Ag Policy Blog

After months of talks and delays, leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees each laid out separate farm-bill frameworks Wednesday with goals of pushing Congress to pass a new bill this year. The proposals still suffer from the same divisions over nutrition and...

A collection of groups and interests immediately weighed in after the U.S. Treasury Department released its guidance Tuesday for U.S. biofuel producers to receive sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) 40B tax credits. Some groups were encouraged by the guidance while others raised...

The testing of ground beef by USDA agencies comes after the Food and Drug Administration reported findings last week of finding genetic fragments of the H5N1 virus roughly 20% of tests conducted in retail milk samples across 38 states.

The new rule for employing H-2A agricultural guest workers includes several provisions, including allowing workers to talk about labor organzing or choosing not to attend employer-led meetings that are meant to discourage workers from joining unions. There are also new...

A trade mission this week to India largely appeared positive as officials talked about the potential to boost exports after India lowered tariffs on several agricultural products from the U.S. last year. Currently, India only accounts for about 1% of U.S. farm exports.

Articles over the past several days from multiple national news and science outlets challenge how USDA is handling information about H5N1 infections involving now 33 dairy herds in eight states.

Last week, Iowa environmental groups petitioned EPA to step in and protect drinking water in northeast Iowa from agricultural runoff. The same day, a farm LLC in a northeast Iowa county filed a federal lawsuit looking to overturn an USDA wetlands determination and the...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters USDA had to fill in a 5.2% increase departmentwide in salaries with a flat budget that came seven months into the year. That was a big driver for NASS having to cut back on three different surveys for cattle, cotton and...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke Monday to the North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ) annual meeting. Vilsack's talk with reporters touched on the farm bill, the relationship with China, highly pathogenic avian influenza and the federal greenhouse gas model.

The chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee said she sees promise in a proposal offered by Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee to increase premium subsidies for higher crop insurance protection levels.

A bill introduced Tuesday by Republican senators would increase premium support for farmers' crop insurance bills and make higher levels of coverage more affordable for producers.

A pair of separate reports from the National Corn Growers Association and the American Enterprise Institute point to changes in demand for corn ethanol under different rules and policies. One study raises concerns over demand loss while the other raises concerns over more...

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, on Tuesday signed a new foreign ownership law requiring more registration and reporting for foreign landowners of agricultural land. Concerns about Chinese land ownership has prompted states to look for new ways to clamp down on foreign...

Groups have through July 2, 2024, to apply for funding under the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). USDA rolled out the announcement for RCPP, noting the $1.5 billion is a record amount for a single year.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president and has a plan to revolutionize ag, including reversing 80 years of farm policy.

The announcement to open up Conservation Reserve Program acres is meant to help livestock producers in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas who were hit by the wildfires at the beginning of March.

While there were complaints about how USDA uses the Commodity Credit Corp., on Thursday, there were also several members of Congress who want CCC used to help producers with specific challenges in their home districts as well.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack explained Thursday the changes to the emissions model for sustainable aviation fuel tax credits will recognize some key climate-smart farming practices, but more work will be needed to include all the on-farm practices that reduce emissions or...

The leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee again weighed in Monday about what they want to see happen with the farm bill this year. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the committee chairwoman, said the rural-urban coalition that has held the farm bill together in past years...

The debate continues among leaders on the Senate Agriculture Committee about what to do with climate-smart money from the Inflation Reduction Act that is boosting spending for conservation programs at USDA.