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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins heads to Texas on Monday as an expanding outbreak of New World screwworm threatens U.S. livestock.

Union members at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration – formerly the Food and Nutrition Service, or FNS – are pushing back against criticism by the Ag Department’s deputy secretary that their demands during relocation negotiations are unreasonable.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says while no one has a crystal ball, emergence of New World screwworm in Texas shouldn’t significantly diminish the U.S. cattle herd. Several lawmakers criticized USDA’s funding for specialty crop programs as inadequate, even though program assistance was raised to $1.6 billion last week.

The safety of glyphosate, cuts in federal food aid and farm income losses were the focus of tense exchanges between Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Democrats during a House Ag Committee hearing on Thursday. 

A case of New World screwworm has been found in a 3-week-old South Texas calf, USDA officials confirmed Wednesday. 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.

Businessman Zach Lahn's surprise victory over U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra in the Iowa Republican gubernatorial primary is a glimpse of election battles ahead between Make America Healthy Again GOP candidates and more traditional Republicans. 

The Agriculture Department will seek comment later this year on proposals aimed at aligning new federal dietary guidelines with school meal standards, Deputy Ag Secretary Stephen Vaden says. Rep. Randy Feenstra suffered a surprising defeat in Iowa’s GOP gubernatorial primary Tuesday, losing to businessman Zach Lahn despite a late endorsement from President Donald Trump.

SNAP cost-structure changes threaten to derail the farm bill, but Sen. Amy Klobuchar, ranking member of the Agriculture Committee, says she has an "excellent working relationship" with Chair John Boozman. 

U.S. Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden touts the Trump administration's trade deals with China and says the Asian nation is expected to follow through on its commitments. 

As new technologies take root in U.S. agriculture and producers' digital footprints grow, statehouses across the country are starting to wrestle with a new question: who owns the data a farm produces?