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Trump marks first 100 days in office in campaign mode, focused on grudges and grievances; Maine's Rep. Pingree focuses on farm resilience as USDA cuts funding; AZ protesters plan May Day rally against Trump administration; Proposed Medicaid cuts could threaten GA families' health, stability.

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Trump marks first 100 days of his second term. GOP leaders praise the administration's immigration agenda, and small businesses worry about the impacts of tariffs as 90-day pause ends.

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Migration to rural America increased for the fourth year, technological gaps handicap rural hospitals and erode patient care, and doctors are needed to keep the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians healthy and align with spiritual principles.

Nebraska USDA workers face unprecedented layoffs

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Monday, March 3, 2025   

Mass layoffs by the Trump administration are cutting into essential services across the federal government.

In Nebraska, that includes overseeing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's response to the avian flu outbreak, working with state agencies that regulate large animal confinement operations.

One-third of the Nebraska workers across three USDA divisions have lost their jobs - including at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center.

New U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency is "eliminating positions that are no longer necessary."

But Nebraska Farmer's Union President John Hansen said many of the federal programs help the state's farmers and ranchers meet conservation goals.

"Putting solar panels on their hog units," said Hansen, "or they're making improvements in their cropping system, or they're updating their diesel irrigation engine and moving it into an electric motor system."

The USDA makes funds available to CAFO operators trying to implement more environmentally friendly practices and reduce toxic manure runoff that can affect air quality and groundwater.

It isn't clear what will happen to those programs or the people who still work there.

Hansen added that some Nebraska farmers decided to upgrade their operations because they had federal funds to help them.

Now, he said they may no longer have access to that money, which leaves them in the lurch.

"The folks who do the work and take the risk and produce our nation's food and fiber and fuel are already in very vulnerable financial positions," said Hansen. "All of these folks that are being terminated are part of the public-private partnership that we have between agriculture and our federal government. "

The cuts across many high profile agencies are part of the Trump administration's goal of reducing the size of the federal government.



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