The $4.7 billion in cuts would leave USDA with a budget of $17.9 billion after cutting some statistical and rural business services and encouraging private sector conservation planning (all figures US$). Farm groups warned that farmers and rural communities could suffer.

The budget proposal would save $498 million by eliminating a rural water and wastewater loan and grant program that helps fund clean water and sewer systems in communities with fewer than 10,000 people.

Other areas targeted for cuts include staffing at county-level USDA service centres.

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the country’s largest organization representing farmers, said cuts to statistical services could hurt members.

“That’s a big concern because a lot of farmers and growers rely on USDA’s statistical capabilities to make a lot of marketing and risk management decisions and planting decisions,” said John Newton, AFBF director of market intelligence.

The budget proposal did not give details of which services could be cut.

Greg Fogel, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said cuts to rural development work could harm businesses in rural areas as these programs had created jobs and helped businesses survive.

The White House also said it would eliminate the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program, which donates U.S. agricultural commodities to food-deficit countries. The program, which had $182 million earmarked in the fiscal-year 2017 USDA budget, “lacks evidence that it is being effectively implemented to reduce food insecurity,” the document said.

The plans for USDA spending were part of Trump’s budget blueprint, a broad outline of spending proposals for the fiscal year ahead.

The blueprint does not cover “mandatory” spending established by law, such as farm subsidies, only “discretionary” programs where lawmakers can adjust spending.

The Trump White House has said it plans to release a traditional full budget in mid-May.

The budget plan calls for $6.2 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, about $150 million less than budgeted in fiscal 2016. Under former President Barack Obama, the program was reduced by $273 million between fiscal 2015 and 2016.

USDA oversees agriculture, rural communities and nutritional programs, including funding for school lunches. The agency also publishes closely watched global farming production statistics.

— Reporting for Reuters by P.J. Huffstutter and Jo Winterbottom in Chicago. Additional reporting for Reuters by Karl Plume in Chicago.

The post Trump budget plan cuts USDA food, rural water funding appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this represented the first confirmed case of highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry in the U.S. this year. It is the first time HPAI has been found in Tennessee, the state government said.

Tyson, the biggest chicken meat producer in the U.S., said in a statement it was working with Tennessee and federal officials to contain the virus by euthanizing the birds on the contract farm.

In 2014 and 2015, during a widespread outbreak of HPAI, the U.S. killed nearly 50 million birds, mostly egg-laying hens. The losses pushed U.S. egg prices to record highs and prompted trading partners to ban imports of American poultry, even though there was little infection then in the broiler industry.

No people were affected in that outbreak, which was primarily of the H5N2 strain. The risk of human infection in poultry outbreaks is low, although in China people have died this winter amid an outbreak of the H7N9 virus in birds.

The facility in southern Tennessee’s Lincoln County has been placed under quarantine, along with about 30 other poultry farms within a 10 km radius of the site, the state said. Other flocks in the quarantined area are being tested, it added.

Tyson, USDA and the state did not name the facility involved. Tyson said it did not expect disruptions to its chicken business.

USDA should have more information by Monday evening about the particular strain of the virus involved, spokeswoman Donna Karlsons said by email.

HPAI was last found in a commercial turkey flock in Indiana in January 2016.

USDA said it would inform the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and international trading partners of the outbreak.

The biggest traditional markets for U.S. chicken meat are Mexico and Canada, which introduced state or regional bans on U.S. broiler exports after the outbreak two years ago, and China, which imposed a national ban.

South Korea’s agriculture ministry announced Monday it will ban imports of U.S. poultry effective March 6 following the Tennessee outbreak. South Korea, in the midst of its own worst-ever bird flu outbreak with an H5N6 strain, has been importing eggs from the U.S.

Tennessee’s broiler production is too small to rank it in the top five U.S. producing states but it is the third-largest generator of cash receipts in agriculture for the state.

Tennessee is generally within the Mississippi flyway for migrating birds, which in Canada passes over Ontario and parts of Manitoba, Quebec and Nunavut.

In January, USDA detected bird flu in a wild duck in Montana that appeared to match one of the strains found during the 2014 and 2015 outbreak.

The U.S. stepped up biosecurity measures aimed at preventing the spread of bird flu after the outbreak two years ago.

Tyson said precautions being taken include disinfecting all vehicles entering farms and banning all nonessential visitor access to contract farms.

In recent months, different strains of bird flu have been confirmed across Asia and in Europe. Authorities have culled millions of birds in affected areas to control the outbreaks.

France, which has the largest poultry flock in the European Union, has reported outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus.

— Reporting for Reuters by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Jo Winterbottom in Chicago and Jane Chung in Seoul. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

The post Bird flu found in Tennessee chicken flock appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.