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(CNSNews.com) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Dec. 6 released a report that urges the U.S. Forest Service to work more closely with tribal governments in protecting, respectfully interpreting, and giving appropriate access to sites that are sacred to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. "American Indian and Alaska Native values and culture have made our nation rich in spirit and deserve to be honored and respected," Vilsack said. "By honoring and protecting sacred sites on national forests and grasslands, we foster improved tribal relationships and a better understanding of native people's deep reverence for natural resources and contributions to society."...

WEST HARTFORD —— The beef is there, but where's the pickle? That's the question students at Hall High School have been asking on hamburger day in the cafeteria since the food services department made menu changes to meet new school lunch rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Students are "outraged over the removal of pickles and salt from the cafeteria at Hall to meet nutrition guidelines," student representative Kendall Teare told the school board last week.

House Republicans say new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines aimed at forcing students to eat fruits and vegetables are a failure because students across the country are simply tossing the healthy fare into the trash. "[T]here remains great concern with the amount of food waste generated at school cafeterias, much of it brought on by requiring students to take fruits and vegetables rather than simply offer them," Reps. John Kline (R-Minn.), Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) told USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in a letter sent Thursday. "This is a waste of federal, state and local funds and...

On the same day that Senate Budget Committee Republicans revealed that spending on federal welfare programs constituted the single largest expenditure in the 2011 budget, the Department of Agriculture failed to meet a key deadline to further explain its food stamp partnership with the Mexican government....(SNAP), or food stamps, which recently reached an all-time high enrollment of nearly 47 million participants. Non-citizen participation in SNAP has quadrupled since 2001 and doubled since 2008.

-excerpt- Per the notice filed with the US Food and Drug Administration, the recall includes 282,000 cases. Boxes included in the recall have the letters “KB,” “AP” or “FK” before or after the “Best Before” date.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) paid Chicago consultants over $200,000 in taxpayer money to put on diversity training workshops that included activities in which employees were instructed to chant "our forefathers were illegal immigrants." The government watchdog group Judicial Watch alleged in documents released this week that these programs only served to promote and enforce left-wing political agendas. A USDA department official said the statements were not reflective of USDA policy, and the consultants merely had "participants repeat provocative and potentially offensive phrases as part of an exercise to examine stereotypes." According to Judicial Watch, the USDA has...

The U.S. government paid a Chicago consultant hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on diversity training workshops that, according to one watchdog, included an exercise in which employees were told to chant "our forefathers were illegal immigrants." Conservative group Judicial Watch made the claim this week as it released a handful of documents pertaining to the program -- and alleged that the sessions held by the Department of Agriculture ended up enforcing political views more than promoting tolerance. "Instead of being diversity-oriented or tolerance-oriented, it's more about adopting a mindset," said Lisette Garcia, a senior investigator with the group....

The U.S. government paid a Chicago consultant hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on diversity training workshops that, according to one watchdog, included an exercise in which employees were told to chant "our forefathers were illegal immigrants." Conservative group Judicial Watch made the claim this week as it released a handful of documents pertaining to the program -- and alleged that the sessions held by the Department of Agriculture ended up enforcing political views more than promoting tolerance. "Instead of being diversity-oriented or tolerance-oriented, it's more about adopting a mindset," said Lisette Garcia, a senior investigator with the group....

The federal government wants moms and dads to start serving meals at home that conform to the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The USDA urged parents to help reinforce the new school guidelines by providing similar meals at dinner time. “We know that many parents are already making changes at home to help the whole family eat healthier,” the USDA wrote on their official blog. “We recommend reviewing school menus with kids at home and working to incorporate foods that are being served at school into family meals as much as possible

Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp issued a challenge to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday: Adopt the same calorie restrictions and menu standards in the department’s cafeterias as the USDA now requires in the nation’s public schools. While students pick at their vegetables, USDA’s cafeteria menus are loaded with unhealthy options for government employees — from pesto chicken pizza to BLTs with cheddar cheese, Cuban pork paninis to Philly steak subs, cheeseburgers to French toast. (Snip) The Kansas Republican — who has introduced legislation with Iowa Republican

In response to the growing outrage over the one-size-fits-all, top-down lunch menu regulations handed down by Michelle Obama and bureaucrats in Washington, DC, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack offered an incredible response: Let them eat snacks! Translation: no need to evaluate the program that is being met with dissatisfaction from coast-to-coast. We’ll just create another program. ABC News reports: "It's not surprising that some youngsters will in the middle of the day be hungry,” Vilsack told ABC News, responding to the controversy. “I remember my two boys when they came back from school they were always hungry, we always had...

More than 92,000 “black farmers” signed up for reparations from the Obama USDA after the Pigford case was extended in 2010. That’s five times the number of blacks who were actually farming during the time period in question and would possibly qualify for the reparations. ... To date, almost $1 billion has been paid or credited to the farmers under the settlement’s consent decree. Democrats want to add another $1.2 billion to the money pot and continue with the reparations. Now the Obama Administration is offering Hispanic and women farmers over $1.3 billion in discrimination payouts. ... Obama’s plan has...

Children and parents across the country are fed up with the restrictive new school meal regulations implemented by the Department of Agriculture under the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,” which has long been touted by first lady Michelle Obama. The standards — which cap meal calories at 650 for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, at 700 calories for middle school students and 850 for high school students — also dictate the number of breads, proteins, vegetables and fruits children are allowed per meal. A spokeswoman for Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who earlier this month introduced legislation to...

Because of the importance of the US market, chocolate manufacturers in Switzerland are submitting to Uncle Sam’s intrusion in their factories but they are not happy about it. “The fact that a foreign authority is involved in our Swiss businesses is unseemly,” Daniel Bloch, of Chocolats Camille Bloch, told Handelszeitung, the German-language business journal. The newspaper has discovered that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to inspect 21 chocolate factories and 18 dairies in Switzerland. The move is part of the implementation of America’s Food Safety Modernization Act, new legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama last...

Without much fanfare, Dean Moyer has raised gerbils and hamsters for 12 years. He’s sold them to distributors who, in turn, have sold them to pet store owners across the country. Chances are good that the pet hamster your neighbor’s kid always carries in his hand came from Moyer’s Sand Valley Farms, Inc. But that could change soon if the folks at the USDA have their way. “Basically, the USDA just wants me to close up,” Moyer said. “They just want me to get out of the hamster business.” During the week of July 15, Moyer received a “really thick...

While it is already known that personnel from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) met with Mexican embassy officials this year to discuss nutrition assistance outreach efforts to immigrants, the agency is “slow-walking” a U.S. Senate effort to obtain information about the USDA’s partnership with Mexico to get more people enrolled in nutrition assistance programs. According to both the USDA and the Mexican embassy, USDA personnel meet “periodically” with officials from the Mexican embassy to discuss nutrition “assistance and education” pertaining to 15 domestic nutrition assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps. The most...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has started taking "bets" on its website over when Sen. Charles Grassley will die, after the Iowa Republican scolded the Department of Agriculture for advocating a vegetarian diet. The USDA drew the ire of rural state lawmakers over a newsletter urging department employees to embrace "Meatless Mondays." The USDA later retracted the newsletter and said it wasn't properly vetted, but Grassley vented on Twitter that he plans to "eat more meat on Monday to compensate for stupid USDA recommendation."

Yes, that would be the US Department of Agriculture, which is supposed to promote agriculture. Agriculture includes cattle ranching as well as farming (and dairies!). One of the most significant duties of the USDA is to rate the quality of meat so that consumers can be sure they’re eating healthy food. So why did the USDA send out a message to its employees discouraging the consumption of meat, using United Nations material? Senator Jerry Moran, a Republican who represents cattle-ranch-heavy Kansas, asked that question on the floor of the Senate yesterday:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "USDA Newsletter Encourages Employees Not to Eat Meat." This story has been unearthed by Caroline May at the Daily Caller. And, you know, she deserves a shout-out. Caroline May at the Daily Caller seems to be making a career out of exposing the information being put out on the USDA website. Caroline May is the reporter who broke all the stories about the USDA's various campaigns to enroll more people in food stamps. She's the one that found that. And in this report today, she tells us that the USDA has been telling its employees via their...

The world is facing a new food crisis as the worst US drought in more than 50 years pushes agricultural commodity prices to record highs. Corn and soyabean prices surged to record highs on Thursday, surpassing the peaks of the 2007-08 crisis that sparked food riots in more than 30 countries. Wheat prices are not yet at record levels but have rallied more than 50 per cent in five weeks, exceeding prices reached in the wake of Russia’s 2010 export ban. The drought in the US, which supplies nearly half the world’s exports of corn and much of its soyabeans...