Ag News: Fruit & Vegetable Consumption Down
**Fruit and vegetable consumption has declined almost 10% since 2004, despite decades of industry and public health efforts, according to a Produce for Better Health Foundation 2020 study.
www.agrimarketing.com reports, the sharpest decline was the 16% drop in vegetable consumption frequency, followed by a 15% reduction in juice intake.
Foundation CEO Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak says this underconsumption is pervasive and persistent among all age groups.
www.agrimarketing.com/s/135436
**In a 247-174 vote, the House passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act Thursday, which provides a path to legal status for almost 1 million immigrant farmworkers and reforms the existing H-2A ag worker visa program.
According to www.agriculture.com, the bill, co-sponsored by Washington Republican Dan Newhouse and California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, has received solid support from food worker and farm advocacy groups.
Demand for reform has been high among growers, who say it’s increasingly difficult to find domestic farm laborers and find the H-2A visa program onerous.
www.agriculture.com/news/business/house-vote-opens-path-to-legal-status-for-immigrant-farmworkers
**Farmers waiting to hear about aid programs from USDA will likely have to wait until April for the President to complete reviews and release funds.
www.agfax.com reports, the Biden administration is still reviewing the last farm aid programs initiated by the Trump administration, as well as developing the programs that will come from the aid bill from last December AND the new aid package passed earlier this month.
www.agfax.com/2021/03/19/biden-administration-working-through-farm-aid-needs-dtn/