children

Working on the farm can be very dangerous, especially for some of the youngest workers and helpers.  In an effort to protect children across the nation the Childhood Agricultural Safety Network in kicking off its 25th year with a virtual meeting at 8 a.m. (PT) on Fri...

USDA's annual look at household food security in our nation reveals that in 2023, food insecurity among American households increased from 12.8% to 13.5%.   “Very low food security, a more severe form of food insecurity, was unchanged," noted economic researcher Matthew Rabbit.   R...

This is National Farm Safety and Health Week, and this year’s theme is “Protecting Agriculture’s Future”.  Laura Siegel with AgriSafe said the health and safety of workers must be the cornerstone of sustainable farming this week and year-round.   She noted that statistic...

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is investing more than $3.5 million to get locally grown food on lunch trays across the state this school year.  WSDA recently notified 83 school districts and childcare centers letting them know that they can use the money to make farm food purchases during the current school year.  WSDA Fa...

Last week, the House and Senate each passed the Keep Kids Fed Act, but the bill had to return to the House because the Senate version was slightly different.  The Hagstrom Report said the House passed the Senate’s version of the bill that requires the re-establishment of the reduced price category that Rand Paul of Kentucky insisted on including in the Senate version. The agreeme...

USDA’s Economic Research Service says participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children is declining. Fiscal year 2020 marked the 10th consecutive fiscal year WIC participation declined. On average, 6.2 mil ...

A new report finds only 11% of rural children across America are enrolled in an afterschool program. For every rural child in an afterschool program, four more are waiting to get in. The report, Spiking Demand, Growing Barriers, is based on a household survey conducted by Edge Research for the Afterschool Alliance ...

Participants in WIC may soon see a temporary increase to their benefits. The increase will apply to the purchase of fruits and vegetables. With $490 million provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, USDA has offered the option of boosting the cash-value voucher benefit by more than three times the current amount for up to four months to provide additional relief during the pandemic ... R

The National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety is providing new safety booklets in an attempt to lower the number of injuries and deaths of children each year on the farm. According to the organization, more young people have died this decade working in agriculture than all other industries combined ...

USDA's WIC program has been under the spotlight as of recent. "Which is designed to provide healthy foods for pregnant women, and young moms, and young children. That's a program that has been incredibly effective except that, as I said earlier, we have some challenged in terms of access," noted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ...