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A large crowd gathered at this year’s Iowa Agriculture Leaders banquet in Des Moines Tuesday night to see Bill Northey, Iowa’s long-time Secretary of Agriculture, finally sworn in for his new USDA post.

President Trump today suggested the “ultimate penalty” for drug dealers may be part of the solution to the opioid crisis and called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to bring lawsuits against manufacturers of the powerful and addictive painkillers.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue took center stage at the Commodity Classic today, offering a forceful defense of his support for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), while trying to settle down concerned corn growers who are counting on the Trump administration’s support.

Bayer says it is pushing back the expected date of closing its proposed $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto Co. and that it is prepared to make additional concessions – including selling its entire vegetable seed business – to win approval from antitrust authorities in the EU, the U.S. and elsewhere.

There may not be a big infrastructure package this year, but inland waterway operators see funding action likely for locks and dams.

The Senate confirmed Bill Northey as USDA’s undersecretary for farm programs after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, dropped a hold he had kept on the nomination for four months in a dispute over biofuel policy.