Steve Davies

For the third Congress in a row, House members have offered a bill addressing agriculture’s labor shortage, reintroducing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which allows year-round ag labor for H-2A workers and creates a merit-based visa program for the ag sector.

The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are still several months away from voting on a new farm bill, but the major issues in each of the 12 titles are coming into focus even as lawmakers continue offering new proposals they’d like to see included. Here is a summary of the issues in play as well as notable proposals lawmakers would like to see included in the bill.

Some major farm groups aren’t satisfied with the Biden administration’s promise to revise its “waters of the U.S.” rule by September.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is warning that funding for a new farm bill is likely to be tight in the wake of last month’s debt ceiling agreement.

The forestry title, often overlooked in the farm bill, figures to play a prominent role this time around, given the potential of trees to harbor significant amounts of carbon and the Biden administration’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The Biden administration has released a historic amount of funding to fill gaps in broadband service across the country.

USDA economists continue to trim their forecast for supermarket prices this year.