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There’s been a lot of speculation about the kind of leader Brooke Rollins would be as ag secretary, so we talked with a couple of men who know her well. One is Drew DeBerry, a government affairs consultant at Axis Strategies, who first met Rollins when she worked for then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

President-elect Donald Trump is bringing China hawk Peter Navarro back to the White House as a top trade adviser, adding to a trade team that features a mix of Wall Street veterans and protectionist policy specialists. In other words, the trade team for Trump’s second term looks a lot like the first. 

A federal judge in Texas has blocked the federal government from requiring small businesses, including farms, to start filing reports disclosing their ownership. The disclosure requirement, which the judge described as “quasi-Orwellian,” is intended to combat money laundering and other financial crimes.

Democrats on the House Ag Committee are starting to line up behind the candidates seeking to be the panel’s ranking member. Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., are challenging Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., for the minority’s top spot.

A federal judge has vacated USDA’s 2020 rule exempting genetically engineered plants from regulation, which likely will delay USDA approval of crops engineered with traits to resist herbicides.

Figures from across the agriculture industry have responded to President-elect Trump’s pick for U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, by pushing him to pursue new market access opportunities for American farmers.

Lawmakers return this week for the remainder of their lame duck session, facing a to-do list that includes passing a farm bill extension and averting a government shutdown. Also, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy head to Capitol Hill, and a Senate committee puts a focus on FDA and its role in combatting obesity.. 

The food industry is preparing to engage with the incoming Trump administration by presenting itself as an ally in some of the “Make America Healthy Again” ideals like nutrition transparency and improving health outcomes.

An ambitious effort to reduce the size of the federal government in the second Trump administration is encountering skepticism from seasoned government observers and watchdogs who wonder whether the billionaires leading it know what they’re getting into.

Brooke Rollins, president of the America First Policy Institute, an organization closely allied with President-elect Donald Trump, has been selected to serve as agriculture secretary.