Senate Republicans want to advance a fiscal 2020 domestic spending package as soon as this week that would include funding for departments and agencies critical to agriculture and the food industry. Meanwhile, House Democrats are closer to a deal on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement

Faced with criticism about delays in research reports and distribution of grant funding, a top USDA official defended the department’s decision to relocate the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to the Kansas City region at a congressional hearing Thursday.

The Bureau of Land Management did not adequately consider the science behind management plans covering millions of acres of greater sage grouse habitat in Western states, a federal judge in Idaho ruled Wednesday, halting implementation of the plans.

A senior Agriculture Department official rejected House Democrats’ demands that USDA pull back a proposal to reduce income eligibility limits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in many states.