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A revised climate funding package Democrats are pushing through the Senate this weekend scraps a debt relief program for minority farmers that was blocked by the courts and replaces it with new programs earmarked for “distressed” USDA borrowers as well as farmers the department has discriminated against.

The climate funding package that Senate Democrats expect to pass this weekend will include $4 billion in drought-related funding for the Bureau of Reclamation.

The climate funding package that Senate Democrats have agreed on should make it easier to pass the next farm bill while helping consumers and producers deal with climate change, says a Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Tina Smith of Minnesota.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has proposed long-awaited regulations covering animal welfare for organic producers that largely track changes made in a rule issued just before President Barack Obama left office, ruling out the use of screened-in porches as outdoor access for poultry.

 

Global prices for food commodities dropped sharply in July, led by declines in vegetable oil and grain markets, but food costs overall remain 13% above the level a year ago.

Bioengineered food ingredients are safe for consumers, the Food and Drug Administration reiterated in a collection of educational materials released Thursday as part of a congressionally funded initiative.

USDA Rural Development has announced the fourth round of its ReConnect program, which will offer more than $1 billion to expand broadband in rural America and begin taking applications in September.

Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican in her fifth term in the House, died Wednesday following a car crash that took the lives of three other people.