Advocates of plant-based diets, including several people who claimed they had improved their health significantly by adopting them, showed up in force Thursday to make the case that the federal government should radically modify its nutritional advice. 

For farmers and ranchers living under the uncertainty of the 2015 Waters of the United States rule, this year could bring relief to an ongoing state of regulatory confusion. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are reviewing over 600,000 public comments on a revised definition of WOTUS that aims to replace the detrimental 2015 rule.

The Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration have completed an agreement to share regulatory jurisdiction over cell-based food products, but the language still needs to be implemented before the goods can be sold.

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s plans to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list drew praise from ranchers and condemnation from environmental groups, who say they will take legal action to retain federal protection.

Editor’s note: This is the fifth installment in our seven-part in-depth editorial series where we look ahead at “Farm & Food 2040.” This story focuses on the changing consumer expectations for food and how that’s impacting many aspects of the value chain of the present and future.

Congressional negotiators are struggling to close a deal that could increase border security funding while funding USDA, FDA and other agencies important to agriculture for the rest of fiscal 2019 and provide disaster aid for farmers hit by the 2018 hurricanes.