With an Eye on Growing More Nutritious Food, USDA Announces $700M Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program + More
Source: Children’s Health Defense
With an Eye on Growing More Nutritious Food, USDA Announces $700M Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is launching a $700 million pilot program to support regenerative farming — a type of agriculture that focuses on soil health to produce more nutritious food. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the pilot will be funded through existing programs at her agency.
“Protecting and improving the health of our soil is critical not only for the future viability of farmland but to the future success of American farmers,” said Rollins, who made the announcement Wednesday with the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and regenerative farmers from California, Missouri and Indiana.
“In order to continue to be the most productive and most efficient growers in the world, we must protect our topsoil from unnecessary erosion and boost the microbiome of the soil,” Rollins said. “Today’s announcement encourages these priorities while supporting farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture if they so choose.”
Describing regenerative agriculture as a “conservation management approach that emphasizes natural resources through improved soil health, water management and natural vitality for productivity,” Rollins said the new pilot will allow farmers to pursue “whole-farm planning” instead of a piecemeal approach through the USDA’s existing Natural Resources Conservation Service by enabling them to apply for the pilot with a single application.
Top Senator Says US Has ‘Miserably Failed Our Children’ as Experts Warn of ‘Egregious’ New Online Threats
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, had a blunt question for the three witnesses testifying at a Senate hearing Tuesday about evolving threats to children online: “Do you all agree that we’ve as a nation miserably failed our children — that we have hearings and we talk, [but] we’ve done very little to protect them, as of this date?”
All three witnesses — including a former federal prosecutor and an executive director at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — agreed. “That’s a damning indictment of all of us,” Graham stated.
The hearing, titled “Protecting Our Children Online Against the Evolving Offender,” is the latest in a yearslong smattering of hearings on Capitol Hill related to how lawmakers might be able to help stop ever-changing threats to children on social media platforms and online gaming systems.
Blue States Push Back Against Hepatitis B Vaccine Advice Changes
States and cities led by Democrats are balking at U.S. vaccine advisers’ calls to no longer require all babies get hepatitis B vaccines within 24 hours of being born, portraying the recommendation as troubling and at odds with scientific consensus.
New York and Maine are among the states going against the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ suggestions and leaving their current practices intact.
The panel’s recommendation change, rendered by advisers selected by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sent shock waves through state and local health departments. ACIP advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS’) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine matters. Last week’s vote allows parents to delay a hepatitis B shot for at least two months or skip it entirely should the mother test negative for the virus. In response, state and local health entities are moving to ensure the status quo for patients.
During the ACIP meetings, New Jersey acting Health Commissioner Jeff Brown signed an executive directive for licensed health-care providers in state to follow hepatitis B vaccine schedules laid out by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and for the state to remove accessibility obstacles for patients. Meanwhile, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s office noted the governor had signed legislation allowing the state’s Department of Public Health to set immunization requirements and schedules.
“We are going to continue to work with other states to ensure that all of our residents can receive the vaccines they need and want,” Healey said in a statement.
Zeldin Says MAHA Agenda for EPA Coming Soon
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin is working to build a bridge with a growing number of high-profile supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement. The agency has “been working to finalize and announce a MAHA agenda for EPA,” Zeldin said Tuesday during an invite-only holiday press gathering in his office.
Zeldin said the agenda is a collection of “all different kinds of work, priorities and our ideas important to MAHA,” an anti-corporate crusade dedicated to ending childhood chronic disease. “We’re excited about being able to release it as one formal agenda,” he continued.
“The Trump EPA wants to hear from all members of the MAHA community and make sure everyone has a seat at the table,” EPA’s press office said in a statement. It did not answer questions about the agenda’s release.
Defense Bill Requires Trump Spy Agencies to Declassify COVID-19 Origins Intel, Chinese Obstruction
Slipped into the nearly 3,100-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a provision that requires “declassification” and “transparency” related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and would require the Trump administration’s spy agencies to release its intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology where COVID-19 research was offshored by the Obama administration in October of 2014 with a grant to EcoHealth Alliance, a New York City nonprofit run by Peter Daszak.
The text of the NDAA — specifically section 6803 of the text, calls on the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to work with the heads of all 18 U.S. spy agencies to “perform a declassification review of intelligence” related to “the origins of Coronavirus Disease 2019,” and related to “efforts by government officials of entities of the People’s Republic of China” to cover up the origins of the pandemic.
“DNI Gabbard remains committed to declassifying COVID-19 information and looks forward to continued work with Congress to share the truth about pandemic-era failures with the American people,” a DNI spokesperson told Just the News.
Recent Top Stories
Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.
