Articles by Lydia Johnson

California Air Resources Board chair Liane Randolph will retire from state service at the end of September. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Lauren Sanchez as the next CARB chair. Spiro Stefanou has stepped down as administrator of the USDA Economic Research Service after five years leading the agency.

Fall Creek Farm & Nursery appointed Marc de Beer as CEO. Market Basket named longtime chief financial officer Donald T. Mulligan as interim chief executive officer. Ann Patterson of Sacramento was appointed to the Delta Stewardship Council. The American Seed Trade Association hired Brandon Pachman as director of government affairs.

The organic industry is grappling with fast sales growth, driven by consumers across the political spectrum, that has outpaced U.S. production and is looking for help from Congress in boosting domestic supplies of feed, meat and other products that have to be imported.

Spiro Stefanou stepped down as administrator of the USDA Economic Research Service. The Bockorny Group hired John Torres as a principal. Laura Hensley was promoted to chief marketing officer at Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative. The American Seed Trade Association hired Brandon Pachman as director of government affairs.

President Donald Trump and senior administration officials head to the United Kingdom today for the president’s second state visit to the sovereign state.

Senate Republicans are set to break a logjam on President Donald Trump’s nominees this week that could benefit at least three of his picks for USDA. The House GOP is expected to move a stopgap spending bill this week to keep the government funded after the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1, but Senate Democrats are insisting that expiring health care subsidies be included.

The Supreme Court has agreed to an expedited schedule for considering two cases challenging the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Oral arguments are set for the first week of November.

The California State Senate unanimously confirmed Karen Morrison as director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation. She has been with DPR since 2018, recently as chief deputy director. Earlier in her career, Morrison was a senior environmental scientist at the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) and was city commissioner for the City of West Sacramento Environment and Utilities Commission. 

Amanda De Jong was named CEO of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. Mary Beth Schultz joined Wiley’s food & drug practice as a partner. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee named Andy Holt Tennessee agriculture commissioner effective Oct. 1. Missouri Farm Bureau hired TaylorAnn Washburn as director of marketing and commodities. 

Former USDA deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services Cindy Long joined Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as a national adviser in the firm’s health care group. Devin Cole was named chief operating officer at Tyson Foods. Combest, Sell & Associates hired Greyson Castillo as an associate. Sarah Ash Simpson will join the Indiana Soybean Alliance as senior director of public policy and industry affairs. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the administration is staying the course with its use of tariffs. But he told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the administration would refund tariffs if the Supreme Court rules that President Donald Trump lacked the legal authority to implement them. 

The House is set to pass a five-year reauthorization of USDA’s grain inspection program this week, and the Make America Healthy Again Commission’s recommendations will be released on Tuesday.