
Obama administration’s new ‘fruits-and-veggies’ program gets thumbs up from environmentalists
FARMERS AND VEGETABLES: The Obama administration is rolling out a new federal program aimed at helping farmers get the fruits and vegetables they need.
The Department of Agriculture has announced it will create a “Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Program” that will encourage producers to make more vegetables, fruit and grains available to the public.
The program is expected to reach 1 million acres in 2016.
The department has made the announcement at the National Farmers Union conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell also participating in the announcement.
Vilsack said in a statement that the program “will help farmers who are working to meet the nation’s food security needs.”
USDA is currently looking for 2 million acres of new farmland, according to the USDA’s latest crop projections.
The USDA’s announcement comes as the U.S. government continues to grapple with the nation to feed its growing population.
In April, the USDA announced it would reduce its goal of meeting its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions goals by 3 percent to 5 percent over the next 10 years, a move the agency called “unprecedented.”
The USDA said in April that it would make the reduction through a variety of initiatives, including a “reducing” of corn and soybean acreage and increasing of wheat and other grain-based crops.
In the meantime, the U,S.
corn crop production is down by 1.3 percent this year.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in February that the U’s greenhouse gas emission targets would not be met unless agriculture is able to shift from large, mechanized operations to more efficient production techniques, including smaller farms.
According to the U., USDA’s new program will help farmers grow more vegetables and fruits, and also help the USDA increase production of grain and other crops.
USDA has previously created a program called the Sustainable Agriculture Program that will help help feed hungry families.
Varsack said the new program “has the potential to help feed and feed more Americans” and said the program is an example of the “fertilizer of the future.”
The U,s Agriculture Department also said in the release that the USDA has created a new program that will provide free seeds and fertilizer to farmers who participate in the new federal initiative.
The new program, which will run for five years, will be administered by the USDA National Agricultural Marketing Program and will include farmers who have already participated in the program and will be able to continue doing so.
According the USDA, the program will “ensure that farmers can meet their production targets without the need to purchase seed and fertilizer and save money on the cost of providing seeds and fertilizers.”
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