Chris Clayton

Advocates for USMCA's positive impacts on agriculture keep pushing for congressional votes this year on the trade deal, but Congress has about two weeks left in the work year and negotiations continue over labor provisions.

The U.S. Cattlemen's Association wants the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to look into the purchase of National Beef by Brazil's Marfrig Global Foods.

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

We're a little more than two months from the Iowa Caucuses, and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is rising in the field of more established candidates such as Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Pushing from...

Agricultural export competitors could eventually use the lack of U.S. action on climate to push trade measures. Companies and industries need to show how farmers and their supply chains use sustainability measures to avoid getting...

Agriculture has been one of the strongest industries backing passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated Thursday the House might not take up the legislation in 2019.

A researcher who worked on a key digital nutrient tool for The Climate Corporation and Monsanto was recruited by the Chinese government and offered a position working for a major Chinese soil institute. He was arrested trying...

A decade after the biggest carbon market for agriculture in the U.S. collapsed, carbon and ecosystem service markets are truly starting over. One group, the Ecosystem Services Market...

POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels in Emmetsburg, Iowa, one of the few commercial cellulosic ethanol plants operating in the country, will pause cellulosic production and focus on research and development. Company officials pointed to the...

As the CFTC takes another crack at rules that would place trading limits on speculative noncommercial traders, the commission's new chairman said CFTC has incorporated several recommendations to try to ease some concerns of...

A House subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on invasive species that included horror stories about feral hogs, swamp rats and non-native insects.

At a conference in downtown Washington, D.C., Brazilian agribusiness groups sought to shift the narrative by highlighting "sustainable food" and a "science-based model" for agriculture. They also strongly criticized the view that...

A report on the Market Facilitation Program released Tuesday by Senate Democrats challenges USDA's trade aid, arguing the highest payments went to Southern farmers who grow cotton while USDA also ignored typical protocols such...

Despite tariffs hitting 72% from China, the U.S. reported record pork exports in July and August. USMEF expects that kind of growth to continue into 2020.

The National Pork Producers Council is making another push to encourage Congress to pass the USMCA before the end of 2019. The group is launching a campaign, "It's Pork O'Clock Somewhere" to highlight pork recipes in Canada, the...

Republican senators from key biofuel states and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds each wrote EPA over its plan to account for small-refinery exemptions. Senators questioned EPA's method for offsetting the exemptions and stated the biofuels...

Despite tariffs hitting 72% from China, the U.S. reported record pork exports in July and August. USMEF expects that kind of growth to continue into 2020.

Ag labor bills have come up in nearly every session of Congress over the past two decades only to whither somewhere in the process. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act introduced on Wednesday has 24 Democrats and 18...

On Tuesday, USDA released its long-awaited rules for allowing hemp production nationally. States and tribes will submit plans to USDA for overseeing hemp production in their states or tribal grounds. Farmers will be eligible for USDA...

USDA will detail its interim rules for hemp production on Tuesday. The White House Office of Management and Budget has been reviewing the rules since June.

With saturated soils, high reservoir levels and water flows on the Missouri River already high, the possibility of above-normal winter precipitation again leads to a high risk of the 2019 flooding carrying into spring 2020 along the...

The hemp industry, tied to cannabidiol (CBD), is forecast to grow tenfold over the next six years, according to one industry analysis. A Colorado farmer who got into the business early said hemp allowed her to farm again, but she...

Groups such as USAID, Corteva Agriscience and CGIAR each announced new initiatives to address global food production and climate change challenges at the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue on Wednesday.

The Global Agricultural Productivity Index, released annually at the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue, shows a spread between projected production and demand. Agricultural Total Factor Productivity, (TFP) is growing globally at a...

Polly Ruhland, CEO of the United Soybean Board, proposed at the World Food Prize this week that U.S. protein industries should work together to build markets in developing countries. CEOs for private companies also suggested...

Questions Over SNAP Cuts and School Lunches

A trade deal with Japan signed by President Donald Trump on Monday will lower or eliminate tariffs into Japan's markets for about $7 billion in agricultural products. The U.S. exports about $14 billion to Japan in ag exports now, of...

USDA numbers show more than 22,600 dairy farmers signed up for Dairy Margin Coverage in 2019, which has paid out $303.9 million so far this year. Enrollment now has opened for 2020 coverage.

The Environmental Protection Agency will propose rules to ensure that more than 15 billion gallons of ethanol is blended in 2020 and higher volumes of biodiesel blends. The plan will also seek to streamline some of the limits of the...

Organizers of a fair cattle markets rally in Omaha on Wednesday sought to capture some of the same fire they had in 1994. The themes are similar to back then as producers point to concentrated cattle markets and ineffective...

Leaders of the U.S. and Japan signed a trade deal Wednesday lowering or eliminating $7 billion in tariffs on U.S. ag products.

Farmers who filed claims for a Revenue Protection policy will automatically receive a 15% indemnity increase while farmers who carried Yield Protection and Revenue Protection policies with the Harvest Price Exclusion will receive a 10...

Speaking at an agribusiness conference, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Steve Censky said the Trump administration doesn't have any announcements yet on how it will handle biofuel policy or reallocate biofuel production lost due to...

A House Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on USDA disaster programs started with the chairman and ranking member of the committee sparring over who is to blame over the dispute that flared this past week over Commodity Credit...

While former U.S. Agriculture Department secretaries joined Secretary Sonny Perdue to talk about USMCA, Perdue also confirmed reports that Chinese delegates here for trade talks will visit some U.S. farms before returning to...

The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said Congress won't slow down Commodity Credit Corp. funds in a short-term budget deal to keep the government operating after Oct. 1. The issue blew up into a political fight as...

Speaking Wednesday in Washington, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said trade talks with China, which are expected to restart on Thursday, must still deal with issues such as forced transfer of technology and theft of...

Three top Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee called for funding the Commodity Credit Corp. in a short-term budget deal to avoid any delay in Market Facilitation Program payments to farmers. Republicans have pointed to...

The Commodity Futures Trade Commission found Nathan Harris of Akron, Iowa, caused customers to lose approximately $10.3 million in unauthorized trades from 2012 to 2014.

Because of heavy rains stretching from Montana through the Dakotas the past two weeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will adjust the volume of water being released from Gavins Point Dam -- first lowering the releases to...

Farm groups on Thursday praised the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers for announcing they would eliminate the 2015 Clean Water Act rule drafted by the Obama administration that had greatly expanded EPA and the Army Corps...

A White House trade adviser said Tuesday he thinks the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would pass within the next 60 days. Agricultural groups that support the trade pact have been advocating for a vote on social media...

The USDA disaster aid for 2019 covers hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanoes, snowstorms or wildfires that occurred in 2018 or 2019.

A report from the Nebraska Farm Bureau highlights income losses to the state due to retaliatory tariffs.

Cargill, the largest private company in the U.S., is increasingly under pressure for its sourcing of soybeans and other agricultural commodities in Brazil. At least one environmental group has branded Cargill the "worst company on...