Mike Pearson tells listeners about an update from Chief Ag Negotiator Doug McKalip on the long running dispute between Mexico and the USA over GMO corn.
Talking Wednesday to state agriculture directors, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack questioned a statement made by a corporate executive that the company was increasing seed and other input prices beyond the rise of inflation to increase profits. Vilsack said the Justice Department should investigate such issues.
President Joe Biden believes agriculture has an important role to play in addressing climate change. When signing the climate change executive order, Biden said, “We see farmers making American agriculture first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions and gaining new sources of income in the process.”
The executive order stated: “America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners have an important role to play in combating the climate crisis and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by sequestering carbon in soils, grasses, trees, and other vegetation and sourcing sustainable bioproducts and fuels.”
It directs USDA to “collect input from farmers, ranchers, and other stakeholders on how to use federal programs to encourage adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices that produce verifiable carbon reductions and sequestrations and create new sources of income and jobs for rural Americans.”