The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it had pulled all staff from a...
HENRY COUNTY, Ill./CHICAGO - The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it had pulled all staff from an annual crop tour after an employee was threatened, and three sources said the threat came over the phone from an angry farmer.
Lance Honig, crops chief at the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, and other USDA staffers left the privately-run Pro Farmer tour and police will be present on upcoming stops of the trip, which ends on Thursday, three sources with knowledge of the situation said. Honig had been scheduled to attend a meeting later on Wednesday and speak at the tour’s final event in Rochester, Minnesota, on Thursday to answer questions about the government’s crop forecast, according to tour organizers.Farmers at stops throughout the eastern and western legs of the normally tranquil crop tour have expressed frustration with USDA - though less so with President Donald Trump, who they largely continue to support.
The Trump administration has also been scrambling to stem the tide of rising anger in Farm Belt states after its decision this month to allow numerous oil refiners to mix less corn-based ethanol into their gasoline.
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