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Helped American agriculture both respond to pandemic and thrive
Jan 2, 2021
In mid-December, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue released a detailed assessment of his department’s accomplishments in 2020.
“While this was a tough year with the coronavirus, historic wildfires and weather damage, USDA met these challenges with a multitude of programs and services to support Americans and keep our agricultural sector running and responsive to the country’s needs,” Perdue said.
The USDA stayed focused on assisting, strengthening and promoting American agriculture. It also developed and operated an array of initiatives designed to help our nation respond to the pandemic.
No one could have predicted a 2020 like we had. If only we had 20/20 vision, we could have seen it coming. But hindsight is 2020, and we can take a look back at some of the top policy stories from the year and take a look forward.
In January, there was plenty of optimism with the recently penned China trade deal. But as I pointed out initially, and we now know, there were 6 shortfalls in hailed China phase one deal. For a year we thought would bring great news on the trade front, we fell considerably short.
After two years of Market Facilitation Program payments to farmers from the trade war, many had wondered if 2020 would offer more support. President Donald Trump was unwavering in his support for farmers, and I’ll never forget sitting at the USDA Ag Outlook press conference in February with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue downplaying another round of aid in 2020, and then Trump’s trade aid tweet raised alarms.
More federal purchases beyond food boxes
The government has purchased billions of dollars of dairy products and other foods this year through the Farmers to Families Food Box Program in order to stimulate cash flow on farms and get food to pandemic-stricken consumers. While that program could be wrapping up soon, in 2021, USDA will be using another of their tools to deliver dairy products to those that need them.
This month, the department announced its commitment to purchase $60 million of fluid milk products and $50 million of butter under Section 32. Dairy economist Mark Stephenson discussed the purchases on the December 9
“Section 32 . . . is the money that we collect from tariffs on trade values on all kinds of products, not just dairy products coming in, but when we have those additional tariffs on aluminum and steel, the revenues that are collected from U.S. consumers are then available to be used, in fairly large part, on food items,” he explained. That food is then d
Flora Westbrooks, owner of Flora’s Hair Design, shares what Vice President Pence and Ivanka Trump s visit meant
While President Donald Trump commanded the nation’s attention over the last four years, his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, quietly racked up achievements of her own.
Whether it was fighting human trafficking or pushing for policies to empower women in the workplace, Trump’s work has positively impacted different facets of American life.
Here are some of the highlights of her accomplishments:
SUPPORTING WORKING FAMILIES
In 2017, Trump worked with lawmakers to raise the child tax credit from $1,000 to nearly $2,000 per child and expand eligibility for receiving the credit. By 2019, nearly 40 million families had benefited from the CTC, receiving an average benefit of $2,200.