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United States District Judge Nancy E. Brasel sentenced Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, age 36, to 28 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a $300 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally program to feed hungry kids during the COVID-19 pandemic. Farah helped orchestrate the largest known COVID-19 fraud scheme called Feeding Our Future in Minnesota. Farah and his co-defendants stole more than $47 million by claiming to serve 18 million meals to kids at more than 30 food distribution sites. Farah was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $47,920,514. He's...

*** A coalition of 20 attorneys general, led by New York AG Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the lawsuit Monday, arguing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s demand that states turn over personal information about SNAP recipients dating back five years, violates privacy laws. SNAP is a federally-funded, state-administered program that provides billions of dollars in food benefits to tens of millions of low-income individuals and families in the United States. The new USDA demands, released last week, require states to provide a list of individuals who have applied or are currently receiving SNAP benefits, in...

A coalition of 20 states and Washington, D.C. announced a new lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the federal agency told states to turn over the detailed, personal information of food assistance applicants and their household members.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James joined California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced at a joint press conference on Monday that they are suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture over demands to turn over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicant data. The attorneys general are leading a coalition of 20 states and Washington, DC in their lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration. The coalition argues that the extensive demand for SNAP applicant data will violate residents’ privacy, put immigrants at risk, and hinder the ability of states to provide food assistance to those...

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, comes as part of a multi-state effort led by Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James. It argues that the USDA’s directive, requiring states to turn over names, Social Security numbers, addresses, and other private information dating back five years, violates federal privacy laws and exceeds the agency’s authority. The USDA has warned it may withhold administrative funding from states that don’t comply. For California, that could mean losing roughly $1 billion annually, which is used to run the program. Any delay or disruption in...

In some massive news for those wanting to see fraudsters held accountable for their awful crimes against the public, the Department of Justice and FBI announced that it had arrested nearly 6 dozen fraudsters in the deep blue state of Minnesota over a scheme in which they stole $250 million from a program meant to feed hungry children. As background, the $250 million fraud scheme targeted a children’s nutrition program that was created during the COVID-19 pandemic and called “Feeding our Future.” It was meant to reimburse the costs of feeding children during the pandemic, so as to keep kids...

“Farm security is national security,” declared U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins, as she unveiled a sweeping National Farm Security Action Plan at a press conference on July 8, 2025. Flanked by Trump adviser Peter Navarro, several governors, and key Cabinet officials, Rollins rolled out the most aggressive federal effort in decades to curb foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and shield the agricultural sector from national-security threats, particularly those posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).The USDA’s announcement follows a February 2025 directive from President Trump, who ordered the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)...

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said millions of adult Medicaid participants who will face stricter work requirements under the GOP megabill should replace foreign farm workers deported under the Trump administration’s immigration policies. “There will be no amnesty,” Rollins said Tuesday during an event at USDA headquarters highlighting the administration’s efforts to strengthen farm and national security policy. “The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move the workforce towards automation and 100 percent American participation.” “With 34 million people, able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly,” she added, referencing Medicaid participants...

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins revealed that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rolling out the National Farm Security Action Plan, which will “promote agricultural prosperity” and “defend the foundations of agriculture” and strengthen the U.S. domestic food supply. During a virtual pen & pad event on Monday evening, ahead of a press conference on Tuesday, Rollins explained that the plan includes “seven key action items.” One of the key action items focused on “securing and protecting the American farmland,” while another key point focused on “rooting out fraud, abuse, and foreign adversaries” that were posing a threat...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a potential plan to vaccinate poultry against bird flu for the first time that includes evaluating how it would affect exports, the agency told Reuters this week. The actions advance the government's assessment of a vaccine after the USDA received proposals on usage from associations representing egg and turkey producers whose farms have been devastated by the virus. Nearly 175 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been culled in attempts to contain outbreaks since 2022 in the nation's worst animal-health emergency. Losses of egg-laying chickens drove egg prices to records this year,...

A Wisconsin dairy farmer alleged in a federal lawsuit filed Monday that the Trump administration is illegally denying financial assistance to white farmers by continuing programs that favor minorities.The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal court in Wisconsin on behalf of a white dairy farmer, Adam Faust. *** The new lawsuit alleges the government has continued to implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were instituted under former President Joe Biden. *** . “After being ignored by a federal agency that’s meant to support agriculture, I hope my...

Perry Carbone, Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515; Charmeka Parker, the Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General (“USDA-OIG”); and Christopher G. Raia, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation(“FBI”), announced the unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging six individuals in connection with a sprawling fraud and bribery scheme that generated over $66 million in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”)—colloquially known as food stamps. This is one of the largest food...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended the House GOP’s proposed changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) on Sunday, arguing that states will better administer food stamp benefits if they have to shoulder more of the costs. “The states are not properly administering this because they don’t have enough skin in the game,” Johnson told CBS’s Margaret Brennan in an interview on “Face the Nation.” The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the GOP-controlled House narrowly passed early Thursday morning after an overnight session, calls for the federal share of SNAP costs to drop from the current 100...

(College Station, T.X., April 29, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today announced a second round of payments coming this week for specialty crop producers through the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program, providing up to $1.3 billion in additional program assistance. U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) already delivered just under $900 million in first round payments to eligible producers.

(Washington, D.C., April 24, 2025) – Today, at the direction of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services John Walk issued guidance to all State agencies directing them to enhance identity and immigration verification practices when determining eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This guidance is one of many steps toward fulfilling President Trump’s Executive Order 14218, which directs USDA and other federal agencies to “enhance eligibility verification systems, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure that taxpayer funded benefits exclude any ineligible alien.” “President Trump has made...

In a dramatic move to protect America’s cattle industry, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has warned Mexico that the U.S. will halt imports of live animals — including cattle and bison — if Mexico doesn’t step up efforts to combat a dangerous pest creeping northward. In a letter sent Saturday and obtained by Fox News, Secretary Rollins put the Mexican government on notice to act immediately to fight the spread of the New World screwworm or face serious economic consequences on the border. The USDA has set a firm deadline of April 30 for Mexico to address the growing crisis, or...

@RepThomasMassie People should not be allowed to use food stamps (EBT) to purchase sugary drinks like Coke and Pepsi. Libertarian arguments about choice do not apply here. The money being used for EBT was extracted from taxpayers who have no choice in whether to give up their money.

After Donald Trump won the presidency again, Rebecca Carlson was counting on this being the year things turned around for her 1,300-acre farm in northern Michigan. The farm has been in her family for generations but has struggled over the past several years amid the rising cost of fuel, fertilizer and other operating expenses. Then, last year, bad weather wiped out much of her crop. But the return of Trump, she thought, would help reverse things. Her farm had been awarded a grant worth $400,000 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for the costs associated with hiring...

This page summarizes the February 2025 Food Price Outlook forecasts, which incorporate the January 2025 Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index numbers. See the Overview page for Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index datasets that include recent price changes and forecasts of price changes for all categories discussed in this summary. Consumer Price Index for Food (not seasonally adjusted) The all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of economy-wide inflation, increased 0.7 percent from December 2024 to January 2025 and was up 3.0 percent from January 2024. The CPI for all food increased 0.6 percent from December 2024...

Vegetable gardening has become an increasingly popular trend in recent years, with individuals and communities alike embracing the benefits of growing their own fresh produce. Recognizing the significance of this movement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now encouraging people to register their vegetable gardens. This new initiative aims to better understand and support the efforts of home gardeners, while also contributing to a more sustainable local food system. The decision by the USDA to ask people to register their vegetable gardens stems from a deep appreciation for the positive impact that these gardens can have on both individuals...