Food and Ag Board takes the long view * Mexican official optimistic on USMCA

Under fire from Congress and the organics industry, USDA is moving to finalize a 2015 proposal allowing dairy producers to transition animals into organic production once.

More than 200 leaders from organic businesses, farms, and ranches of all sizes from all regions of the country are coming to Washington this week with one goal in mind: Repair the organic public-private partnership and halt the bureaucratic foot-dragging that is stymieing this vibrant industry.

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.

The Department of Agriculture is taking final steps to withdraw the organic animal welfare rule, setting an effective date for the regulation’s formal repeal.

The Department of Agriculture plans to withdraw another Obama administration regulation impacting the livestock industry, this time choosing to pull language setting animal welfare standards in organic agriculture.

The Trump administration is further delaying new animal-welfare standards for organic livestock and poultry production, and USDA officials are raising concerns about the legal and economic justification for the regulations developed under the Obama administration.