U.S. government and industry officials are applauding Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen’s Friday announcement that the country will be lifting restrictions that limit imports of U.S. beef and pork.

Meat packers need federal inspectors to produce the pork chops, T-bone steaks and ground beef that consumers are counting on to be in grocery stores, but the USDA inspectors on the front line are being told they are on their own when it comes to securing masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19.

For all of you working on farms and ranches, you realize that the important work of producing food and feeding people never stops. It’s the same pattern for those in our packing plants, our truckers, our food workers and everyone along the supply chain from farm to fork.

The Department of Agriculture is proposing new criteria to determine if a livestock or poultry producer is receiving unfair treatment from a packer or integrator. 

Farmers freed from water quality project * China trade talks proceeding ‘around the clock’

Bioeconomy gets White House focus * Vilsack pessimistic on early China deal

American ranchers and cattle producers get exclusive access to a large portion of Europe's tariff rate quota for beef under a deal signed Friday at the White House.

Julie Anna Potts, the executive vice president and treasurer of the American Farm Bureau Federation, will take over as president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute effective Sept. 24.