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There are new warnings today about the potential impact of China’s involvement in U.S. agriculture.

The Department of Agriculture is taking steps to increase competition in the meat processing sector and reform the poultry industry's contracting practices.

China’s push to achieve self-sufficiency, which has incentivized the nation to purchase, and even steal, agricultural assets in other countries, could present risks to the economic and national security of the United States, warns a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

The Food and Drug Administration will accelerate its review of the agency’s food regulatory functions in the wake of the infant formula shortage that has prompted severe criticism of FDA’s ability to react quickly to emergency situations.

The U.S. is again demanding to enter into official consultations with Canada over complaints that Ottawa continues to manipulate its dairy import quotas that stymie U.S. exports, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday. Those consultations could lead to the U.S. calling for a second dispute panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Some results from Tuesday’s primaries hold implications for ag policy.

Nearly a year after the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill aimed at jump-starting ag climate markets, the bill remains mired in the House Agriculture Committee, raising the possibility the legislation could be punted to the farm bill debate in the next Congress.

The Biden administration wants to make more farmers eligible for insurance when they grow wheat and soybeans in the same crop year, but some industry experts doubt the plan will do as much as the White House hopes in scaling up wheat production.

For months, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have pointed fingers at each other over the rising cost of goods including food as the midterm elections quickly approach, but there are big doubts about how effective any of their proposals will be. 

The war in Ukraine has laid bare the fact that agriculture is the key to national security. It’s a lesson that world leaders are taking to heart as they scramble to lessen global reliance on key sources of food and fertilizer, but it’s unclear if it will be too late to stop the slide from food crises to famine in some of the poorest and least developed countries.