Steve Davies

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is encouraged by congressional talks aimed at getting a farm bill passed this year and urged lawmakers to be “practical” as they iron our disagreements over reference prices and nutrition assistance.

Tyson Foods is misleading consumers by claiming it will reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the Environmental Working Group alleges in a lawsuit filed in a Washington, D.C., court Wednesday that also goes after the company’s “climate-smart” beef claim.

Leaders of the Senate and House Ag committees were featured at the annual Friends of the National Arboretum dinner Tuesday night in Washington – and both were separately expressing some optimism about getting a new farm bill yet this year.

Employers who use the H-2A program are seeking nationwide relief from a Labor Department rule that has already been enjoined in 17 states. 

A Bayer subsidiary has agreed to pay $7.8 million to further conservation of wildlife, particularly the greater sage-grouse, settling a lawsuit that challenged approval of phosphate mining near Soda Springs, Idaho.

The former chief economist for Republicans on the Senate Ag Committee is moving to Terrain, where he will lead a team of economists and analysts.

House Republicans this week will put a focus on a key part of the Biden administration’s climate policy that former President Donald Trump is promising to undo if he wins the White House. 

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is downplaying the potential impact on agriculture of former President Donald Trump’s proposal to impose across-the-board tariffs on U.S. imports. At the same time, he says Trump’s tariff policy is critical to protecting U.S. industry, and he denies that tariffs would increase consumer prices.

Former President Donald Trump, responding to a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, is throwing his support behind increasing commodity price supports and other assistance for producers. But Vice President Kamala Harris notes Trump proposed budgets that would have cut some farm programs.