Ag Policy Blog

The House of Representatives voted 354-58 late Monday to approve the long-awaited $19.1 billion disaster aid package that will address not only Midwest flooding, but also aid recovery from hurricanes in the Southeastern states last year as well as California wildfires. The bill now...

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, criticized President Donald Trump's new tariff announcement against Mexico and said late Thursday the president's latest action could threaten passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

USDA on Tuesday released a memo signed by its general counsel detailing some authorities regarding hemp under the 2018 farm bill.

Farm groups on Monday expressed some relief that Canada and Mexico followed suit on Monday and dropped retaliatory tariffs against U.S. farm products.

President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed an immigration proposal that did not include any provisions to address the issue of farmworkers.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said late Wednesday that a second trade aid package for farmers may total $15 billion to $20 billion, the latter figure $5 billion higher than President Donald Trump has suggested.

The Trump administration's plans to develop a second trade aid package for farmers hurt by reduced exports to China resulted in rounds of lobbying and scrutiny of the idea on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump said Friday the government would buy more farm products for food aid, and Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D., said more aid to farmers may be needed.

Employees of the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service voted today to affiliate with the American Federation of Government Employees in an attempt to stop or affect the Trump administration's plans to move most of the agency's workers outside the Washington...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., told DTN Political Correspondent Jerry Hagstrom that he came back from a trip to Brazil and Argentina over the recent congressional break pleased that he was able to show more junior members of the House what...

Editor's note: The Agriculture Department has made a number of program announcements this week. Here are summaries of them:

The American Soybean Association on Tuesday got vocal to lament what would be the "worst case" for soybean farmers if President Donald Trump moves ahead with larger tariffs for China on Friday.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement likely is just days away from carrying into at least next fall before Congress can move into ratification votes. The timeline required to send the bill to Congress and get it ratified now looks like it will carry into fall.

The House of Representatives next week will take up a disaster aid bill that includes aid for Midwestern and Southern farmers. Senate Republicans say they also have a plan that President Donald Trump will support.

The U.S. general economic growth rate of 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019 is good news, but beneath that statistic there are reasons for concern, the American Farm Bureau Federation's Market Intel service said.

On Friday, the governors of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska met again in Council Bluffs, Iowa, along with Kansas' lieutenant governor, to get an update on the river system and flood recover efforts. The governors said all four states will continue to focus on gaining more say over...

House Ways and Means Committee Democrats sent Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer a letter today outlining concerns in the proposed U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement that they want addressed before considering whether to approve it.

On Monday, 90 groups and agribusinesses wrote U.S. Trade Ambassador Robert Lighthizer asking him to quickly get moving on a U.S.-Japan trade agreement because U.S. agriculture is now at greater risk of losing market share to the European Union and the countries included in...

Farm organizations nationally wrote congressional leaders late last week calling on Congress to immediately pass a disaster aid package. The letter was backed by 135 groups and banks that provide operating loans to farmers and ranchers.

I had more than a couple of emails following an article this week on property taxes paid based on the 2017 Ag Census. The article was purely a numbers piece, taking the dollar amount of property taxes paid in each state and dividing it by the number of farmers reported in the...