Ag Policy Blog

The four dams on the Lower Snake River support about 100 million bushels of wheat exports out of the Pacific Northwest. Grain groups are concerned about moves in the Biden administration that could boos salmon runs, but hurt navigation

Sen. Roger Marshall brought up H.R. 1147, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which passed the House on Wednesday with a bipartisan 330-99 vote. A unanimous consent nod in the Senate would have immediately sent the bill to President Joe Biden's desk. That didn't happen.

A bill passed the House Wednesday that would allow the sale of fluid whole milk to schools nationwide. The bill would overturn a dietary guideline from 2012 that replaced whole milk in schools with low-fat milk. The dairy industry has pushed to overturn that USDA decision ever...

While senators push for a congressional vote to block the rule allowing the importation of beef from Paraguay, the secretaries of Agriculture from eight states send their own letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also raising their concerns as well.

With more than 80% of all payments coming in at $30,000 or less, nearly 170,000 farmers received higher payments than they otherwise would have collected. About 40,500 farmers -- likely with higher losses -- are receiving lower payments than expected.

Farm groups are asking the International Trade Commission to end countervailing duties on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer. In November, the Commerce Department agreed to lower the duties from 19.97% to 2.12% after retroactively examining the price of shipments and other...

Lawmakers and some major farm groups are complaining about the payment design for the 2022 Emergency Relief Program (ERP), though USDA counters Congress gave the department $3.74 billion to deal with a $10 billion or larger problem.

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., introduced a bill Monday that would immediately halt the import of beef from Paraguay and create a new working group to examine both the risk to food safety and animal health by importing beef from Paraguay. A group of House...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told USDA staff and a group of industry stakeholders Wednesday that USDA and the Biden administration will show up to the COP laying out a series of investments in conservation and renewable energy. There will be "significant...

Documents first published Monday by the Centre for Climate Reporting lay out some briefing points by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) climate-negotiating team for Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), who also will serve as president of this year's...

The farm property at KC Farm School at Gibbs Road goes back decades with different owners and leaders, reflecting how urban agriculture has evolved in recent years. As programs from the 2018 farm bill have developed, more urban and alternative farms have started tapping...

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union typically offer different perspectives on the average costs of Thanksgiving meals. Consumers will pay less this year, but prices remain higher than they were before the pandemic hit. Farmers still receive cents...

On the farm bill, the extension, with the backing of the leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees, extends the 2018 farm bill until Sept. 30, 2024.

Speaking to reporters after a hearing, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said that in 2013, when farm bill negotiations were dragging on and on, there was a sense of urgency in the agriculture community, but that she does not get that sense of urgency now. Congress right now is...

The proposal to extend funding for some federal agencies also includes a farm bill extension. The bill would also ensure USDA funding until late January and some other agencies would get extensions through early February. The proposal does not include aid to Israel or Ukraine...

Effective immediately all beef, pork, lamb and bison products purchased by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) must come from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the United States. Separately, a new rule for poultry contracts will require the companies to spell out...

A look at a plan to help fund rural child-care facilities, legislation to help support sustainable aviation fuels, and a report in Congress examining options for farm labor are among some of the topics being considered by policymakers in Washington.

Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., spoke Monday morning to about 500 agricultural bankers from around the country then held a forum with Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur and Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., a fellow member of the House Agriculture Committee. Thompson's...

Environmental Working Group on Wednesday issued a report highlighting that crop insurance payments reached $118.7 billion from 2001 to 2022 for the five most expensive weather-related losses." The indemnities have gone up, but so has everything else about crop insurance, such...

Environmental Working Group on Wednesday issued a report highlighting that crop insurance payments reached $118.7 billion from 2001 to 2022. The indemnities have gone up, but so has everything else about crop insurance, such as acreage covered and potential liability on the...