Ag Policy Blog

On social media on Friday, President Donald Trump called for the Justice Department to immediately begin an investigation into meatpackers. Attorney General Pam Bondi responded that the DOJ's Antitrust Division is looking into the industry.

A ruling on Thursday by U.S. District Judge John McConnell was just the latest twist in the government shutdown and food aid to nearly 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The judge ordered the Trump administration to make full...

A former chairman of the Farm Credit Administration, Glen Smith, had his confirmation hearing Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Senators had several areas where they want to see more attention paid by USDA.

USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) on Friday posted that some key reports will be released in November. The World Agricultural Outlook Board will release the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) on Nov. 14, along with the Crop Production...

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered USDA to pay for SNAP benefits in November while a judge in Massachusetts ordered USDA to provide details on its next steps by Monday.

As the funding cuts to SNAP come into focus, more groups also weighed in Monday about funding the program through November despite the federal government shutdown. USDA has said no SNAP benefits will be released on Nov. 1.

Declaring that nearly 42 million people won't receive food-aid benefits in November because of the government shutdown is unprecedented and reflects a policy choice to use low-income people as leverage to end the shutdown.

Farm Service Agency offices should reopen around the country starting Thursday. Staff at offices could be limited, but they will be available for processing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payments and offering Marketing Assistance Loans. Employees who are authorized to...

In an open letter, Nobel and World Food Prize laureates warned that the world is not close to meeting future food needs while more than 700 million people are hungry, and 2 billion people do not have reliable access to food. Celebrity chef Jose Andres joined their call for a...

The U.S. is already importing more beef than at any time on record, but Argentina currently accounts for just under 2.2% of total U.S. beef and veal imports. Looking at the numbers, it doesn't seem practical that Argentina would become a much bigger supplier for beef to...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been trying to convince the White House to reopen Farm Service Agency offices so farmers can utilize Marketing Assistance Loans. Based on MAL usage, that is likely affecting farmers of some commodity crops more than others.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer held press conference where they appeared to play a version of good cop, bad cop when it comes to negotiations with China over rare earth minerals. China's plan to curb exports of the minerals has...

Along with calling for an aid package, the letters by the American Farm Bureau Federation to the president and Congress also propose other multiple actions on trade, biofuels and competition.

The EU Parliament on Wednesday voted for a tighter definition of meat as coming from edible parts of animals and specified that names such as steak, sausage, burger and escalope must be reserved for products containing meat and must exclude cell-cultured products.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week he expects the administration to make an announcement Tuesday about aid to farmers who have lost sales to China due to the conflicts between the Trump administration and China. The aid package could be as high as $15 billion...

A new Labor Department rule lowers the Adverse Effect Wage Rate methodology for H-2A workers. The wage changes in the interim final rule published in the Federal Register will save H-2A employers $2.46 billion per year.

Health and Human Services (HHS) last year cited that 17% of individuals buying insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace are rural residents, or about 4 million people overall. Rural residents benefit heavily from premium tax credits that were increased in...

USDA's Lapse of Funding Plan spells out what positions and obligations at various agencies will continue to operate and which agency activities will be halted. All told, USDA will furlough 42,256 employees out of 85,907 total employees across the department.

USDA has not provided details about its shutdown plans, but the department did highlight some work will cease on Wednesday because farm-bill authorization has expired.

On Meet the Press, the Senate majority leader reaffirmed that farmers will need an aid package before the end of the year. He also defended the president's tariff policies and blamed China for refusing to buy U.S. soybeans.