Recently, President Trump proposed a budget for 2027 that calls for $1.5 trillion for defence, while cutting $660 billion from non-defence programs. The budget proposes that the USDA allocation would be $20.8 billion, a $4.9 billion dollar decline from 2026, while the executive summary calls the USDA a “bloated bureaucracy with too many extraneous programs that don’t support Trump’s America First agricultural policy.” But, the budget proposal includes $50 million for USDA reorganization and staff reductions in Washington D.C., while also cutting $659 million in funding for Community Facilities grants that offer direct loans, loan guarantees, and grants for public service buildings that will improve the quality of life, develop, and sustain rural America. Examples include fire and rescue stations, health care facilities and rehab centers, adult and child care centers, assisted living facilities, town halls, schools, and libraries. But wait, there’s more. The budget cuts would also reduce university research funding for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture formula grants that fund land-grant universities forestry, veterinary medicine programs that support agricultural research and extension.
Farmers that need to replace outdated or worn out equipment are having a tough time being able to afford trading up because of trade war tariffs that have increased the price of new equipment. John Deere Company estimates that tariffs will cost the company $1.2 in 2026, much of which will be passed on to farmers who purchase the equipment. Kip Eideburg Senior Vice President, Government & Industry Relations at Association of Equipment Manufacturers stated that the easiest way to bring down the cost of farm equipment would be to “significantly scale back on the tariffs that are hitting the manufacturers. But the Trump Administration seems014to be doubling down on tariffs, since there are reports that indicate Trump is planning to impose a 25% tariff on the total value of imported goods that contain steel and aluminum, which includes tractors and combines that are valued at tens of thousands of dollars. The Association points out that the sales of tractors and combines in the U.S. is down between 30% to 40% in March, compared to a year ago. In a recent John Deere earnings call, a company official was quoted saying that the company estimates that tariffs will cost the company 1.2 billion dollars in 2026, while not all of the company’s tariff costs had been passed on to farmers.
The return of the bald eagle to the U.S. skies is a testament to how public support for the ban of the pesticide DDT in the early 1970s helped to save this regal bird from extinction. Currently the estimated population of bald eagles in the U.S. is 315,000, and here in southwest Colorado, we can often spot them in flight, perched in trees or tending their nests in the tops of cottonwoods But scientists are still concerned about the bird’s future in North America, since they face habitat loss and are very susceptible to avian influenza, that has killed hundreds of these birds since 2022 nationwide. In Pennsylvania, where both wild and domestic birds have been infected by the disease, the USDA has recorded 48 cases of bald eagles sickened by avian influenza, but a University of Georgia researcher who is studying the impact of avian influenza on eagles and black vultures believes that there are many more eagles that have contracted the disease this year.
Former president Bill Clinton wrote, You can put wings on a pig, but you don't make it an eagle.
