A long-time veteran of the soybean industry has been selected to lead the Illinois Soybean Association.

Some small-farm backers and animal welfare advocates are pushing for tighter policing of checkoffs, but the self-help commodity promotion programs are popular with most farmers, so don't hold your breath expecting new mandates from Congress.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association plans to hire Colin Woodall as its new CEO and move Ethan Lane to Woodall’s former role as the organization’s vice president of government affairs, giving the nation’s largest beef industry group two familiar faces in new roles.

Lawmakers from both ends of the ideological spectrum want to use the farm bill to impose significant new restrictions on the research and promotion programs for beef, milk and dozens of other commodities.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is set to terminate its rulemaking for the organic checkoff, stopping a process that officially began almost exactly three years ago.