Ag Policy Blog

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 officials also are asking the U.S. government to...

USDA canceled roughly $900 million nationally in contracts under the Local Food Purchasing Program. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, announced a lawsuit against USDA for canceling the state's contract.

The current Section 2032A cap is $1.42 million because the cap has increased in value because of inflation, but the provision hasn't kept up with the growth in land values. A senator's bill would raise the cap to $15 million, which is in line with overall estate-tax exemption...

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 the bill's extensive farm bill provisions as...

USDA on Thursday announced $1 billion in disaster aid to livestock producers under the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) to cover grazing losses from drought and wildfires in 2023 and 2024.

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 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The groups want...

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 production of nitrogen fertilizer is eliminated 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 farmers, the bill spends roughly $60 billion over 10...

The RIF plans across federal agencies are currently under a temporary restraining order issued by a U.S. district judge in California stemming from a request filed by multiple unions representing federal employees. The judge had initially ruled the administration's plans for mass...

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 signed a waiver, making Nebraska the first...

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 House Agriculture Committee is just one of the committees holding markups this week on different sections of the farm bill to add to budget reconciliation package the House is putting together meant primarily to extend the 2017 tax cuts. The bill would help the farmer...

USDA under the Biden administration boosted the Conservation Reserve Program acreage by 4.4 million acres to hit roughly 25.9 million acres. USDA officials noted overall sign up for new enrollment is limited because of the farm bill cap of 27 million acres. Producers have until June...

The FARMER Act increases premium support for higher levels of crop insurance coverage. The bill would increase subsidy levels for Enterprise Units and Whole Farm crop insurance. The bill also would increas premium support and protection levels for the Supplemental Coverage...

While those of us in the U.S. have championed the potential gains that President Donald Trump and his administration rolled out, the reaction in England is notably different. News outlets have pointed out the that the British government has insisted that American hormone-treated...

The House Agriculture Committee plans to hold a markup next week to cut as much as $230 billion from the budget over the next decade. The cuts are expected to all come from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn...

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 lawmakers that 15,182 employees across 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 as part of the upcoming reconciliation bill...

The Mexican government committed to transfer water from international reservoirs and increase the U.S. share of the flow in six of Mexico's Rio Grande tributaries through the end of the current five-year water cycle, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news...

Based on comments from a few commodity groups, perhaps the docking fees on Chinese ships might not be as bad as expected. Still, DTN ran some numbers on what a $50 per metric ton fee would look like if Chinese companies choose to impose the fee on outbound cargo.