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The Agriculture Department is increasing the amount of assistance available to drought-stricken cattle producers by adding coverage for feed transportation costs to the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish Program.

House Democrats are proposing a $35 billion expansion of child feeding assistance as part of their massive tax and spending package, and a lawmaker announced Wednesday that the measure also would include $1 billion in biofuel aid.

More children experienced food insecurity in 2020 than in 2019, the Agriculture Department said in its annual report on household food security in the U.S. But nationwide, the overall rate remained steady despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

House Democrats are moving ahead this week with debating key provisions of the $3.5 trillion tax and spending package. The House Ways and Means Committee has announced plans to take up the health care, paid leave and child care provisions Thursday and Friday. That would push its action on tax issues into next week.

An Agri-Pulse analysis of the compensation earned by leaders of the nation's most prominent farm, food and energy groups is beginning to reflect the months when the nation shut down and the food chain faced unprecedented challenges. But the true impacts; and their reflection in publicly available tax documents; might not be realized for another year or two.

House Democrats are forging ahead with writing a massive new tax and spending package with major implications for the next farm bill as well as producers’ finances.

The growing trade relationship between the U.S. and Colombia is threatening to turn sour for U.S. dairy, and industry representatives are asking the Biden administration to step in.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, which has been dormant so far during the Biden administration, is likely to tackle climate change and environmental justice issues when it starts meeting again later this year, EPA and new members say.

Key USDA watershed programs that fund agricultural waste management, water quality, and flood prevention projects would get $918 million through the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package awaiting a final House vote.

Farmers’ worries about current conditions and their farms' financial performances started to ease in August, according to the monthly Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.