News

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to consider a farm bill during the work period between July 4th and August recesses, Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., says. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the nomination of Glen Smith to be undersecretary of agriculture for rural development along party lines, setting the stage for a Senate floor vote. 

USDA has confirmed two more cases of New World screwworm in Texas and another in a dog in New Mexico, bringing to five the number of detections since the first two cases were announced last week.

It’s another big week as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins grapples with a threat to livestock, senators work on a farm bill, and President Donald Trump says he’s focused on ending war with Iran and lowering costs for ag producers and other Americans. A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction barring the Agriculture Department from withholding funding from a group of states through a terms and conditions framework that seeks to comply with Trump administration policies on gender, immigration and diversity.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins heads to Texas on Monday as an expanding outbreak of New World screwworm threatens U.S. livestock.

Union members at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration – formerly the Food and Nutrition Service, or FNS – are pushing back against criticism by the Ag Department’s deputy secretary that their demands during relocation negotiations are unreasonable.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says while no one has a crystal ball, emergence of New World screwworm in Texas shouldn’t significantly diminish the U.S. cattle herd. Several lawmakers criticized USDA’s funding for specialty crop programs as inadequate, even though program assistance was raised to $1.6 billion last week.

The safety of glyphosate, cuts in federal food aid and farm income losses were the focus of tense exchanges between Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Democrats during a House Ag Committee hearing on Thursday. 

A case of New World screwworm has been found in a 3-week-old South Texas calf, USDA officials confirmed Wednesday. The House is poised to vote Thursday on an agriculture and FDA funding bill that backers say ensures critical investments in research, rural development and the health of plants and animals.

Agriculture Department officials have confirmed a case of New World screwworm in a South Texas calf, marking the first detection of the pest in U.S. livestock in decades.