Articles by Spencer Chase

The Obama administration released a report today highlighting the importance of trade exports in all 50 states, an effort to drive home the impacts of trade on the middle class as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) talks heat up on Capitol Hill.

While interested parties await a ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the U.S. country-of-origin labeling rule, lawmakers and industry representatives are already concerned about potential retaliation.

The 14-member Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) will be meeting this week in Bethesda, Maryland, for the first time since March. The panel is tasked with establishing recommendations for the 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The National Grain and Feed Association (NFGA) is urging the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) to adopt new rules for grain shippers to challenge rail freight rates, alleging that current regulations allow railroads to extract Ðexcessive monopoly profitsÐ

Agricultural groups are fighting against the inclusion of environmental concerns into the scientific report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, but at a public hearing on the report, supporters of the provisions came out in full force calling for sustainability language to ultima

Changes in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) through the 2014 Farm Bill could have broad implications on the programÐs long-term outlook and short-term scope.

Ð Last weekÐs announcement that Quad County Corn Processors had become Iowa's first commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel producer is giving renewable fuel interests a much needed boost and marks the long-awaited march toward fulfilling cellulosic's broader potential.

Legislators and officials from farm groups and agricultural organizations used a House Agriculture Committee hearing to remind each other of a well-known fact Ð trade can be very good for Ag.

As the U.S. waits for an appellate ruling on its efforts to defend its country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack seems to be at his witsp end on how to make the law work.

A group of beef industry stakeholders seeking changes in the beef checkoff program cleared another hurdle today, but the coalition will likely be moving forward without the support of one of its founding organizations and could face an uphill battle in Congress.