surveillance.

While the CDC has said the public health risk is low, scientists are closely watching for changes in the virus that could make it spread more easily among humans.

The FDA also will provide $8 million to ensure the safety of the commercial milk supply.

“At this stage there’s no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or beef supply,” Vilsack said on the call. Health experts have cautioned against the consumption of raw milk but said pasteurization appears to kill the virus.

One dairy farm worker in Texas tested positive for the virus and reported conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye.

To limit transmission in cattle, the USDA on April 29 started requiring lactating dairy cows to test negative before being shipped across state lines.

In the first week of the order, USDA laboratories reported 905 tests, of which 112 were presumptive positives, said an agency spokesperson.

The figure could include samples that were tested more than once or those collected for other purposes like research studies, the spokesperson said.

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Avian flu confirmed in commercial turkey flock in Meeker County

Kelly Boldan — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:16:38 GMT

MEEKER COUNTY, Minn. — A commercial turkey flock in Meeker County was confirmed on April 11 to be infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as HPAI or avian influenza, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The Meeker County flock included 70,100 commercial turkeys.

This is the first outbreak of avian flu in a commercial poultry flock in 2024. The last case in Minnesota was confirmed on Dec. 27, 2023, when 78,800 turkeys in Todd County were impacted.

However, there have been other instances of the same variant of H5N1 in Minnesota in 2024, including three backyard poultry flocks and one goat herd. The goat herd shared a barn space and a water source with an infected poultry flock in Stevens County.

The last time a Meeker County commercial flock was confirmed with HPAI was on Oct. 31, 2023. The county had four flocks infected in 2023 and eight flocks infected in 2022.

The first cases of H5N1 in Minnesota were confirmed on March 25, 2022, according to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.

The first confirmed case of H5N1 in a dairy herd in Texas was confirmed on March 25. Since then, the virus has been found in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Idaho, New Mexico and South Dakota.

On April 2, a worker at one of the Texas dairies, who had pink eye, tested positive for the avian influenza virus. This was the second human infection since the first infection in Colorado in 2022.

A USDA preliminary investigation indicates that wild birds are the infection source. While these cattle have tested positive for the virus, Minnesota State Veterinarian Brian Hoefs said on April 2 that it’s not yet clear if the virus is the reason for the symptoms found in the cows. Transmission of the virus between cattle can also not be ruled out.

Agweek contributed to this story.
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