Articles Tagged with ''USDA''

Senate Republican leadership is assembling one more package of Trump administration nominees for a floor vote this year.

All 12 million tons of China’s soybean purchase target do not have to ship by the Dec. 31 deadline. So says Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer’s classification of commonly used weedkiller atrazine as “probably carcinogenic to humans” prompted a quick response from the herbicide’s supporters and critics.

A top USDA official says the Trump administration is still evaluating the need for trade assistance payments to farmers. “If we do something, when we do something, we want it to be reflective of what’s actually happening in the marketplace,” Richard Fordyce, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation, says in an interview for this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers. 

The Senate Finance Committee will vote later today on Julie Callahan’s nomination for chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Nine years ago, lawmakers thought they had settled the issue of GMO labeling. A law passed in the summer of 2016 after months of negotiation shut down state labeling requirements and gave companies a way to keep biotech information off food labels. But a protracted legal battle is forcing USDA to rework key aspects of the labeling regulations. 

Former Department of Government Efficiency staffer Sam Berry is now chief information officer at the Agriculture Department, replacing Gary Washington. The U.S. Meat Export Federation elected new officers, including Jay Theiler of Agri Beef Company as chair. Ed Patru  joined American Beverage as senior vice president of public affairs. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., named Nathan Mark legislative director. The Animal Ag Alliance announced new board leadership, including Nick Wolfenden of Cargill as board chairperson.

China bought fewer U.S. soybeans than initially expected, according to revised Agriculture Department data on recent Chinese soybean purchases.

The global trade outlook for U.S. soybeans is mixed as the Agriculture Department on Friday slightly lowered its earlier export forecast amid tough competition from South America, despite a pending U.S.-China trade deal.

A Commerce Ministry spokesperson refused to confirm that Chinese purchase commitments of U.S. soybeans were part of a trade deal agreed to late last month.