Steve Davies

Five seed companies are seeking damages from Nebraska ethanol company AltEn and related businesses and individuals for cleanup of pesticide-contaminated materials and wastewater at the company’s Mead, Nebraska, site.

The Transportation Department is announcing today that it’s making $450 million in grant funds available this year to expand port capacity, and some of that money may go towards improving the ability of ag exporters to ship commodities to overseas buyers, according to senior government officials.

Farmers will be banned from applying chlorpyrifos to food crops starting Monday unless farm groups can persuade an appeals court to intervene, and experts say many growers lack reliable alternatives for controlling insect pests.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has announced more findings of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the U.S., this time in what it called a “non-commercial, non-poultry flock” in Maine.

Congressional negotiators now have until March 11 to agree on a massive bill to fund the government for a fiscal year that started nearly five months ago.

The value of the U.S. industrial hemp crop in 2021 was $824 million, the National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its first report on the cannabis crop that was legalized in the 2018 farm bill.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the government needs to ensure that seed companies and other input suppliers aren’t using their market power to raise prices unfairly.

Supporters and critics of the Renewable Fuel Standard sparred Wednesday over whether RFS ethanol blending requirements contribute to higher gasoline prices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, at a Senate hearing examining the law.

A Senate committee will be debating biofuel policy today amid concerns about the Biden administration’s implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard and a new study that has raised fresh criticism of ethanol mandates.

Robert Califf has been narrowly approved to lead the Food and Drug Administration, giving the agency a Senate-confirmed commissioner for the first time in over a year.