Congressional leaders spent Tuesday evening behind closed doors working on a sweeping year-end deal that would include a new coronavirus relief package as well as funding for the federal government for the fiscal 2021.

A first-of-its kind study will pull together massive amounts of USDA farm data to assess the impact of conservation practices, and the department is separately considering a new crop insurance product designed to encourage growers to limit nitrogen usage.

Spiro Stefanou has been selected to serve as the new administrator of USDA’s Economic Research Service and Paul Schlegel announced his retirement from the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The 2014 farm bill ended direct payments to farmers, but the use of the Market Facilitation Program raises questions about how producers will be compensated during hard times.

The Trump administration’s trade assistance payments have become so critical to farm profits that some growers could take a hit to their income if the program is discontinued in 2020 because of a trade deal with China.

Tom Nassif’s exit interview * Closing in on USMCA deal * FDA eyes next steps in food safety

Researchers are peeling back the onion to produce a closer geographic view of farm product and food transfers across the U.S.

Crops engineered to use less energy fixing a “photosynthetic glitch” are about 40 percent more productive, according to new research from the University of Illinois and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service published today in Science.

To improve food security in Sub-Saharan Africa and many other regions of the world, agricultural production systems need to be transformed.