Chris Clayton

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. Among the details, the funds will go to biofuel producers...

With the American Jobs Plan calling for $17 billion for ports and inland waterways, Farmers for Free Trade and agricultural groups called on lawmakers to boost that funding closer to the $42 billion identified by the American Society...

New rules from USDA will focus on finding a balance in competition rules under the 100-year-old Packers and Stockyards act. Packers, cattle producers and government officials have battled for more than a decade to properly...

A U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking USDA from paying any loan debt to socially disadvantaged farmers while other court filings are considered.

The Biden administration, caught between swine producers and the union for packing-plant workers, chose Wednesday not to take a position on a request by meatpackers to delay a court ruling from going into effect. The ruling...

USDA will look at leveraging billions of dollars in private investment to diversify supply chains and shift production away from a small number of large processors. The USDA announcement comes as the White House released a 100-day...

The Biden administration released its $6 trillion budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022, that includes USDA's budget, which proposes an increase in discretionary spending while the costs of its mandatory programs are...

A coalition, the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, with 115 of its member groups signed onto a letter this week to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee. The coalition...

The GOP infrastructure plan and a related bi-partisan highway bill have tens of billions of dollars in road infrastructure, spending on waterways and broadband expansion investment for rural America. Looking to boost funding for...

A senator is moving to hold a hearing on packer concentration and cattle markets in the Senate Judiciary Committee, though nothing has been scheduled. Meanwhile, producers are waiting for the results of an investigation into...

A pair of senators are writing a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to enforce antitrust laws and restore fairness to cattle markets. R-CALF USA is encouraging other lawmakers to join the letter, looking to get 200...

USDA officials started the process of debt relief for just under 16,000 borrowers by sending them notices that USDA will be making payments on Farm Service Agency direct loans.

USDA's Forest Service doesn't have the capacity to keep up with the thinning of vegetation required to help reduce forest fires. Wildfire risks also point to measures advocated by senators Thursday as they highlighted that the...

The National Corn Growers Association is shutting down its flagship sustainability program, the Soil Health Partnership, at the end of the month.

A regulatory ruling from the Surface Transportation Board raised concerns for executives at London-based investment fund TCI Fund Management Inc. that Canadian National Railway could drain shareholder equity if it keeps pushing...

Leaders from major cattle producer groups are calling for action by Congress, the Justice Department and USDA to address the imbalance in markets as feeders lose money while packers report high profits and strong demand for...

The board of directors for Kansas City Southern railroad chose Thursday to declare the Canadian National Railway offer as a better bid than the one offered by Canadian Pacific Railway. The two Canadian firms have been locked in...

USDA officials provided an update this week on loan repayment of Farm Service Agency loans to socially disadvantaged farmers. Litigation has taken a twist as a Black farmer from Tennessee and his organization filed motions meant...

The U.S. Justice Department stated Wednesday a Ponzi scheme that ran from late 2017 until early 2019 involved investors from around the country. Two people were indicted by a federal grand jury in Colorado in the case, which...

A bill in the Iowa Legislature has stalled that would require retailers to offer at least 15% ethanol blends at the pumps and 11% biodiesel blends. The bill has stalled, though, as lobbyists for convenience stores and others have...

In a move that has set off alarm in farm groups, President Joe Biden's tax plan eliminates stepped-up basis for inherited assets beyond $1 million per individual or $2 million per couple. The White House states its proposal would not...

The Biden administration on Thursday released some principles and goals on its plan to conserve 30% of U.S. land and water under an initiative called "America the Beautiful." Pushing back on critics, the White House plan heavily...

EPA Administrator Michael Regan, along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, toured the Lincolnway Energy ethanol plant near Nevada, Iowa, and hosted a roundtable discussion with producers. Ethanol producers made the case that...

A congressional hearing Monday highlighted overtime exclusions in the Fair Labor Standards Act, going back to 1938, that Democratic witnesses said were meant to affect people of color. Monday's hearing focused on farmworkers...

President Joe Biden talked Wednesday night about his infrastructure and social spending plans that combine for more than $4 trillion in spending over a decade. The president also is proposing at least $1.5 trillion in tax increases...

The White House is releasing a plan that would increase taxes for wealthier Americans, including doubling the capital-gains tax rate and putting a $1 million cap on assets that could receive stepped-up basis. A senior administration...

Farmers and livestock producers could find themselves caught the capital-gains situation when they go to sell large equipment, but the higher capital-gains rate will hit farmers and ranchers more when they go to sell land, or pass...

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, key senators discussed the value of having USDA oversight of carbon markets. But Republican senators remain opposed to USDA tapping into the Commodity Credit Corp. funds to create a carbon...

The bill, dubbed the "PPP Flexibility for Farmers, Ranchers and the Self-Employed Act," would specifically change language the Small Business Administration operates under to allow farmers in partnerships with gross income from...

President Joe Biden's pledge, released on Earth Day, to cut U.S. emissions in half includes the potential of accelerating biofuels use in aviation fuel. The goal of paying more farmers for climate-smart practices got a boost with a...

Ahead of President Joe Biden's climate summit, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced multiple climate-related programs. A key for farmers and landowners, USDA is boosting rental rates and incentives for landowners to sign up...

The Growing Climate Solutions Act was reintroduced Tuesday in the U.S. Senate by a larger bipartisan group of senators, led by members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The bill would create a program to help farmers qualify...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke to DTN/Progressive Farmer about the American Jobs Plan, pointing to more funding for roads and bridges, electric vehicles and biofuels, and broadband access. While Congress could be...

While biofuels appeared to be forsaken in President Joe Biden's initial infrastructure plan with a drive for expanding electric vehicles, the Renewable Fuels Association is making the case for an aggressive policy agenda to increase...

In a speech on Thursday, new U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai emphasized that the Biden administration will make climate change and other environmental topics a key part of trade negotiations going forward. Tai pointed to...

AltEn LLC, an ethanol plant in Mead, Nebraska, remains idle and faces a lawsuit from the state of Nebraska over millions of gallons of toxic water that spilled in February 2021 and 84,000 tons of distillers grains from treated corn...

A letter from the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation followed a growing list of conservatives and conservative-leaning groups that have written President Joe Biden asking just what 30x30 is supposed to mean. A lot of other people...

Tyson Foods officially opened a new 370,000 square foot processing plant in Humboldt, Tennessee, on Thursday. The plant is expected to employ 1,500 people by 2023, but several hundred employees are all ready for production to...

President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposals fell in line with issues raised by the CEO of the country's largest bank -- JPMorgan Chase -- even as Biden's plan has gotten largely lukewarm support among major agricultural groups.

USDA also will reopen enrollment for new or modified applications under CFAP 2 on April 5 for at least the next 60 days. While USDA is reopening aid for CFAP 2, those cattle producers who did not apply for CFAP 1 last year will not...

Meat industry dynamics have changed dramatically during the past year with an infusion of money for cattle and hog producers, government and private investment in smaller, niche packing plants, and improvements for the safety...

Agricultural details to reduce emissions were just a small piece of a 25-page summary of President Joe Biden's proposed American Jobs Plan. The package focuses on increasing investment in highways, inland waterways, and rural...

After moving last year to make Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as the official eartag for interstate movement of cattle, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reined in that proposal on Tuesday.

USDA has begun the process of reviewing loan forgiveness for minority farmers with Farm Service Agency direct loans and guaranteed loans, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified Thursday. USDA also will use other aid...

Both chambers of Congress have now passed legislation that would extend the application deadline for SBA Paycheck Protection Program loans to at least May 31. Lawmakers also have been pushing for changes to how SBA treats farm...

USDA will issue $4.5 billion in payments immediately to crop farmers at $20 an acre under the CFAP 2 program. Another $1.1 billion will go to cattle producers. USDA also highlighted plans for $6 billion in aid that will cover several...

Carbon credits, or a carbon bank program for agriculture, could become part of a massive infrastructure bill that will be proposed by the White House. Policymakers and companies involved in markets are increasingly talking about...

Canadian Pacific -- Canada's second-largest railroad -- announced Sunday it will buy Kansas City Southern railroad, creating a network stretching across Canada, through the central U.S. and deep into Mexico. Executives dubbed it...

The Biden administration is still reviewing the last farm aid programs initiated by the Trump administration, as well as developing the programs that will come from two separate aid packages -- the aid bill from last December and the...

For the second time in two years, the House has passed a bill that would legalize undocumented farmworkers and allow for guestworkers in the H-2A visa program to work year-round at farms such as dairies. Eyes will turn to the...