Ag Policy Blog

RMA states the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and Micro Farm are two comprehensive risk management options for farmers. RMA said the policies are important to specialty crop, organic, urban and direct-market producers. RMA is holding some workshops on the policies over...

DTN Political Correspondent Jerry Hagstrom highlights a letter from senators to USDA officials, as well as some policy goals coming from state agricultural directors.

More than 80 members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation on Thursday that would prevent the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission from passing a rule that could require farmers and ranchers to report emissions to the SEC.

The California Farm Bureau says a new farm worker law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday will force the state's farmers and ranchers to choose to give up free speech and private property rights in a trade over union elections.

The proposed rule released by USDA on Monday is called the "Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act." The notice defining and spelling out the rule is 180 pages long.

The Cultivating Revitalization by Expanding American Agricultural Trade and Exports (CREAATE) Act of 2022 introduced by four senators would increase MAP mandatory funding to $400 million annually and would increase FMD mandatory funding annually to $69 million. Multiple commodity...

Members of the Seante Agriculture Committee on Thursday supported swift approval for three nominees to USDA and the Farm Credit Administration board. Senators also noted it has taken a long time to fill some of the positions in the Biden administration.

President Joe Biden committed to boosting U.S. food aid on Wednesday in his speech at the United Nations. Most of the aid, about $2 billion, will come through the U.S. Agency for International Development, with the rest coming from USDA.

The cattlemen's groups have some issues with the Biden administration over fake meat grown in a petri dish after a senior administration official referenced "foods made with cultured animal cells. An Executive Order signed by President Biden requires USDA to issue a report on...

Since at least 2009, leaders at Solutions from the Land have been coming back from these United Nations "COP" meetings talking about climate-smart agriculture. They were talking about U.S. agriculture taking a lead on climate change and land management long before it was...

The deal, if culminated, would create a sigh of relief across the agricultural and biofuels supply chain. Agricultural groups this past week had increasingly called on Congress to prepare to step in to block a potential strike that would have gridlocked commodity supply chains at...

USDA on Wednesday announced 70 grants totaling up to $2.8 billion in potential funding under the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities. The program was initially expected to cost $1 billion, but USDA increased funding after receiving more than 1,000 grant proposals. More...

NFU members met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and several members of USDA's leadership team as the group's lobbying fly-in became the largest outside gathering at USDA's main office building since COVID-19 struck.

The Farm Service Agency paid out more than $31 billion to agricultural producers in 2020 and 2021 under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. A GAO report released Thursday showed the agency wasn't stringent enough in requiring producers to show proper records of their...

The ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack saying he's troubled over the handling of FAS weekly reporting data after the new system crashed last month. Traders are now without a key element needed for price...

USDA's Economic Research Service's latest update on farm income released Thursday shows farmers receiving higher cash receipts for a broad range of commodities in 2022, but also paying more for nearly every major production expense.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, both Democrats, had released a report Thursday that the electric power and navigation benefits provided by the four dams would have to be replaced or mitigated before the dams could be breached.

The disparity between disaster aid for livestock versus crop production was highlighted by FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux when he spoke Tuesday to a group of Midwest agribusiness people and farmers at an event in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

The funding for climate-smart agricultural investments in USDA's conservation programs won't require USDA to go through a rule-making process because the programs are already in place, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. The $19.5 billion will help deal with the backlog of...

NRCS will target funding, increase its program flexibilities and launch a new outreach campaign to promote nutrient management's economic benefits, along with expanding partnerships to develop nutrient management plans. This is part of USDA's broader effort to address future...