GFB Young Farmers and Ranchers and SNAP Food Purchasing Rules
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Coffee County’s Walt Pridgen, Bibb County’s Haley Scruggs and Kylie Sizemore of Franklin County, winners of the
Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers 2025 competitive events, are preparing for national competitions at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention in Anaheim, California, next month.
The YF&R competitions enable members to showcase their leadership experience, communication skills and business plans as they compete against the best of the best from each state Farm Bureau.
**USDA approved stricter limits in multiple states on what Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients can buy, beginning in the new year.
Under the waivers, states can redefine “food for purchase” to exclude items such as candy, soda and other products deemed unhealthy.
Six states, including Hawaii, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, received USDA approval, joining others that have already adopted similar rules under the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.
**U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists have intercepted a species of bark beetle never before found at a U.S. port of entry.
The tiny insect, identified as Ctonoxylon spinifer Eggers, was discovered in a piece of dried bark a passenger carried through Detroit Metropolitan Airport en route to Texas.
Experts say the Afrotropical beetle tunnels within bark layers, making it a potential threat to trees such as figs and olives.
