Ag Policy Blog

USDA has announced the department will join the Department of Education in investigating whether a California law over gender identification violates federal law and Trump's executive orders against transgender policies. USDA made the same moves earlier this month in Maine.

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 Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins "will release...

A letter from Democratic senators to USDA challenges the department for freezing or canceling roughly $1 billion that would have provided more food to local food banks nationally. USDA has not responded to questions about the canceled food-bank and local-food contracts.

Under ECAP, farmers are receiving pre-filled applications in the mail or visiting their local FSA offices directly to fill out the paperwork necessary. USDA officials last week said once the application has been approved, ECAP payments could show up in accounts within three working...

USDA on Friday highlighted new leadership in the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) roles. Rollins also announced Thursday that applications are now open for $100 million in research grants to explore avian influenza prevention, therapeutics, research, and potential vaccine...

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.

Based on the per-acre payment details released Tuesday by USDA on the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, a lot of the early estimates of payments overall were in the ballpark. Signup for ECAP begins on Wednesday.

On its website, DOGE shows it has ended 111 USDA office contracts across nine agencies, amounting to just under $27.4 million in annual rental payments with total contract savings estimated at $59.2 million.

An interview with the president of the National Farmers Union as the group's annual conference wrapped up Tuesday in Oklahoma City. Rob Larew said NFU is focused on the farm bill, but he also believes there remains a role for climate-smart agricultural policies in the Trump...

The president of the National Farmers Union highlighted the need for his members to remain united during the current uncertainty in the Trump administration. NFU also recognized the work of former Senator Tom Harkin, who created the Conservation Stewardship program when he...

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced details of the new Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, or ECAP, as she spoke Sunday to a packed exhibit hall of farmers and vendors at the Commodity Classic show in Denver. The program will provide $10 billion to commodity crop...

Gregg Doud, who served as the U.S. trade ambassador for agriculture during the first Trump administration, highlighted how agricultural exports and farm income levels have moved in tandem, and how farm income falls when trade slips. He suggests tariffs could help open up some...

In a 217-215 vote, The House on Tuesday evening passed a budget bill allowing for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts while the bill also presses cuts to an array of social programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill also increases spending...

A lawsuit filed Monday by environmental groups and a New York farm group allege USDA violated federal law by removing websites and research data in climate change.

When the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on social media it wanted help examining USDA, critics of commodity checkoff programs quickly pounced.

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a petition with three separate federal agencies to ban the use of certain pesticides on food, notably atrazine, glyphosate and paraquat. The petition does not include the use of pesticides on animal feed or crops grown as...

A group of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would move the Food for Peace program from USAID over to the Department of Agriculture. The move would help ensure continuity of $2 billion in commodity purchases every year for humanitarian food aid.

The American Soybean Association said late Friday that it and other agriculture groups want the Agriculture Department to resume payments under the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program (PCSC). USDA also issued a statement that its foreign-aid food programs are...

Farmers are learning their conservation payments are frozen because those contracts were funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The White House has frozen IRA dollars across the federal government. Other conservation programs tied to the Partnership for...

The Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday voted 23-0 to advance the nomination of Brooke Rollins as USDA secretary to the full Senate.