The week ahead could be pivotal for ag policy. In Washington, Senate Republicans are trying to agree on the finishing touches of their version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the budget reconciliation measure needed to enact the GOP legislative agenda.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins heads to Capitol Hill this week to face the House Ag Committee, and Stephen Vaden will finally get a vote on his nomination to be deputy secretary at USDA.
And in London: Top Trump administration officials will be meeting with their Chinese counterparts as they try to jump-start talks to settle the latest trade war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be on Capitol Hill for a series of hearings this week after he returns from the talks.
Former Obama administration adviser Ben Rhodes told MSNBC that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “holding all the cards” in the talks. President Donald Trump “shot before he aimed in this trade war. China has a lot of leverage here and they're trying to use it to just turn the dial back,” Rhodes said.
Trump announced the meeting on Friday, saying it “should go very well."
On that Big Beautiful Bill: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Sunday defended the House version against the criticism of deficit hawks. "This is going to jet-fuel the U.S. economy. And I tell you what, all wages are going to rise. There’s going to be more jobs and economic opportunity for more people,” he told ABC News.
But the top Democrat on the Senate Ag Committee, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, told CBS voters were turning against the cuts being made through government downsizing and the cuts that the Big Beautiful Bill would make to programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Voters “don't want to see veterinarians eliminated, eliminated from the USDA, or they don't want to see funding frozen for cancer trials,” she said.
For on this week’s packed agenda, read our Washington Week Ahead.
New BEAD requirements out; fiber preference stripped
End-to-end fiber will no longer be prioritized for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Act funding, under the Trump administration’s new guidelines.
New requirements under the program favor projects that provide speeds "at no less than 100 megabits per second for downloads and 20 megabits per second for uploads” or have a latency less than or equal to 100 milliseconds. The new rules also direct states to reject projects with “excessive” costs.
In essence: Stripping fiber’s preference will allow satellite internet providers like SpaceX’s Starlink or Amazon’s Kuiper to obtain greater shares of BEAD funding.
Take note: States that have already picked awardees will now need to rescind those selections and reopen their application processes.
Executive order aims to boost U.S. drone production
An executive order Trump signed on Friday aims to accelerate production of American drones. The order directs all U.S. agencies to “prioritize the integration” of drones made in the U.S. over those manufactured abroad “to the maximum extent permitted by law” and commands the Commerce Secretary to “secure the United States drone supply chain against foreign control or exploitation."
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The order also directs FAA to issue a rule allowing U.S. drone operators to routinely fly “beyond visual line of sight.” It also tasks FAA with using artificial intelligence to streamline unmanned aerial system waiver reviews.
Seed, produce groups kick off policy conferences in D.C.
USDA officials and industry experts will discuss the latest in ag policy and trade as the American Seed Trade Association seed industry kicks off a leadership summit and the International Fresh Produce Association begins its annual Washington Conference.
Over 150 ASTA members will be on Capitol Hill this week to advocate for an increase in ag research funding and elimination of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.
“While Congress continues to negotiate the reconciliation bill and tax policy, we cannot forget about America’s farmers and producers who are waiting on a farm bill to support them in their efforts to feed a growing population,” ASTA President and CEO Andy LaVigne said ahead of the summit.
Brooke Appleton, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for farm production and conservation, will speak at ASTA’s event this morning, along with Turner Bridgforth, senior agriculture advisor at EPA. They will be followed by Jason Hafemeister, USDA’s acting associate administrator for the Foreign Agricultural Service, who will be joined by trade and ag officials from the Canadian and Mexican embassies in Washington.
Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., and Ray Starling, North Carolina Chamber general counsel and former special assistant to Trump for agriculture and agricultural trade, will also speak to the group.
IFPA sounds alarm over WIC cuts
IFPA is warning that a proposed cut to WIC nutrition program could reduce access to fruits and vegetables for recipients.
The House Appropriations Committee’s fiscal 2026 spending bill for USDA would reduce the WIC cash value benefit by 10%, which would lead to a $100 million cut in 2026, with a pathway for a later $1 billion cut to fruit and vegetable benefits.
IFPA said this move would run counter to the findings in the recent Make America Healthy Again report, which emphasized fruit and vegetable consumption.
“These proposed cuts would have serious consequences for connecting farm-fresh produce to low-income women and children — populations already at increased risk for diet-related health disparities,” IFPA wrote in a statement.
The Appropriations Committee is set to debate the bill on Wednesday.
Final word
"We've got to make sure that people understand that the regulations are being developed in a way that will help make America healthy again and continue to help them be healthy. So the science has to be the leader in any of this regulation, but it is concerning when we start to hear people who are, you know, political scientists and social scientists and big influencers on social media, think that they know how things should be done." – American Seed Trade Association President and CEO Andy LaVigne on this week’s Agri-Pulse Open Mic.
Rebekah Alvey, Philip Brasher, Lydia Johnson and Noah Wicks contributed to today’s Daybreak.
