Ag Policy Blog

Under the trade deal, agricultural exports to China are expected to reach at least $40 billion over each of the next two years. That compares to 2017 numbers, when exports to China reached $23.8 billion, making it the largest U.S. export market. Soybean exports that year...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday that the Senate will vote on the bill to implement the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade this week, and several senators said the vote will be Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

The Trump administration has built a track record of reducing or eliminating regulations, yet farmers and state officials are saying the new USDA rules for hemp are too onerous and would harm hemp production already happening in their states.

Following a Senate parliamentarian's ruling that several committees in addition to the Senate Finance Committee have jurisdiction over implementing legislation for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade (HR5430), three committees have scheduled markups next week, Washington...

Popularity polls still show President Donald Trump with lower approval ratings than most presidents in recent history. Still, the president also has some strong numbers with employment, the stock market and a few other economic indicators on his side as the 2020 race begins in...

The Senate Finance Committee will meet Tuesday morning in an open executive session to consider the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the implementation act passed last month by the House of Representatives.

With a wage hike of 6% in 2020 for agricultural guest workers, the Agriculture Workforce Coalition is calling on the U.S. Senate to take up legislation that would change the H-2A program and help farmers with their labor needs.

People across parts of eastern Colorao and western Nebraska are reporting and filming unexplained sightings of drones flying around the area. Local authorities do not know who is responsible and now the FAA is investigating the situation as well.

USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service on Friday issued revised guidance on meat and poultry labels that make claims about how the animals were raised, claims such as grass-fed beef or pasture-raised poultry. The original guidance from 2002 was updated and posted in October...

The Agriculture Department's Risk Management Agency (RMA) on Monday announced a new crop insurance option for hemp growers in select counties of 21 states in 2020. Meanwhile, Santa is cleared to deliver to the U.S.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall praised Senate passage of the fiscal year 2020 Agriculture appropriations bill on Thursday. The bill had already been passed by the House and will be sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., was one of just three Democrats who voted against articles of impeachment late Wednesday. Peterson said the only way a challenge such as impeachment can be met is in a bipartisan manner and he said he wouldn't be swayed by his party. Peterson...

Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey and a presidential candidate in the lower echelon of poll numbers, introduced legislation on Monday that would place a moratorium on large confined animal-feeding operations, overhaul the Packers & Stockyards Act and re-establish...

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the rules USDA has to follow hiring Farm Service Agency offices is making it hard to fill positions at local USDA service centers.

The House passed a bill late Wednesday that would overhaul the H-2A visa program, allowing guest workers to stay in the country longer, and would legalize hundreds of thousands of farm workers now in the country illegally. More than 300 agricultural groups endorsed the bill, but...

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson on Tuesday issued a statement ending his 11-year tenure as head of the organization.

The House of Representatives will consider the Farm Workforce Modernization Act this week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., announced late Friday. Hoyer did not list a date for consideration of the bill, but the House Rules Committee has announced it will meet on...

Japan's upper legislative body, the Diet, has approved the U.S.-Japan trade agreement that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed recently, and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and farm leaders praised the decision.

Hemp has become all the rage, but several issues have come up over the past few months including over production and problems with credit. Along with that, the FDA is more directly scrutinizing sales of products with CBD oil because the FDA has not approved them for sale.

My sources tell me the vast majority of turkeys will be eaten, and not pardoned, on Thanksgiving.