Although the Justice Department has said it will not block marijuana legislation laws in Colorado or Washington state, late last week the Agriculture Department’s U.S. Forest Service warned that growing marijuana on national forest lands is still illegal and issued guidance for tourists who may encounter a marijuana growing site on how to handle the situation. Read More...

Only 524 schools and institutions out of almost 100,000 have dropped out of the national school meals program, and of those only 146 cited the new healthier meal requirement as the reason, the Agriculture Department’s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Service announced today. Read More...

The European Parliament Agriculture Committee today approved the political agreement on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy struck last week by negotiators for the European Commission, the European Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. Read More...

If the Agriculture Department shuts down at midnight tonight, food stamp benefits will be delivered for the month of October, forest fires will continue to be fought, meat and poultry will still be inspected, grain inspection will continue, laboratory animals will be fed and the rural development division will still monitor government loans. But USDA will not release any new production statistics, most of the rest of USDA will shut down and its website may go dark. Read More...

The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today released a report showing that 94 percent of schools will meet the updated nutrition standards, but that the schools cited a need for modern kitchen equipment. Read More...

The House today passed a rule that would put the farm and nutrition programs back together in one bill. The vote was 226-191. Read More...

The Agriculture Department has posted information on its shutdown plans in the event of a lapse in government funding. Read More...

President Barack Obama criticized the House-passed bill to cut the food stamp program in his remarks to the Congressional Black Caucus last Saturday. Read More...

Syngenta has announced a plan to address the global food security challenge. Read More...

Former Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said on the Senate floor today that the country’s politics have reached a “dangerous” point similar to the period before the Civil War, National Journal reported today. Read More...

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez today issued a report finding violations of labor law in the Dominican sugar sector in response to a public submission filed under the Labor Chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). Read More...

The House is likely to vote this weekend on a plan to combine the farm program bill and the nutrition bill into one measure to be sent to the Senate, a House Rules Committee aide said today. Read More...

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., pointed out today that the Senate continuing resolution to fund the government until November 15 does not contain a provision that would allow the continued planting of genetically engineered crops even if they are under judicial review. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., announced today that the committee will hold a hearing on October 3 entitled “Advanced Biofuels: Creating Jobs and Lower Prices at the Pump.” Read More...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, emphasized his appreciation of the fast-food restaurant business in his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor, The Atlantic reported today. Read More...

The International Dairy Foods Association announced Monday that it has hired John T. Allan III as vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards. Read More...

With the looming farm bill expiration likely to affect agricultural trade promotion programs, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., today released a report on the importance of agriculture exports state-by-state, while the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition noted that the trade programs would be the first to be affected assuming Congress does not extend the farm bill after September 30. Read More...

The House Agriculture General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on October 2. Read More...

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said this week in a North Dakota television interview that there is “a lot” in the House-passed nutrition bill to cut food stamp spending that he “can live” with even though he didn't vote for it, but he believes that “the bottom line is that it is causing us to probably not get a farm bill done.” Read More...

Famed chefs and independent seed breeders met this week to discuss the possibility of breeding seeds to improve the tastiness of food, The New York Times has reported. Read More...

In the toughest statement yet from the White House on the House-passed bill to cut $39 billion from food stamps over 10 years, Sam Kass, the assistant White House chef who is executive director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program, today called the cut “unconscionable.” Read More...

The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees have written the members of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that they should take great care in finalizing the rule on customer protections. Read More...

Fears of a government shutdown have eased as conservative Republicans appeared to shift their focus to cutting funding for Obamacare from the continuing resolution to the battle over raising the debt ceiling, National Journal reported in three stories today. Read More...

The United States and Japan today announced that beginning January 1, organic products certified in Japan or in the United States may be sold as organic in either country. Read More...

A coalition of agricultural markets participants last week asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to make changes in its proposed futures customer protections rule. Read More...

The continuing resolution to be introduced in the Senate today would run only until November 15 compared to the House-passed CR that runs until December 15 and exclude a biotechnology provision in the House CR, Politico reported late Tuesday. Read More...

The American Meat Institute and other meat groups have filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit appealing a court ruling that upheld the Obama administration’s implementation of the provision in the 2008 farm bill for country of origin labeling for red meat. Read More...

European Union policymakers on Tuesday reached final agreement on a new version of the Common Agricultural Policy that will cut direct payments to the largest farmers and provide more money for rural development programs. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on Tuesday asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to review recent allegations about possible manipulation of the markets for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) – the tracking mechanism to ensure petroleum blenders and refiners meet their requirements under the Renewable Fuels Standard. Read More...

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation on Tuesday named two Stanford professors, David Lobell, an agricultural ecologist, and Kevin Boyce, a paleobotanist, as fellows and awarded them large “genius” grants. Read More...

In anticipation of a House-Senate conference on the farm bill, a coalition of food manufacturer, retailer and restaurant groups has sent a letter to Senate agriculture leaders urging them to accept the House version of a new dairy program. Read More...

In a development that reflects controversies over certifying sustainability in the food industry, the General Services Administration announced today it has removed references to third-party certifiers in its guidance to concessions and vending operations on federal property. Read More...

Shareholders of Virginia-based pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc. have approved a $4.7 billion takeover by China’s Shuanghui International, clearing the last major hurdle for a deal that would mark the largest purchase of an American company by a Chinese firm, The Los Angeles Times reported today. Read More...

Former President Bill Clinton today announced that three people who have been active in food, health and rural issues will receive the 7th annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards this year. The awards will be presented Wednesday during the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York. Read More...

The Food Bank for New York City announced Monday it has launched The Hunger Cliff, a national online resource and action center, in response to the House vote last Thursday to cut $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps, as part of the farm bill reauthorization. Read More...

Ocean Champions, a group that describes itself as “the only political voice for the oceans,” welcomed Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., at its annual “ocean party” in Washington last week. Read More...

Jerry Hagstrom, founder and executive editor of The Hagstrom Report, discussed the status of the farm bills in the House and Senate and the National Journal special report on the House Agriculture Committee on C-SPAN on Saturday. Read More...

House passage of the nutrition bill containing a provision that reauthorizes the food stamp program for only three years while the farm bill is reauthorized for five years was a “big win” for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., an advocate of big food stamp cuts, told Roll Call. Read More...

The difficulties Oklahoma anti-hunger advocates have had in opposing cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps, help explain why all but 15 House Republicans felt comfortable voting last week for a bill that would cut the program by $39 billion over 10 years, Jerry Hagstrom writes in his column in National Journal Daily published today. Read More...

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is unlikely to appoint farm bill conferees until next week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., told the Red River Farm Network on Friday. Read More...

A spokeswoman for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., confirmed today that the House will have to vote on a procedural measure to marry the nutrition bill passed this week with the farm bill and to send the combined bill to the Senate, but she added that the path to conference appears clear. Read More...

Jerry Hagstrom, founder and executive editor of The Hagstrom Report and a contributing editor to National Journal, will appear on C-SPAN on Saturday at 9:15 a.m. to discuss National Journal’s special report on the House Agriculture Committee. Read More...

The passage today in the House of Representatives of a bill to cut $39 billion from the food stamp program over 10 years apparently does not create a clear path to conference on the farm bill. The nutrition bill, which passed on a vote of 217 to 210, does not contain a measure to merge that bill with the farm-program-only bill passed earlier. Read More...

The House of Representatives today passed a bill that, if it ever became law, would cut the food stamp program by $39 billion over 10 years. Read More...

The House of Representatives will debate and vote today on the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, a bill that would cut the food stamp program by $39 billion over 10 years, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced late Wednesday. Read More...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., have worked hard to put together a new farm bill, but the committee’s long-term future is affected by changes in membership and the committee’s lack of attention to the nutrition, organic and local agricultural issues that interest a large number of voters, Jerry Hagstrom writes in a National Journal Daily special edition on the committee. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama told food industry executives in the White House on Wednesday that they should devote more advertising to healthy foods and cut back on ads for foods deemed not as healthy. Read More...

House Democrats and anti-hunger advocates on Tuesday said they need 20 Republican votes to defeat a bill that would cut $39 billion from food stamps over the next 10 years. Read More...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., showcased some of her state’s best food and beverages at her annual New York Farm Day reception Tuesday night at the Russell Senate Office Building. Read More...

The Associated Press on Tuesday published an article with questions and answers about the bill that would cut $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week named Brian Baenig, who has been the Agriculture assistant secretary for congressional relations, as his new chief of staff Read More...

The Congressional Budget Office issued a paper Tuesday on the government’s long-term debt. Read More...

The Congressional Budget Office late Tuesday released the score for the bill organized by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to cut food stamps and make other changes to federal nutrition programs. Read More...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Foreign Trade Council have sent a letter to Agriculture committee leaders in the House and Senate warning them that certain provisions of the commodity title in each bill could lead to violations of World Trade Organization standards to which the United States has agreed. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service has a new web site that assembles more than 75 charts and maps covering key information about the farm and food sectors. Read More...

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said today that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps, lifted 4 million people out of poverty in 2012 and reduced hardship for millions more. Read More...

In the early part of the Obama administration, the Labor Department proposed regulations that would have tightened up on child labor on farms, but after farmers vigorously opposed the new regulations and the White House insisted that Labor withdraw that rule. Read More...

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has named Jeremy Emmi as its managing director. Read More...

President Barack Obama has proclaimed this week National Farm Safety and Health Week. Read More...

The House Rules Committee today posted a notice with a copy of H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, and a statement that Rules will meet Wednesday at 3 p.m. to consider that bill and a bill on southeastern Arizona land exchanges. Read More...

The Centers for Disease Control today released a new report warning that antibiotic resistance poses “a serious threat to public health” because it interferes with the treatment of disease. Read More...

In an opinion article published in the Los Angeles Times today, former Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Bob Dole, R-Kan., urged the House not to adopt the $40 billion cut to the food stamp program that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has proposed and instead adopt the Senate-passed provision to cut $4 billion. Read More...

A federal court judge on Friday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, rejecting arguments by farm groups that EPA lacked authority under the Clean Water Act to impose a “total maximum daily load” standard for pollutants and had acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner and violated the Administrative Procedures Act. Read More...

With the House debate on a $40 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps about to begin, Fox News has its interview with surfer-rocker Jason Greenslate that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., refers to online. Read More...

The office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced late today that he has scheduled for next week a vote on the bill that would cut food stamp spending by $40 billion over 10 years. Read More...

American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said today it is still unclear whether the Republican leadership has enough votes to pass the bill to cut $40 billion over 10 years from the food stamp program, a measure that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is planning to bring to the House floor next week. Read More...

MSNBC, the cable channel, held a discussion Thursday about the impact of the proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP in the bill that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is expected to bring to the House floor next week. Read More...

OKLAHOMA CITY — If First Lady Michelle Obama decides to look for a farmer role model for her “Let’s Move” campaign against obesity, she probably couldn’t find a better candidate better than Toby Robertson, a farmer from Corpus Christi, Texas. Read More...

Reacting to a statement this week by House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., that the Agriculture Department should put pressure on Congress to pass a new farm bill by preparing to implement a 1949 dairy law that would come into effect on January 1, the International Dairy Foods Association said USDA should not rush the process. Read More...

The American Meat Institute and other plaintiffs who were denied a preliminary injunction in their country-of-origin-labeling suit appealed that ruling Thursday, while advocates for labeling said they would stay active in the case. Read More...

Eating on a $3.37 per day in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is already difficult without the prospects of cuts, National Journal Daily reported today.
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The American Meat Institute and the North American Meat Association, whose conflicts over policy, personality and style are legendary, announced today that they have started talking about a possible merger. Read More...

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has received a $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work on international agriculture issues. The council will hire a full-time director of congressional relations based in Washington, although its agriculture team will be based in Chicago. Read More...

Volunteers with the Public Interest Research Groups held a news conference on Capitol Hill today before delivering petitions from thousands of people and 1,000 letters from small farmers calling on Congress “to end subsidies to large agribusinesses.” Read More...

The Republican House leadership has begun urging members to vote for the nutrition bill organized by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., that would cut $40 billion from food stamps over 10 years, Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis. told The Hagstrom Report today. Read More...

The Heritage Foundation on Monday called for an extension of the farm bill, which expires on September 30, but the National Farmers Union came out against it.
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Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, the ranking member on the House Agriculture Department Operations, Oversight and Nutrition Subcommittee, will manage the Democratic debate when the House takes up a bill that would cut food stamps by $40 billion over 10 years, House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., told The Hagstrom Report today. Read More...

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today denied a meat industry coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the Agriculture Department from implementing and enforcing its revised country-of-origin-labeling regulations until a lawsuit filed July 8 by the groups is resolved. Read More...

Requiring food manufacturers to label products that contain genetically engineered ingredients will not increase food prices at the supermarket, a study sponsored by a pro-labeling group said today. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today he expects the House to vote next week on the proposal by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to cut food stamps — formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — by $40 billion over 10 years, and that he hopes the bill fails. Read More...

The Government Accountability Office today released a report that says the Environmental Protection Agency is not keeping track of “conditional” pesticide registrations. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today once again urged Congress to pass the farm bill and not change the Renewable Fuel Standard, while also making comments to reporters on a wide range of subjects including crop insurance, sugar and the future of the Farm Service Agency offices. Read More...

The Environmental Working Group released a small study today showing that 18,276 residents of the nation’s 54 largest cities received the direct payments that farmers get whether prices are high or low in 2012. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the award of 33 conservation innovation grants to develop and demonstrate cutting-edge ideas to accelerate private lands conservation. Read More...

The White House today distributed a blog post by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack describing actions by the White House Rural Council that he chairs. Read More...

OKLAHOMA CITY — House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said here Sunday that he will run for re-election in 2014, and if that if the farm bill does not pass during this Congress he will ask the House Republican Steering Committee for a waiver from rules so that he can continue as Agriculture committee chairman in the next Congress. Read More...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said during a town hall meeting in his district last week that Syria will slow down the process of considering a nutrition bill on the House floor and completion of the farm bill, but he still believes it will be passed this year, Jerry Hagstrom writes in his National Journal column today. Read More...

Wells Fargo and Rural Community Insurance Services have hired Christy Seyfert as their government relations director in Washington. Read More...

Shuanghui International Holdings Limited and Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced today that the companies have received clearance on their proposed transaction from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Read More...

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah joined Rhode Island’s congressional delegation last week to tour Edesia Global Nutrition Solutions, a Providence, R.I., food manufacturer. Read More...

The Food and Drug Administration today released results of a study of arsenic in rice, prompting Consumers Union to urge consumers, particularly pregnant women and children, to limit their rice consumption and the USA Rice Federation to note that the FDA did not make any statements on consumption. Read More...

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities today issued an analysis of the proposal by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program over 10 years. Read More...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., did not include his proposal to cut $40 billion from food stamps in the House schedule for next week even though House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said before the congressional break that he expected the measure to come up in the first days of the session and that he would appoint farm bill conferees as soon as it was considered. Read More...

Michael Torrey Associates announced Wednesday that Tara Smith joined the firm as vice president of federal affairs on August 12. Read More...

The Agriculture Department announced today it has “acquired” a preliminary estimate of 85,000 tons of sugar, while the American Sugar Alliance and the Coalition for Sugar Reform issued conflicting statements on the meaning of the announcement. Read More...

Smithfield Foods, the Virginia-based pork producer that has said it wants to be acquired by a Chinese company, has attracted another potential buyer, Starboard Value LP, the Des Moines Register reported Tuesday. Read More...

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing next Wednesday titled “The Department of Homeland Security at 10 Years: Examining Challenges and Achievements and Addressing Emerging Threats.” Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will not withdraw its proposed rule to make changes to poultry inspections even though the Government Accountability Office today issued a report criticizing the way FSIS has handled pilot projects that led up to the rule, Agriculture Undersecretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen told The Hagstrom Report today. Read More...

The American Farmland Trust on Tuesday released a study of the impacts of the federal farm and ranch lands protection program. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service today released a report that 14.5 percent of American households were food insecure at least some time during the year in 2012, meaning they lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. Read More...

House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., late last week distributed a memo from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., on his proposal to make cuts to the food stamp program with a note that, “We expect to vote on this proposal in September.” Read More...