Department of Agriculture to cut funding to one of the state's major food assistance programs is on hold for now. Hudson points out that Montana's situation is different from other states because we have a 40,000-square-foot warehouse that temporarily stores food for the American Indian program. The USDA proposal called for hiring a national contractor which Nolan says is not cost-effective, and he doesn't want the current system to be disrupted. Hudson explained that his truck drivers are...

The commission, formed a few months ago with the help of a $10,000 USDA grant, is working to pull together an inventory of farm products raised in the area, tie local foods in with school districts, and identify issues that may serve as a barrier to successful farming. SunJournal.com - In River Valley, a new push for agriculture . Subscribe .FAQ's . Why Register . Privacy Statement . The commission, formed a few months ago with the help of a $10,000 USDA grant, is working to pull together...

A supplementary spending bill for the war includes $3 billion in agricultural disaster assistance that farm groups had been trying to get through Congress since 2005. The end to the battle over funding the Iraq war means that some farmers who lost crops to drought over the past two years may get a government check. There also is a new requirement for federal disaster aid: Farmers must have insured the damaged crop to qualify for the payments. USDA officials said it is likely to be several...

The USDA actually recommends 160 degrees, so checking your meat to make sure it is cooked in the middle up to full temperature is good safety for killing organisms, said Love. To reduce the risk of fire or explosion, do a safety check on the grill itself, keeping the unit at least 10 feet away from your house or any other building. She said, It's very important to make sure that you keep meats that need to be refrigerated in the refrigerator as close to grilling time as possible. Use a...

Re-opening the border to the older Canadian cattle not only has the potential to harm livestock producers by flooding the market with cattle, but it increases the risk of exposing American consumers to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, also known as "mad cow disease," R-CALF contends. Search the Rapid City Journal. Ultimately, it could be the deaths of people's pets, attributed to a banned substance in imported wheat gluten, that puts pressure on USDA, Fox said. Re-opening the...