New World screwworm case detected on U.S. soil
A case of New World screwworm has been found in a 3-week-old South Texas calf, USDA officials confirmed Wednesday.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters on a press call that the agency is establishing quarantines, movement controls and surveillance in a 20-kilometer zone around the detection site near La Pryor, Texas. She said it would be immediately deploying 4 million sterile flies to the area through ground release chambers in addition to the 4 million sterile flies it already drops aerially over the region each week.
It’s the only U.S. case of the flesh-eating pest the agency “is tracking right now, and only one that has been confirmed” she said.
House’s $26B USDA-FDA funding bill is teed up for floor vote
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.
Total discretionary allocation for the fiscal 2027 legislative package, which also includes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is $26.3 billion, 1.4% below the 2026 enacted level, according to the House appropriators.
The House Rules Committee on Tuesday teed the bill up for a full vote on the chamber floor.
Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, the panel’s top Democrat, assailed the legislation for cutting food aid programs, including for women, infants and children.
“This bill also cuts conservation, rural development, clean water, broadband, energy and small business support,” he said. “It slashes Food for Peace, a lifesaving program that feeds people facing famine all around the world and supports American farmers here at home.”
The legislation’s amendments include a measure that would bar USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture from funding painful research on dogs and cats. Another calls to transfer $2 million from the USDA chief information officer to APHIS port of entry inspections for New World screwworm.
Iowa is anointed ‘center of the political universe’
A melding of economic, farming and political influences makes America’s top corn and hog state the place to watch this election season.
Election forecasters from the nonpartisan Cook Political Report say Iowa is a poster child for the national political tension between President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings and deep-rooted partisanship.
In bad news for established Republican candidates, Rep. Randy Feenstra on Tuesday lost his bid to be the GOP nominee for Iowa governor, despite an endorsement from Trump. MAHA-backed Zach Lahn instead will advance to the general election, where he faces what’s expected to be a tough race against the Democratic nominee, state Auditor Rob Sand.
Democrats also are hopeful about yesterday’s win for state Rep. Josh Turek to be their party’s pick to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson in the race to fill the Senate seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Joni Ernst.
“Hinson is a strong candidate who has amassed a formidable war chest,” but the environment in Iowa “is an increasingly favorable one for Democrats given backlash to tariffs and rising fuel and fertilizer prices as a result of the Iran War,” said Cook analyst Jessica Taylor, who shifted her rating on the race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.”
Iowans have favored Trump in the last three presidential elections, including by a 13-point margin two years ago.
“If you want a reliable gauge of the size and scale of a blue wave, especially at the federal level, stop obsessing about Maine and look to Iowa,” Cook analysts said. “A decent-sized wave should be enough for Democrats to win at least two House seats. But it will take a much stronger one for Democrats to defeat the well-funded and politically proven GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson or to flip her open eastern Iowa House seat.”
ACE summit focused on leadership for women in ag
The American Farm Bureau Federation’s biennial ACE (Advocate Cultivate Empower) summit for women in agriculture wrapped up on Wednesday after three days of networking, leadership and education for about 500 attendees. This year’s summit highlighted the International Year of the Woman Farmer.
“I know it fills my cup so much to be at gatherings like this among people who are positive and innovative, and trying to learn more, and to grow and to do better always,” said Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association.
The results for the National Women in Agriculture study were also debuted on Wednesday morning at a conference session.
$30M in Grocery Guarantee loans delivered in first month
The Small Business Administration has approved 19 loans totaling more than $30 million during the first month of its new 90% Grocery Guarantee program.
The early uptake "shows lenders are responding to that agenda by moving capital into the businesses at the heart of our food supply chain," said Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler. "By supporting more investment in production, processing, and distribution, this program is strengthening rural America, reinforcing food security, and supporting lower grocery costs for working families.”
The 90% guarantee exceeds the standard 75% backing available through SBA's flagship 7(a) loan program, giving lenders greater incentive to finance food-sector investments that expand domestic food production and distribution capacity.
Listen to Loeffler discuss the program on a recent Agri-Pulse Newsmakers episode.
USTR seeks input on new U.S.-China trade board
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is weighing how to structure a board intended to handle trade relations with China.
The agency is seeking suggestions on how it should implement a new U.S. China Board of Trade, as well comments on potential modifications that could be made to tariffs on “non-sensitive” products, according to a press release.
The agency will accept comments through July 10, and rebuttals to those comments through July 27.
Final word
“We will continue to try to flood the zone with as many sterile flies as we can get there until we have confidence that we've knocked it down.” – USDA Undersecretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs Dudley Hoskins, on a call with reporters Wednesday about the New World screwworm. Read more here.
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