Latest news with #AgricultureandRuralDevelopment
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Gives us All Whiplash With Threat of New Tariffs—Now on Mexico
Mere hours after the markets were slightly buoyed by a White House announcement that Donald Trump's global tariff plan would see a 90-day pause, the president decided to reverse course and threaten more tariffs. In a nighttime post to Truth Social Thursday, Trump warned that Mexico could be subject to a higher tariff rate as punishment for allegedly violating an 81-year-old water treaty. 'Mexico OWES Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, but Mexico is unfortunately violating their Treaty obligation,' Trump wrote. 'This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly.' 'Last year, the only Sugar Mill in Texas CLOSED, because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas Farmers. Ted Cruz has been leading the fight to get South Texas the water it is owed, but Sleepy Joe refused to lift a finger to help the Farmers,' he continued. 'THAT ENDS NOW!' the president wrote. 'I will make sure Mexico doesn't violate our Treaties, and doesn't hurt our Texas Farmers. Just last month, I halted water shipments to Tijuana until Mexico complies with the 1944 Water Treaty. My Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas Farmers, and we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!' Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum didn't outright reject the claim that her country had violated the water deal, but instead cited a three-year drought induced by climate change as the reason for the decreased shipments, noting on X that 'to the extent water is available, Mexico has been complying.' 'I have instructed the Secretaries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, to immediately contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of State,' Sheinbaum wrote. 'I am confident that, as with other issues, an agreement will be reached.' Meanwhile, Trump's hit-or-miss approach to enacting tariffs has sent the U.S. markets into a tailspin in little more than a week, leaving some financial experts believing that the president had done irreparable damage to America's trade reputation and its economy. Banks and investment firms are still predicting a high possibility of a recession, even after Trump caved to mounting domestic pressure Wednesday and announced a 90-day pause to his sweeping tariff proposal for 200 countries.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Produce Patch lands grant
A Daviess County agricultural business is one of 17 Hoosier farm operations that have received a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Marketing Service. The Produce Patch, headquartered near Plainville, will be one of 17 food operations in the state that will be sharing in $6.7 million in grants through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program. Amy Holstine, co-owner of the Produce Patch, says the business applied for the grant about a year ago, and was surprised when the awards were announced. 'When President Donald Trump got elected and he started cutting out all of the grants, we kind of figured that this wasn't going to happen. We had not heard anything for months and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. Then last week we started hearing from them again,' she said. 'It is really exciting. It will allow us to move the business forward in a quicker manner and in the end, we will be able to serve a lot more folks with a lot larger variety of produce. That's at the heart of what we do.' The grant will cover 75% of the cost of a major construction expansion for the Produce Patch operation. 'We have already outgrown our current packing shed. This will allow us to expand into a larger warehouse and packing shed with updated and larger coolers, and loading docks that will allow us to operate more seamlessly and expand. It will be a lot more efficient than our current operation,' said Holstine. 'We hope to have the construction to start on the building this fall and have it up and running next spring.' Holstine says the Produce Patch operations have largely been limited to growing seasons because of the smaller facilities. Now, the business will be able to work with different markets in larger parts of the year. 'In the past we have worked with people like the hospital. With this facility that we are going to build, we hope to become more of a year-round operation where we can aggregate food and distribute it for a greater part of the year. It should help us start earlier in the spring and expand our operations into later in the fall,' she said. 'We grow a lot of our own produce, but we also purchase a lot from farms all around the area. We go into southern Illinois for strawberries, peaches. It will help us strengthen those relationships and help other farmers find an end source for their products.' The grants went to small farm-based food companies around the state producing everything for the table from honey to meat and building resiliency across the middle of the food chain. 'Indiana farmers work hard to produce millions of pounds of fruits, vegetables and other pantry staples each year that are eventually shipped across state lines or do not even make it to market,' Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith, Indiana's Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development said. 'This grant funding will ensure more Hoosiers are fed by Hoosiers and that these organizations can better serve their communities.' In an unrelated action, the owners of the Produce Patch announced plans for construction of a new retail operation. The new facility will go where the former stand on SR 57 was. 'We intend to put a retail market there in Washington. We are hoping to be in that by early summer,' said Holstine. 'We will be opening next week. We will be rolling in a wagon with a little canopy and a small building. That way we can operate during construction.'
Russia Today
04-04-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Poland deputy minister eyes key Ukrainian port
Poland should acquire a section of Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa to transport grain, Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Michal Kolodziejczak has said. 'This is what I want to propose: Why don't we talk to the Ukrainians about selling a wharf or leasing it to us for 50 years so that the Poles could have their own grain port?' the official told Polsat News on Friday. 'Such a place could be found, for example, in Odessa, where Polish and European grain will be transported. This way, we will secure access to the Black Sea,' he added. Kolodziejczak suggested that the port could be used to export the grain from southeastern Poland. The deputy minister said that he was 'afraid' of Ukraine joining the EU 'because we don't know what will happen.' 'If [only] we had this on a platter: 500,000 hectares in Ukraine for Polish breeding companies,' he added. Kolodziejczak argued that if Ukraine joined the EU, its citizens should be banned from investing in Polish agriculture for 10 years. Ukraine applied to join the EU in February 2022. The bloc formally launched accession negotiations with Kiev in December 2023. Read more West European states want Russian assets to stay frozen Russia repeatedly struck the infrastructure of the port of Odessa, which it said was used by the Ukrainian army to launch seaborne kamikaze drones. In July 2022, Russia and Ukraine reached a UN-backed agreement to allow a safe passage of grain ships from Ukraine's ports. Moscow withdrew from the deal in 2023, accusing the West of failing to lift the sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin said last month that it would return to the deal if the West removed sanctions on banks and companies involved in food and fertilizer exports. Russia and the US are currently discussing a maritime truce as a step towards a comprehensive ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
