The House Agriculture Committee takes up a new farm bill today, spurring fresh debate on pesticide safety, tariffs and other key ag issues.  

The markup  comes amid U.S. military conflict in Iran that could raise farm input prices, as well as uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s long-term trade strategy.

Pesticides in focus: Ag Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson’s proposed farm bill would establish the Environmental Protection Agency as the single authority for pesticide labeling, barring states and courts from requiring labels to include warnings different from what’s been approved by EPA.  

Ag groups like CropLife America and companies such as Bayer, the main U.S. manufacturer of glyphosate, praised the pesticide language.  

“We need to reconfirm that the EPA regulatory framework is the law,” Brian Naber, Bayer’s head of North America & Australia/New Zealand region for Crop Science, told Agri-Pulse. “This legislation is so important to give innovators certainty that we have a science driven, well-functioning regulatory agency.”  

The nonprofit group Beyond Pesticides criticized the language for hamstringing litigants bringing lawsuits alleging chemicals such as Roundup cause cancer. EPA has said glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is unlikely to cause cancer.  

Rep. Angie Craig, the House Ag Committee’s top Democrat, has called the farm bill’s pesticide provision a “poison pill.”  

Proposition 12 language: The draft farm bill’s call to nullify California's controversial Proposition 12 standards for animal welfare will also be among major topics during the markup.  

By the way: Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., tells Agri-Pulse the Senate's farm bill will likely align closely with the House version but also could include a provision to authorize year-round sales of E15. Read more at Agri-Pulse.com.

MAHA ally challenges Cornyn; Sell looks to take House seat

The nation will be watching Texas primaries today. Headlining the primary is the Senate race between incumbent John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

Paxton has tied himself closely to the Make America Healthy Again movement. Last year, for example, Paxton reached agreement with Kellogg’s to remove artificial colorings from its products. More recently, he started investigating grocery chains for allegedly selling organic produce that contains pesticide residue. 

Former House Ag Committee member Jasmine Crockett is running against state Rep. James Talarico in the Democratic primary. 

Also on tap: Top ag lobbyist Tom Sell is running in the GOP primary to succeed the retiring Rep. Jodey Arrington in the state’s heavily Republican 19th District. Sell would instantly become a powerhouse on ag policy in the House. 

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Ag Commissioner Sid Miller is battling to keep his office. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has endorsed his GOP challenger, Nate Sheets, who founded a popular brand of honey and now owns a 10,000-acre ranch in west Texas. 

Montana seat opens up: Montana GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke has announced he is retiring and not running for re-election, leaving Republicans in a tough spot.

Multiple Democrats are running for Zinke’s seat, but with a filing deadline of March 4, the GOP will have to move fast to find a candidate.

In a letter to Montanans, Zinke said he has undergone multiple surgeries while in Congress and faces several more. Zinke was a Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008 and then was a state legislator for four years before being elected to Congress in 2015. He then became Interior secretary during the first Trump administration but resigned while facing multiple ethics inquiries.

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Zinke was elected again to Congress in 2022.

Climate risks, lagging infrastructure threaten global food security, report says

Global food systems will have to scale up to support an estimated population of 10 billion by the middle of the century. With mounting climate threats and infrastructure development lagging, vulnerabilities abound, a new report finds.

The Economist Impact, a research and events arm of The Economist, will publish its Resilient Food Systems Index today, ranking the reliability of countries’ food systems.

The U.S. comes in fourth, behind Portugal, France and the United Kingdom. But globally, systems are struggling to address risks stemming from climate change, infrastructure and agricultural sustainability.

Weak transportation and logistics are contributing to high levels of food waste. More than 10% is lost before food hits store shelves, and almost 20% is lost at the household level. Without reliable electricity and internet, the report says, agri-tech solutions aren’t rapidly scalable, hampering productivity improvements.

Further, efforts to anticipate and mitigate climate shocks are poor and offer “a clear opportunity for global improvement,” a press release reads.

Meat conference attendees told their business is booming

Meat sales continue to drive growth at the retail level and there’s little sign of a slowdown, industry analyst Anne-Marie Roerink of 210 Analytics told the Annual Meat Conference Monday.

In her annual “Power of Meat” presentation, Roerink brought the attendees good news. Meat department sales grew 6.8% in 2025, bringing the total amount to $112 billion, “which is astounding if you think about it just being $77 billion in 2019,” Roerink said.

“So, we might have inflation, but consumers are moving with us,” she said.

Will there be a slowdown? Roerink says “beef has been the top growth area for several years in a row” but with growth as high as it has been – 7% in the last two quarters of 2025 – “it's logical that we're going to be growing a little bit less, if you think about it that way. And what I think we are going to see is a little bit of a recalibrating of dollars to cuts and kinds that are a little bit less expensive.”

Meat sales “continue to grow while plant-based meat alternatives continue to decline,” Roerink added. Survey data she presented shows consumers are prioritizing animal protein.

Asked what their priority would be in a traditional dinner of a carb, a vegetable and meat, 58% of people said it would be the animal protein, she said.

Kennedy’s diet: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed his own diet in a Q&A with Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts and FMI – The Food Industry Association President and CEO Leslie Sarasin.

Kennedy said he had seen myriad health and cognitive benefits from going on a carnivore diet where he eats only meat and fermented foods, such as kimchi and sauerkraut. 

“Today, a large number of the cabinet are on that diet,” he added.

Final word

“Within two years, for the first time in three decades, boomers are not going to be a majority spender, but millennials will, and with that, everything changes. They buy different species and types of meat, and … they create completely different meals with the items they buy. They barely use their service counter, though they love advice in different ways. Production claims are more important, convenience solutions are more important.” – Anne-Marie Roerink of 210 Analytics at the Annual Meat Conference hosted by FMI – The Food Industry Association and the Meat Institute. “The meat department of the future will have to look very different,” she said.