Nebraska Gov Pete Ricketts with proclamation January as Human Trafficking month

January is #HumanTraffickingAwarenessMonth. Thank you to Attorney General Doug Peterson and everyone who joined our proclamation ceremony to highlight the great work being done to combat trafficking in Nebraska. 

To learn more about how we are working to end human trafficking in Nebraska, visit https://bit.ly/3oBeWVf for more information.

 

HPJ: In hindsight, 2020 sees producers overcome challenges

By Shauna Rumbaugh

Our No. 1 story of the year was a Loos Tales column, “The Stand at Paxton County.” Trent Loos played the role of Tom Gardner in the movie of the same name, which Loos said is “inspired by the story of the Dassinger Ranch in Stark County, North Dakota, and how animal rights organizations work with local authorities to remove animals from their owners.” The film is available on Netflix.

Link to whole article

Across the Pond Jan 12, 2021 Andrew Henderson (UK) and Trent Loos (NE) look at the real threat of China in addition how John F. Kennedy nailed it in a speech Sept 9, 1960 in Merced, CA

Link to the Rumble video

Link to the YouTube video

 

 Across the Pond Jan 11, 2021 Andrew Henderson from UK continues to share information that we don't know yet. National Milk Day and National Human Trafficking Day is going to be yet another day of significance in U.S. history.

Link to video

 Loos Tales for Jan 12, 2021 The United Nations is planning for the Food Systems Summit in Sept 2021 but the does the world know what the United States has really accomplished?

Link to radio program

Happy Thanksgiving from Loos Bike Gang

Very interesting discussion today with the butcher at Cheerbrook Market, Nantwich, England about "Rolled Leg of Pork." They butcher 8 pigs/week https://t.co/I3gUjnXt0t

This National Pork Board program makes very logical sense. Presentation at NE Pork by Jose de Jesus

Nebraska Pork Producer meeting in Lincoln focusing on importance of trade

USDA Sec Perdue explains modernizing pork and poultry plant inspections

USDA Sec of Ag Sonny Perdue takes a couple of minutes with me this historic week in American production to share exactly what is happening in the modernization of pork and poultry plants with FSIS inspections.

https://youtu.be/wNhZNMlezNQ

Given enough time the swamp will be drained

Given enough time the swamp will be drained.

Yet another bit of good news coming from USDA and Washington DC today. We have put our nations kids on path of starvation and depredation but this is another small step in the right direction.

The proposed rule also encourages state and local operators to focus resources on feeding children rather than administrative paperwork. These improvements build on the 2018 reforms that preserve strong nutrition standards while providing schools the additional flexibilities they need to best serve America's students.

USDA Announces School and Summer Meals Reforms

(San Antonio, TX, January 17, 2020) – Delivering on his promise to act on feedback from dietary professionals, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced two proposals today that will put local school and summer food service operators back in the driver’s seat of their programs, because they know their children best. Under the school meals proposed rule, school nutrition professionals have more flexibility to serve appetizing and healthy meals that appeal to their students’ preferences and subsequently reduce food waste. The proposed rule also encourages state and local operators to focus resources on feeding children rather than administrative paperwork. These improvements build on the 2018 reforms that preserve strong nutrition standards while providing schools the additional flexibilities they need to best serve America's students. “Schools and school districts continue to tell us that there is still too much food waste and that more common-sense flexibility is needed to provide students nutritious and appetizing meals. We listened and now we’re getting to work,” said Secretary Perdue. “Our proposed changes empower schools to give their very best to our children nationwide and have the potential to benefit nearly 100,000 schools and institutions that feed 30 million children each school day through USDA’s school meal programs. Providing children with wholesome, nutritious food is part of our motto at USDA, which is to ‘do right and feed everyone.’” Background: The school meals proposed rule would continue to ensure children receive wholesome, tasty meals that provide the nutrition they need to grow and thrive, while offering increased flexibilities for local school districts to serve children food they will want to eat, by: Allowing local schools to offer more vegetable varieties, while keeping plenty of veggies in each meal; Making it easier for schools to offer school lunch entrees for a la carte purchase, thereby reducing food waste; Providing schools options to customize meal patterns to best serve children in different grades or smaller schools who eat together;  Supporting a more customized school breakfast environment by letting schools adjust fruit servings and making it simpler to offer meats/meat alternates, ultimately encouraging breakfast options outside the cafeteria so students can start their day with a healthy breakfast; and Shifting to a performance-focused administrative review process that is less burdensome and time consuming, which would increase collaboration with operators to improve program integrity. USDA also proposed another rule with customer-focused reforms to the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which serves more than 2.6 million children during the summer months, when they are at higher risk of food insecurity and poor nutrition because they do not have access to school meals. The summer feeding rule offers operators more local control to better serve children by:  Providing more flexibilities in choosing meal offerings, meal service times, and allowing children to take certain nonperishable food items offsite; Granting tested and proven flexibilities that make it easier for sponsors and sites to participate by reducing paperwork and streamlining the application process for high-performing, experienced operators; Balancing program integrity and flexibility with stronger monitoring to help sponsors maximize their resources; and Clarifying performance standards and eligibility requirements for sites. USDA remains committed to listening to and collaborating with customers, partners, and stakeholders to make these proposed reforms as effective as possible and encourages all those who are interested in school meals, summer meals, and all child nutrition programs to comment on the proposals once they publish on Regulations.gov.  USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) works to reduce food insecurity and promote nutritious diets among the American people. The agency administers 15 nutrition assistance programs that leverage American’s agricultural abundance to ensure children and low-income individuals and families have nutritious food to eat. FNS also co-develops the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which provide science-based nutrition recommendations and serve as the cornerstone of federal nutrition policy.