Articles by Philip Brasher

House Democrats pushed through a $3.5 trillion budget resolution after moderates reached a deal promising them a vote by Sept. 27 on the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill.

A federal judge in Iowa has turned aside hog producers’ latest attempt to block California from enforcing its animal welfare requirements on pork sold in the state.

A broad array of contract livestock and poultry producers will be eligible for coronavirus relief and payment rules for specialty crop growers are being liberalized under rules changes made by the Agriculture Department.

The Agriculture Department is accepting 2.8 million acres into the land-idling Conservation Reserve Program, well under the 4 million acres the Biden administration was aiming for as part of its effort to use farmers to help reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

House Democrats are setting aside the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill this week to take up a $3.5 trillion budget resolution needed to move President Joe Biden's domestic spending priorities and climate policy.

The Agriculture Department has been scrubbing its website and social media to remove any photos or text that could identify Afghans who contributed to agricultural research or other projects funded by the USDA, government officials tell Agri-Pulse. There’s concern the Taliban may harm Afghans who cooperated with the U.S. – even if it was just to help on an ag research project.

The Biden administration is putting an end to the use of chlorpyrifos insecticide on food crops, provoking a backlash from some ag groups.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, says Democrats can’t pass a tax proposal that is raising alarms with farmers. That includes a transfer tax on inherited assets that would nullify the benefits of stepped-up basis.

The fresh produce sector is joining dairy processors and the supermarket industry in welcoming the Biden administration’s decision to boost SNAP benefits by 27%. The increase comes from revisions to the Thrifty Food Plan, a calculation that USDA uses to determine benefits. The increase is due in part to the fact that the revision is supposed to bring benefit levels in line with federal dietary guidelines.

The Department of Agriculture is set to announce a benefits boost under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that will raise average assistance by more than 25%.