Ag Policy Blog

Despite intense lobbying to reject a new plan for farm programs, the European Parliament on Friday voted to pass a new seven-year Common Agricultural Policy, effectively the EU's farm bill.

As usual, complication reigns over talks and votes regarding a stimulus package in Congress, and time is slipping away in the run up to the Nov. 3 election.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall announced today that the 2021 Farm Bureau convention will be online only.

In a civil forum held Tuesday for the Farm Foundation, Samuel Clovis Jr. and Pam Johnson agreed on many issues, particularly the importance of conservation and agricultural research, but disagreed on President Trump's records on trade and support for ethanol.

The Hemp Industries Association is suing the Drug Enforcement Administration and its acting administrator, arguing DEA is trying to regulate products derived from hemp through a skewed view of hemp provisions in the 2018 farm bill.

One of the problems with getting aid payments under WHIP-Plus was that USDA did not have an application deadline for the program when it was announced.

Farmers, senators and farm broadcasters in states affected by disasters in 2019 can't seem to get answers from USDA about the status of disaster payments under the WHIP-Plus program.

Last week, CME Group announced news futures and options contracts based on the pork carcass cutout, an estimate of the value of a 53-54% lean, 205 lb. hog carcass using wholesale prices that are paid for sub-primal pork cuts.

USDA on Thursday identified 379 watersheds in the Mississippi River basin as priority watersheds to help farmers and landowners reduce nutrient runoff related to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Producers in the targeted watersheds will receive both technical resources and...

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., announced "The Strengthening Local Processing Act." The bill would provide more funds to help small packers qualify for USDA's interstate shipping...

House Democrats late Monday released an updated version of the Heroes Act it passed in May, reducing the price tag from more than $3 trillion to $2.2 trillion, but including an increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and farm aid provisions.

The House on Thursday passed a 900-page renewable energy bill, focusing heavily on issues such as energy efficiency -- the Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act HR 4447. That bill includes some provisions tied to transparency on small-refinery exemptions, as well as...

Senators and congressmen from Missouri, as well as senators from Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska wrote the letter to Corps officials citing that "there is a critically dire situation related to navigation challenges along the Missouri River where serious barge traffic accidents have...

Republicans state USDA could have to delay as much as $15 billion in spending on farm bill programs if the CCC fund is not immediately reloaded in a federal funding bill. Democrats maintain USDA should have available funds to manage the farm program until mid-November. Democrats...

Following the president's declaration Thursday evening of a new aid package, USDA announced $14 billion for CFAP 2 with enrollment to begin Monday. The first round of CFAP paid for losses largely before April 15, 2020. The new round of payments will cover losses throughout the...

There were few details, but President Donald Trump told Wisconsin residents at a rally Thursday night that he is providing another round of aid to farmers due to the coronavirus. The aid was originally authorized by Congress last spring.

The CFTC has announced the commission's Ag Advisory Committee will meet September 24, while Iowa senators are asking the FTC and Justice Department to investigate price gouging in the wake of last month's derecho storm. USDA also is adjusting whole-farm crop insurance for...

John Deere has announced a new coalition with the National Black Growers Council and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to focus on challenge facing Black farmers with an emphasis on dealing with heirs' property issues across the country.

In its first major ruling regarding the Trump administration's tariffs, the WTO ruled Tuesday that U.S. tariffs imposed on $234 billion in Chinese goods are illegal under the trade organization's rules.

In an announcement looking to help boost campaign prospects as much as biofuel demand, President Donald Trump on Saturday called Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and told her he had signed an order allowing 15% ethanol blends to go into 10% blend pumps, pending state approval. That goes...