Chris Clayton

The entire GOP Senate caucus joined in stressing Democratic plans to raise capital-gains taxes and eliminate stepped-up basis for inherited assets would be devastating to farmers, ranchers and other family businesses. Democrats...

Kernza, a perennial wheat grass, was originally developed in Kansas, but its production has increased with a variety in Minnesota. A group of farmers there have started a cooperative to market Kernza. Local soil and water...

Hay was already short in North Dakota going into last winter. When pastures didn't recharge, they started to consider options such as selling at least part of their cow herds. Similar scenarios...

North Dakota farmers are on the eastern edge of some of the most exceptional drought conditions in the country. Farmers in some parts of the state say these are the driest conditions they have seen.

Tying into President Joe Biden's executive order on competition issues, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday highlighted $500 million that will go to help boost investment in small and regional beef, pork and poultry...

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday dealing with competition challenges in several major industries. Among the issues the White House will address is the right to repair, which has been a growing debate in...

U.S. Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai raised multiple agricultural issues with Mexican cabinet officials during a trilateral meeting in Mexico City to recognize one year since the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement went into effect...

"Stay tuned," according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, for new rules on competition in livestock marketing and the right to repair.

An agricultural law professor highlights some of the considerations producers should walk through with their attorneys before signing a contract to sell carbon credits. There are issues over payment, certification, data privacy...

USDA's Risk Management Agency on Tuesday announced a policy change that will encourage more farmers to plant a cover crop after a prevented-planting claim. Farmers will no longer face a Nov. 1 restriction for haying or grazing...

As Congress works on a possible large-scale infrastructure package of more than $1 trillion in projects, USDA's Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program, known as PL-566, could command more funding to cope with both...

While storms have strafed fields, leaving standing water or hail damage, the late window for replanting or planting a second crop raises questions about how that would affect crop insurance coverage. It's important to know your...

The group called Cattlemen's Heritage will build the $325 million facility in Mills County, Iowa, about 15 miles south of Council Bluffs and the Omaha metro area. With construction to begin in spring 2022, the plant would open to process...

The Growing Climate Solutions Act will create a USDA certification program to provide technical assistance for farmers, ranchers and forest owners to enroll in a carbon-credit program. The department will provide guidance to...

U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard in the U.S. District Court for Middle Florida issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday against USDA, blocking the department from sending out debt relief to socially disadvantaged farmers...

Farmers told members of a House Agriculture Subcommittee on Wednesday that disaster aid such as WHIP-Plus has been slow to respond to natural disasters, typically because Congress must reauthorize the program for each year...

The Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday held a hearing into some of the challenges with cattle markets as senators sought some answers to systemic problems that have faced the cattle industry for years.

The Supreme Court ruling overturns a regulation in California law that granted the United Farm Workers union access to a farm property for three hours a day for up to 120 days a year.

Lawyers for the Biden administration filed a brief late Friday asking U.S. District Judge William Griesbach to reject his preliminary injunction against the USDA and allow roughly $4 billion in debt relief to minority farmers to move...

Settled by the 1889 land rush, Oklahoma has seen a similar rush since voters approved medical marijuana in June 2018. There are now more licensed marijuana grow operations in Oklahoma than there are farmers who grow wheat. That...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. Among the details, the funds will go to biofuel producers...

With the American Jobs Plan calling for $17 billion for ports and inland waterways, Farmers for Free Trade and agricultural groups called on lawmakers to boost that funding closer to the $42 billion identified by the American Society...

New rules from USDA will focus on finding a balance in competition rules under the 100-year-old Packers and Stockyards act. Packers, cattle producers and government officials have battled for more than a decade to properly...

A U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking USDA from paying any loan debt to socially disadvantaged farmers while other court filings are considered.

The Biden administration, caught between swine producers and the union for packing-plant workers, chose Wednesday not to take a position on a request by meatpackers to delay a court ruling from going into effect. The ruling...

USDA will look at leveraging billions of dollars in private investment to diversify supply chains and shift production away from a small number of large processors. The USDA announcement comes as the White House released a 100-day...

The Biden administration released its $6 trillion budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022, that includes USDA's budget, which proposes an increase in discretionary spending while the costs of its mandatory programs are...

A coalition, the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, with 115 of its member groups signed onto a letter this week to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee. The coalition...

The GOP infrastructure plan and a related bi-partisan highway bill have tens of billions of dollars in road infrastructure, spending on waterways and broadband expansion investment for rural America. Looking to boost funding for...

A senator is moving to hold a hearing on packer concentration and cattle markets in the Senate Judiciary Committee, though nothing has been scheduled. Meanwhile, producers are waiting for the results of an investigation into...

A pair of senators are writing a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to enforce antitrust laws and restore fairness to cattle markets. R-CALF USA is encouraging other lawmakers to join the letter, looking to get 200...

USDA officials started the process of debt relief for just under 16,000 borrowers by sending them notices that USDA will be making payments on Farm Service Agency direct loans.

USDA's Forest Service doesn't have the capacity to keep up with the thinning of vegetation required to help reduce forest fires. Wildfire risks also point to measures advocated by senators Thursday as they highlighted that the...

The National Corn Growers Association is shutting down its flagship sustainability program, the Soil Health Partnership, at the end of the month.

A regulatory ruling from the Surface Transportation Board raised concerns for executives at London-based investment fund TCI Fund Management Inc. that Canadian National Railway could drain shareholder equity if it keeps pushing...

Leaders from major cattle producer groups are calling for action by Congress, the Justice Department and USDA to address the imbalance in markets as feeders lose money while packers report high profits and strong demand for...

The board of directors for Kansas City Southern railroad chose Thursday to declare the Canadian National Railway offer as a better bid than the one offered by Canadian Pacific Railway. The two Canadian firms have been locked in...

USDA officials provided an update this week on loan repayment of Farm Service Agency loans to socially disadvantaged farmers. Litigation has taken a twist as a Black farmer from Tennessee and...

The U.S. Justice Department stated Wednesday a Ponzi scheme that ran from late 2017 until early 2019 involved investors from around the country. Two people were indicted by a federal grand jury in Colorado in the case, which...

A bill in the Iowa Legislature has stalled that would require retailers to offer at least 15% ethanol blends at the pumps and 11% biodiesel blends. The bill has stalled, though, as lobbyists for convenience stores and others have...

In a move that has set off alarm in farm groups, President Joe Biden's tax plan eliminates stepped-up basis for inherited assets beyond $1 million per individual or $2 million per couple. The White House states its proposal would not...

The Biden administration on Thursday released some principles and goals on its plan to conserve 30% of U.S. land and water under an initiative called "America the Beautiful." Pushing back on critics, the White House plan heavily...

EPA Administrator Michael Regan, along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, toured the Lincolnway Energy ethanol plant near Nevada, Iowa, and hosted a roundtable discussion with producers. Ethanol producers made the case that...

A congressional hearing Monday highlighted overtime exclusions in the Fair Labor Standards Act, going back to 1938, that Democratic witnesses said were meant to affect people of color. Monday's hearing focused on farmworkers...

President Joe Biden talked Wednesday night about his infrastructure and social spending plans that combine for more than $4 trillion in spending over a decade. The president also is proposing at least $1.5 trillion in tax increases...

The White House is releasing a plan that would increase taxes for wealthier Americans, including doubling the capital-gains tax rate and putting a $1 million cap on assets that could receive stepped-up basis. A senior administration...

Farmers and livestock producers could find themselves caught the capital-gains situation when they go to sell large equipment, but the higher capital-gains rate will hit farmers and ranchers more when they go to sell land, or pass...

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, key senators discussed the value of having USDA oversight of carbon markets. But Republican senators remain opposed to USDA tapping into the Commodity Credit Corp. funds to create a carbon...