Chris Clayton

The Chinese government's approval comes exactly two years after Bunge Global SA and Viterra announced their merger. The two companies operate globally but also create a larger combined presence in Canada.

American agriculture faces a critical labor shortage, forcing farmers to rely on the H-2A guest worker program despite its high costs and bureaucratic complexity. Farm groups are seeking reforms to legalize undocumented workers...

Hiring H-2A guest workers requires extensive planning, with farmers needing to start paperwork months ahead, secure inspected housing, navigate complex government processes, and understand how these requirements affect their...

In a House Agriculture Committee hearing on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told lawmakers her department will provide new details soon on new efforts to attack the spread of New World screwworm in Mexico. Rollins...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are starting to more aggressively target agriculture and food processing facilities around the country as reports from Nebraska, California and New Mexico highlight.

Lawmakers have raised concerns about closing Agricultural Research Service (ARS) laboratories in California, Delaware and Illinois. The Illinois lab includes programs focusing on soybean germplasm and corn genetics. Separately, Mexican...

Look inside America's farm labor crisis and ag's increasing reliance on foreign labor.

Former FTC member Alvaro Bedoya visited a farm on Saturday in central Iowa at a forum hosted by the Iowa Farmers Union. Participants painted a stark picture of the economic forces squeezing small producers and hollowing out...

The cut to Conservation Technical Assistance is just one of nearly $7 billion in budget cuts USDA has proposed, but cutting technical assistance would create a ripple effect across USDA's broader conservation programs.

In March, DOGE had listed at least 110 USDA offices across nine agencies that would face canceled leases, amounting to an estimated $59.3 million in contract savings, according to DOGE. Now, the DOGE website lists 49 USDA office...

The president of the American Farm Bureau Federation is raising concerns about what farmers might face this fall if tariff wars aren't resolved. That was just one of the topics in a hearing before the U.S. Senate Special...

USDA delayed the release of a quarterly trade report on Friday and removed the typical written analysis with it because of concerns from officials that it was not as positive as anticipated.

The lion's share of debate in the budget reconciliation package will continue to focus on Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cuts, as well as individual tax provisions, but farmers have a lot at stake with...

A judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa rejected a case brought by an Iowa landowner who was challenging USDA's wetland determinations over nine acres of ground. The landowner and attorneys from...

In a letter sent Wednesday to House and Senate leaders, 365 groups laid out their growing concerns that some states have begun to regulate pesticides in a manner contradicting decades of scientific guidance from the...

Several major corn-planting states are now in the crop-insurance late-planting window after May 25 and several other states will move into that late-planting period after May 31. The USDA NASS weekly Crop Progress report shows...

The tax provisions in the budget reconciliation bill missed an opportunity to help farmers use a lower land value option for the estate tax. The 45Z credit remains in the bill and is enhanced, but another tax credit that would spur...

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston from the Northern District of California, granted a preliminary injunction late Thursday extending her order that halts President Donald Trump's executive order that directed mass "reductions in...

The "One Big Beautiful Bill," as named by President Donald Trump's description, cuts taxes by $3.78 billion over 10 years, but also cuts roughly $1.2 trillion in spending on programs such as Medicaid and nutrition programs. For...

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Monday visited a corn processing plant, a pork processing facility and an independent farm as she laid out some policies to help USDA provide more customer service for small farmers. She also...

In a rare Sunday night meeting, four Republican members of the committee who had voted against the budget reconciliation package Friday changed their votes to "present." The committee vote was 17-16 with all Democrats in...

The bill includes multiple changes that would reduce taxable income for farmers and small businesses and make it more attractive to invest in new equipment as well.

The package meant to extend and expand on the 2017 tax cuts also includes provisions to improve the farm safety net, while cutting spending on programs such as $880 billion from Medicaid and roughly $300 billion from the...

Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer, represented agriculture's take on critical supply chains during a hearing before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. He pointed out the stresses facing farmers with commodity prices and expressed...

Under the plan, farmers would see better reference prices, a broader band of protection levels under commodity and insurance programs and see the payment limit for farm programs increased. At the same time, the bill shifts food...

The House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday evening will begin debating a bill that increases the farmer safety net, crop insurance and support for trade programs while also tightening eligibility for nutrition programs and shifting...

Biofuel producers will get an extension to tap into the 45Z Clean Fuels Production Tax Credit as part of the massive tax-cut package released Monday by Congress.

The overnight announcement that each country would pull back on their tariffs led to an immediate response from the stock market as the S&P 500 quickly jumped 3%. Soybean futures quickly opened 18-19 cents higher in trade.

At an event in the White House, President Donald Trump said the United Kingdom had agreed to greater market access for billions of dollars of American exports. In a fact sheet, the White House spotlighted greater access for...

Under the details released on Wednesday, livestock producers can sign up for losses tied to drought and wildfire at the end of May. Crop producers who suffered income losses in 2023 or 2024 due to natural disasters are...

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told senators details about signing up for disaster aid will be out before the end of May. Senators also asked about a range of funding cuts, facilities in their own states and USDA's...

Late last week, President Donald Trump released his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2026 that highlights plans to cut USDA's discretionary budget by more than $4.6 billion. The proposed cuts come after USDA last week detailed to...

A new policy memo at USDA states larger Farm Service Agency loans now will need approval from the Office of the Secretary and be cleared by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before producers can receive the...

South Dakota ranchers Charles and Heather Maude were facing federal theft charges over a fence line dispute with the U.S. Forest Service that involved a center pivot on their ground that crossed over into government land. The...

Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, told members of the North American Agricultural Journalists on Tuesday that he plans to integrate updates to reference prices and other safety net programs...

A former assistant U.S. trade representative for agriculture spoke to reporters Monday about some of the complications facing U.S. agricultural exports. China remains a critical trade opportunity going forward even though exports...

In a letter Saturday to Mexican Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Julio Antonio Berdegue Sacristan, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warned that the U.S. will again shut off imports of Mexican livestock if the...

The U.S. Trade Representative's Office concluded Thursday that the fees starting at $50 a ton were needed on ships that arrive at U.S. ports because China had targeted the maritime industry, harming U.S. ship manufacturing and...

USDA, EPA, and the departments of Energy, Interior and Housing and Urban Development are enjoined from freezing, halting or pausing funding that has already been awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure...

The website Government Executive, which covers the federal workforce, first reported Tuesday that White House documents from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposes to slash local Farm Service Agency staff and...

Stating a review has been completed, USDA is canceling the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities program started under the Biden administration. Still, grant recipients can continue the work under a new program, which will be...

President Trump discussed easing restrictions around undocumented farm labor during a Cabinet meeting Thursday. It was the first time the president had signaled a willingness to temper his mass deportation plans to help protect...

New Chinese tariffs set Wednesday more than double the cost for Chinese buyers to import U.S. soybeans, but that didn't stop soybean futures from climbing higher. Still, farmers are voicing concerns about long-term risks if the...

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer defended President Donald Trump's tariff policies at a hearing Tuesday, drawing attacks from Democrats over tariffs while some Republican senators also voiced skepticism or expressed...

President Donald Trump on April 2 announced a minimum 10% tariff on at least 60 countries but laid out a range of different tariffs for countries and trading blocs, including higher tariffs on China, Japan and the European Union...

The USDA Office of the Secretary provided employees this week with new details on another Deferred Resignation Program (DRP 2.0) and offered some broad details about the larger shakeup in USDA staff. Citing President Donald...

Under China's announcement on Friday, soybean sales to China could face a 49% tariff starting April 10. Once other tariffs are factored in, the U.S. Meat Export Federation noted beef exports to China could face a 56% tariff, and...

A letter from farm groups draws a fine line of supporting the president's trade goals while fearing the worst ramifications for the ag economy.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins spent Monday in Iowa touting investments in biofuels as a way to increase demand for farm products. Rollins acknowledged USDA is getting ready for possible trade retaliation as President...

The Social Security Administration is apparently backtracking from an announcement earlier this month that recipients could no longer use telephone services to confirm their identification or change direct-deposit information.

Starting March 31, the Social Security Administration will no longer allow benefit recipients to use telephone services to confirm their identification or change direct-deposit information. Beneficiaries instead will have to use a...

After months of freezing funds for the Rural Energy For America Program (REAP), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) programs, USDA issued a news release late Tuesday stating...

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will hear from more than 60 witnesses on Monday and Wednesday at a hearing over Section 301 Proposed Actions against China on maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. Agricultural...

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced $280 million in funding to Texas farmers on Wednesday. The funding will be provided to the Texas Department of Agriculture, which will distribute grants to producers for lost water...

Agricultural groups on Wednesday championed National Ag Trade Day as part of National Ag Week. The group Farmers for Free Trade hosted a webinar examining some of the challenges facing farmers in the current trade landscape.

Producers should see payments as early as this week under the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, according to USDA. The $10 billion economic aid package was passed by Congress in December to address financial losses from...

A directive from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will allow faster line speeds at pork and poultry processing plants nationally. Rollins said the decision will ensure the industry can meet demand without facing more government...

The cancellation of $1 billion from a pair of USDA local food programs will leave local food banks and schools with less access to local foods. It will also affect roughly 10,000 farms.