PHOENIX, Ariz. — The Environmental Protection Agency decided to propose reducing the Renewable Fuel Standard because officials became convinced that the rising cost of RINS could lead to an increase in the cost of gasoline, Jeff Broin, founder and executive chairman of POET, the ethanol building and management company, and a founder of Growth Energy, said here today. Read More...

USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong and two members of her staff will testify before the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee next Wednesday, the Office of the Inspector General has announced. Read More...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said here today that even though Congress has said he can’t use one USDA program to subsidize blender pumps, he will use a wide array of other programs to help the ethanol industry as well as promote ethanol exports for the first time and express his views on the Renewable Fuel Standard to the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House. Read More...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Amidst reports that other governors are trying to follow the lead of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York to increase payments under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to stop any farm bill-related cut in food stamp benefits, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said here today that the decision is up to the governors. Read More...

The state of Iowa will install a bronze statue of Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, the father of the green revolution, in the Capitol on March 25, the centennial anniversary of his birth, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Wednesday. Read More...

At today’s White House announcement of the proposed new nutrition labels on food, First Lady Michelle Obama emphasized that even though there could be changes to the labels after the comment period, the type size on the labels will be bigger, which will help consumers make wise choices. Read More...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — In a riff on one of President Ronald Reagan’s most famous speeches, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis appealed to President Barack Obama today to intervene with the Environmental Protection Agency to stop the agency’s proposal to limit renewable fuels to 10 percent of the nation’s fuel supply. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service needs to upgrade its security procedures for the lockups at which supply and demand statistics are released, the USDA Inspector General’s Office said in an audit released today. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama, who is celebrating the fourth anniversary of her “Let’s Move” initiative, said Wednesday she was excited by the Centers for Disease Control study out this week that shows the rates of obesity are beginning to decline among children ages 2 to 5, and offered “four simple tips for parents who are working hard to keep their kids healthy:” Read More...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — The Obama administration this summer will host a conference to encourage corporations, foundations, nonprofit groups and investment banks to invest in rural America, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said here today at the Growth Energy conference. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Food and Drug Commissioner Margaret Hamburg today will announce proposed revisions to the nutrition facts label that are bound to prove controversial with industry. Read More...

DANA POINT, Calif. — The United States and other countries in the Trans Pacific Partnership may have to tell Japan to get out of the group if it won’t agree to the free-trade proposals to which the other countries have agreed, a key U.S. trade leader said here on Tuesday. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., announced today that the committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, March 6, on President Barack Obama’s three pending nominations to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Read More...

DANA POINT, Calif. — The Sweetener Users Association will not wait for the next farm bill to try to convince Congress to make changes to the sugar program, a key adviser to the group said here Tuesday. Read More...

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp today released a comprehensive tax overhaul that would eliminate biofuels tax credits along with oil and gas subsidies, Biomass Magazine reported today. Read More...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that his state will increase benefits under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program so that New Yorkers’ food stamp benefits will not decrease under the new farm bill. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today formally announced the release of a rule that will require schools participating in the national school meals programs to set up wellness policies and restrict marketing of snacks. Read More...

Toddler obesity declined over the last 10 years, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Associated Press reported. Read More...

DANA POINT, Calif. — Consumers are trying so many different types of sweeteners that companies at all levels of the sugar business would be wise to have a conversation with consumers, a prominent trends analyst said at the International Sweetener colloquium, a meeting run by the Sweetener Users Association.
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President Barack Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and other high-level officials met Monday with a bipartisan group of Western governors to discuss the drought, forest fires and other issues facing their states, the White House said in a readout of the meeting issued late in the day. Read More...

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters in a call from Singapore early today that the 12 ministers meeting there on the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement had made progress in their four-day meeting, but he gave no details on what that that progress might entail. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce today the finalization of the rule on school foods and other wellness issues under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, senior administration officials said Monday in a background briefing that was embargoed until midnight. Read More...

The Food and Drug Administration agreed last week to set dates by which the agency will submit final rules implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act to the Federal Register for publication. Read More...

The presentations at the Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Outlook Forum held last week are online, but are difficult to find. Read More...

DANA POINT, Calif. — The United States has put all its agricultural products, including sugar, on the table in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, but will stick with that position only if other countries agree to do the same, Agriculture Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse said here today as TPP negotiators were meeting in Singapore. Read More...

The Cooperative Extension Service is celebrating its centennial this year while adapting to the age of social media, officials said Friday in a session at the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum chaired by Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” Initiative started by former Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan continues even though Merrigan departed last year, a key official said Friday. Read More...

In the strongest signal yet that the Agriculture Act of 2014 has been signed into law and the battles between sugar producers and users are over for the moment, Bill O’Conner and Jack Roney posed together Sunday after a tram ride to the beach in Dana Point, Calif. Read More...

DANA POINT, Calif. — Agriculture Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse said here today that he does not expect USDA to have to spend any money on the sugar program in fiscal year 2014. Read More...

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman signaled late Thursday that the Obama administration plans to convince Congress to pass trade promotion authority by negotiating such a strong Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement that members will want to give the administration the authority to finish it. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today released a preliminary version of the 2012 Census of Agriculture that showed that the value of U.S. agricultural production has risen nearly $100 billion in five years. But the Census also showed declines in the number of farmers, which Vilsack said indicated a need for continuing public policies to shore up the rural economies and population. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today urged the largely urban audience attending the USDA Agriculture Outlook Forum to promote the new U.S. farm bill. Read More...

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced proposed revisions to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard in an effort to protect farm workers and their families from pesticide exposure. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today released the 2012 Census of Agriculture. Read More...

The Brazilian government’s decision today to ask the World Trade Organization to set up a panel to analyze the new U.S. farm bill rather than than engage in trade retaliation over the U.S. cotton case means resolution is “headed in the right direction,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today at a news conference on the sidelines of the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum. Read More...

Creating demand for more nutritious food and using technology to develop more efficient agriculture were among the needs suggested by a panel addressing the issue of “Building Markets: Here and Abroad” at the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum today. Read More...

The Agriculture Department today increased its estimate of U.S. agricultural exports to $142.6 billion for fiscal 2014, up $5.6 billion from November’s estimate and $1.5 billion higher than the previous record level in fiscal year 2013. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama will spend a week celebrating the anniversary of “Let’s Move!,” her campaign against childhood obesity. Read More...

Cuba has suspended the issuance of visas in the United States because the U.S. bank that has handled its accounts has ceased to provide diplomatic services.
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European Union Trade Commissioner Karl De Gucht on Tuesday expressed enthusiasm for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership that the United States and the European Union are negotiating, but said that agreement will not include the European importation of hormone-fed beef. Read More...

A total of 98 members of Congress —16 senators and 74 House members sent Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack a letter Tuesday urging him to delay implementation of the farm bill provision requiring the states to make a payment of as least $20 per year under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program in order to trigger a higher food stamp benefit. Read More...

The National Eating Disorders Association will promote National Eating Disorders Week February 23 to March 1, the group announced today.
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The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has hired Ashleigh Black as its director of congressional relations for its global agriculture development initiative. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has named Tina May as chief of staff to Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden, promoted his press secretary Courtney Rowe to the position of deputy communications director, and named Cullen Schwarz his new press secretary.  Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama will visit an exhibit encouraging drinking water in New York City on Thursday and tape an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which will be broadcast that night, Obama Foodorama reported Monday. Read More...

President Barack Obama noted First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign during remarks to a roundtable of California leaders on Friday, and alluded to the fact that higher prices for produce due to the drought could make her goals of healthy eating and reducing childhood obesity more difficult.
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In his annual address to the industry today, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen urged the Environmental Protection Agency not to reduce the Renewable Fuel Standard, as the agency has proposed. Read More...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has organized a letter urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to delay until fall implementation of the farm bill provision changing the amount that states must pay food stamp beneficiaries in heat and energy payments to trigger an increase in their benefits, a spokesman confirmed today. Read More...

Visiting the farm of the son of a California migrant farm worker near Los Banos Calif., today, President Barack Obama promised drought aid to all parts of the state, but also called on Californians to unite to fight climate change. Read More...

The Congressional Research Service has published a report comparing the Agriculture Act of 2014 with the 2008 farm bill. The report contains a side-by-side analysis of the budgetary impact and policy changes. Read More...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In her first speech to a farm group since President Barack Obama signed the Agriculture Act of 2014, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told the crop insurance industry here this week that they need to form alliances with other interests such as conservation to protect the farm program — and the industry seemed to listen. Read More...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — New trade agreements could increase U.S. agricultural exports slightly, but are getting harder and harder to finish, a prominent California agricultural economist told the nation’s crop insurers here this week as there were similar signals from Washington. Read More...

As President Barack Obama headed to California today to look over the drought situation and announce aid to ranchers and farmers there and in other areas that have experienced weather disasters this year, a spokeswoman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack confirmed that local Farm Service Agency offices will begin accepting applications on April 15. Read More...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Lower commodity prices are a concern for bankers even though farmers do not have the kind of debt load they had in the 1980s, Michael Swanson, a vice president and economist with Wells Fargo said here last week. Read More...

The Agriculture Department expects U.S. crop prices to decline in the near term but remain above 2007 levels over the next decade, according to its long-term projections report released Thursday. Read More...

A record 175.2 million hectares of biotech crops were grown by 18 million farmers in 27 countries in 2013, according to a report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). Read More...

The rates of increase in farm land values and farmers’ expenditures are slowing, according to reports released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Read More...

On a trip to California today to inspect the effects of the severe drought there, President Barack Obama will announce that he has directed the Agriculture Department to implement the livestock disaster programs in the farm bill within 60 days, rather than the usual six to eight months, and that the assistance will help ranchers in the Dakotas and other places that experienced winter weather problems this year. Read More...

The severe droughts in California and other places are signs that climate change is real, said John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology, late Thursday. Read More...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz . — Agents will need to explain the intricacies of the new commodity programs and crop insurance this year even though the changes to crop insurance will not go into effect until next year, key industry officials said here this week at the annual crop insurance convention. Read More...

National Crop Insurance Services website has published answers to frequently asked questions about crop insurance programs and changes under the 2014 farm bill. Read More...

In response to a question from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., at a House Financial Services Committee hearing Tuesday, new Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Janet Yellen said that she believes land prices have become inflated. Read More...

Various technologies to fight world hunger are discussed in a book published by the International Food Policy Research Institute.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Agriculture Department’s Risk Management Agency has scheduled its first meeting with the crop insurance industry on implementation of the 2014 farm bill on February 27, a key crop insurance industry official said here today. Read More...

Court filings have revealed the bitter behind-the-scenes battling between the sugar and high-fructose corn syrup industries, according to accounts in The Washington Post, The New York Times and Cox newspapers. Read More...

President Barack Obama will travel to Fresno, Calif., Friday to take a look at drought conditions, the White House announced as California and Oregon Democratic senators introduced legislation Tuesday to address the problems caused by the lack of rain. Read More...

Shirley Temple Black, the former child movie star who died Monday night at 85, invited United Farm Worker leader César Chávez to speak at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco in 1984, and it became one of the most important speeches of his life, UFW officials recalled this week. Read More...

SEATTLE — The United States needs to develop a much larger aquaculture industry based on feeding fish soybeans and other plants to meet the growing demand for fish in the United States and other countries in the coming years. Read More...

Net farm income is forecast to be $95.8 billion in 2014, down 26.6 percent from 2013, but still $8 billion above the last 10-year average, the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service said in a report Tuesday. Read More...

President Barack Obama late today announced his intention to nominate Todd Batta as Agriculture Department assistant secretary for congressional relations. Read More...

Environmentalists often express fears about fish farming, mostly because so many fish are concentrated in a small area. Critics worry about farmed fish escaping and mixing with native species and about the pollution that can be caused. But advocates of sustainability also recognize that fish farming in the United States may have higher standards than in developing countries. Read More...

Lawyers are encouraging state attorneys general to file law suits over the health costs caused by obesity, much the same way that successfully got the states to agree to a settlement over the impact of tobacco in the 1990s, Politico reported today. Read More...

LONG BEACH, Calif. — China’s decision to hold up imports of certain U.S. corn shipments is a result of the country’s divisions in developing a modern agricultural and food policy, a key U.S. government official said here Monday. Read More...

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will feature food from 13 states tonight when they host a formal state dinner for President François Hollande and 350 guests in a tent on the White House lawn. Read More...

FMC Corporation, a diversified company, has named Michael Seyfert as director of government affairs for FMC Agricultural Solutions. Read More...

LONG BEACH, Calif. — “There are very few known ‘knowns’ about China,” Bryan Lohmar, the U.S. Grains Council director in China told the membership of the organization on Monday. Read More...

The farm bill has a big impact on each item on a dinner plate, the Associated Press said in an article published Saturday. Read More...

American farmers plan to increase cotton planting this spring even though China's import policies are uncertain because they view cotton prices as superior to other crops, the National Cotton Council said at its annual meeting in Washington last week. Read More...

In a statement issued after President Barack Obama signed the farm bill on Friday, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah has signaled he will continue to urge Congress to end the practice of monetization, the sale of U.S.food aid with the proceeds used for development purposes. Read More...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — President Barack Obama signed a new farm bill here Friday in a speech and ceremony that reflected agriculture’s place in the modern American economy, the politics of the time and the president’s priorities. The Agriculture Act of 2014 took four years to develop and was finalized two years after the 2008 farm bill expired. Read More...

The “Made in Rural America” campaign that President Barack Obama announced on Friday will focus on encouraging rural small business to export, but will not be focused just on farm products, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. Read More...

President Barack Obama’s trip to Michigan State University to sign the Agriculture Act of 2014 was a highly orchestrated affair that went off almost exactly on schedule. Read More...

President Barack Obama has signed the farm bill — the Agricultural Act of 2014 — in a ceremony at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Read More...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In advance of President Barack Obama’s trip here today to sign the 2014 farm bill, the president “directed his administration, working through the White House Rural Council, to lead a new ‘Made in Rural America’ export and investment initiative,” over the next nine months, the White House announced today. Read More...

Did you know that the farm bill conference report contains a pilot project at the Agriculture Department for frozen fruits and vegetables in the school meals program? Or that it removes term limits on USDA-guaranteed farm operating loans? And that there are still differences among Republican senators from farm states over the philosophy behind the bill? These are only a few of the revelations about the farm bill from statements and reactions by public officials and a wide range of groups to the Senate’s passage of the conference report on Tuesday. Read More...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive here today to sign a new farm bill — formally titled The Agriculture Act of 2014 — at Michigan State University, the state’s land-grant college. Read More...

Former Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today was named the George Washington University’s first executive director of sustainability. Read More...

Twenty-nine agriculture and nongovernmental groups today formally announced they have formed a Coalition for Safe Affordable Food to urge Congress to establish federal labeling for food and beverage products made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Read More...

Former Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan inadvertently became the hostess of a Capitol Hill party celebrating Senate passage of the farm bill conference report Tuesday evening. Read More...

California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer announced today they are preparing legislation to address California’s drought as the House passed a highly controversial bill that it’s authors say would allow more water to flow. Read More...

The U.S. government positions on the safety of fish and fish products will be the subject of a public meeting Thursday jointly sponsored by the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Food and Drug Administration. Read More...

One day after the Senate approved the farm bill conference report and two days before President Barack Obama will travel to Michigan to sign it, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined White House press secretary Jay Carney at his press briefing today to talk about USDA’s efforts to fight climate change. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama will address the Partnership for a Healthier America third annual childhood obesity summit on March 14, the partnership announced Tuesday. Read More...

President Barack Obama will travel to East Lansing, Mich., on Friday and sign the farm bill there after delivering remarks at Michigan State University on the importance of the bill to America’s economy, the White House announced late today. Read More...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., presented the most comprehensive critique of the farm bill in a floor speech on Monday. Read More...

Crop farmers have many decisions to make as direct payments disappear and new programs go into effect, and those decisions will determine taxpayers’ obligations, Politico and DTN have said in analyses of the commodity title of the new farm bill. Read More...

The Senate has approved the conference report on H.R. 2642, the farm bill, with a vote of 68-32. Read More...

The Senate invoked cloture on the farm bill conference report this evening. The vote was 72-22. Read More...

The Senate reconvened today at 2 p.m., with the farm bill as the main item of business, and is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on the bill at 5:30 p.m.
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The farm bill conference report, which passed the House last week, is likely to pass the Senate easily and be sent to President Barack Obama for his signature after nearly all agriculture interests issued endorsements of it, Jerry Hagstrom writes in his National Journal column today. Read More...

In an interview on C-SPAN Newsmakers broadcast Sunday, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said she expects the farm bill conference report to pass the Senate this week because the “fundamentals” are very close to the original Senate bill. Read More...

Cornell University’s Program on Dairy Markets and Policy has released a publication and a podcast that explain the dairy program in the new farm bill.
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The Agriculture Workforce Coalition has joined the Partnership for a New American Economy to push for immigration reform. Read More...

Florida sugar baron Alfonso Fanjul has traveled back to Cuba twice and would be interested in investing in his homeland “under the right circumstances,” The Washington Post reported today. Read More...

Islam Siddiqui, the chief agriculture negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, left his position on Friday. Read More...

OFW Law has hired Nathaniel Fretz, the Democratic counsel on the House Agriculture Committee who was majority counsel from 2007 through 2010.
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