The Nestlé Corporation is expanding its Washington office to respond to the many questions that arise across all its brand name products. Read More...

Ethanol groups expressed disappointment today in the Supreme Court’s announcement that it will not hear a challenge to California’s low-carbon fuel standard, while environmentalists praised it. Read More...

In anticipation of the release of a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel decision on whether the latest version of the U.S. program for country-of-origin labeling of red meat is WTO-complaint, a coalition of COOL critics has asked Congress to direct the Agriculture secretary to suspend indefinitely the revised COOL rule if it is found to be in violation of U.S. international trade obligations. Read More...

Ten nations out of the 12 involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement are protesting the catfish inspection program, claiming it is a trade barrier, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Read More...

The Farm Journal Foundation has hired Stephanie Mercier as senior policy and advocacy adviser in its Washington office. Read More...

Kevin Price, government affairs director for American Crystal Sugar, the Minnesota beet processing co-op, and Autumn Veazey, government affairs director for Land O’Lakes, the Minnesota dairy co-op, were married Saturday evening. Read More...

ASPEN, Colo. — Its millennium development goals are set to expire in 2015, but the United Nations is developing a new set of “sustainable development goals” — and those goals should include agricultural development, a key official from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said here Thursday at the Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight on Health conference. Read More...

“The Monsanto Lounge” at the Aspen ideas Festival is bordered with flowers beds and a discussion of the importance of bees to many foods. Critics have said that some seeds and herbicides contribute to a decline in bee populations. Read More...

The accuracy of payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps, stands at 98.6 percent, an all-time high, Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services said in a blog post this week. Read More...

Advocates of GMO labeling have praised Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s proposal to label GMOS on barcodes, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report on the Renewable Fuel Standard that says it will cause gasoline prices to rise by up to 14 percent in 2017 if it is not changed, but the National Farmers Union and ethanol groups have criticized it. Read More...

Amidst reports that immigration reform legislation is dead in the House for this year, leaders of Western Growers, the California and Arizona organization whose members ship about half the fruits and vegetables in the country, met Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden on what the group considers it top legislative priority.
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In a wide-ranging discussion about U.S. food policy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Vilsack also said that ending the use of antibiotics in meat production would lead to “astronomical” increases in meat prices, and discussed what the 2014 farm bill does for organic and local production. Read More...

ASPEN, Colo. — Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said here today that the consumer now has much more power in food debates than when he served in the Clinton administration from 1995 to 2001. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today invited a wide range of groups with an interest in the school lunch debate to meet on July 10 with him and Sam Kass, executive director of First Lady MIchelle Obama’s Let's Move program and nutrition adviser to President Barack Obama. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Trade Representative Michael Froman today announced the appointment of 19 additional members to six agricultural trade advisory committees.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Trade Representative Michael Froman today announced the appointment of 19 additional members to six agricultural trade advisory committees.
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SAN DIEGO — Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed enthusiasm for biotech seeds here today, but told members of the Biotechnology Industry Organization that they should promote the characteristics of genetically modified seeds rather than use the term “genetically modified” if they want the seeds accepted.
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The White House today released a one-year progress report on President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
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Food and Drug Administration officials are under no illusions that Congress will actually establish the user fees that the Obama administration has proposed to pay for implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Read More...

The Food and Drug Administration remains “strongly” committed to its position that pasteurization is the most important tool to make dairy products safe, and to opposing interstate sales of raw, unpasteurized milk, Michael Taylor, the FDA deputy commissioner for food and veterinary medicine, said Wednesday. Read More...

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., won a close runoff election against tea-party backed challenger Chris McDaniel, according to unofficial results reported by the Associated Press, which called the race at 11:03 tonight. Read More...

The House today passed the Customer Protection and End User Relief Act, which reauthorizes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for five years through 2018. The vote was 265 to 144. Read More...

Northern California lawmakers have asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to be more open in her negotiations with House Republicans for a drought bill conference report, Carolyn Lochhead writes in her column in the San Francisco Chronicle. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., wrote President Barack Obama today to urge him to make food security a key topic in a summit meeting he has scheduled with African leaders in August. Read More...

The city council of Spokane, Wash., voted Monday to discontinue the purchase and use of insecticides containing neonicotinoids on municipal property, the city said in a news release today. Read More...

Election polls closed in Mississippi at 8 p.m. EDT in the closely watched Republican runoff between Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and challenger Chris McDaniel. Read More...

Three former Treasury secretaries — two Republicans and one Democrat — have endorsed a climate change report released today from an independent committee whose leaders include Gregory Page, chairman of agribusiness giant Cargill. Read More...

Food companies are putting excessive amounts of vitamin A, zinc and niacin in breakfast cereals in order to market them as healthy, the Environmental Working Group said in a study released today. The study, “How Much is Too Much,” was featured on NBC's Today show this morning. Read More...

Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., today introduced a bill to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, whose charter expires on September 30. Read More...

AGree, the foundation-funded effort to reach consensus on the future of agricultural policy, today released its recommendations on immigration reform. Read More...

Three environmental groups — Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, and WildEarth Guardians — have filed a lawsuit to try to force the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the lesser prairie chicken more aggressively, The Los Angeles Times reported. Read More...

The Supreme Court today upheld most of the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas regulation, but the court struck down a portion that would have affected smaller businesses and institutions, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

The congressional district of incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., epitomizes the debate over immigration reform, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

The House is scheduled to begin consideration late today of the Customer Protection and End User Relief Act, which will reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, late today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced Sunday. Read More...

The National School Boards Association today joined the fight for some relief from the school meal rules under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, but the officials complained much more about reporting requirements than about the rules requiring healthier foods. Read More...

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden announced today in Davis, Calif., the implementation of several farm bill programs for beginning farmers and ranchers and unveiled a new website that will be a centralized source of information for those programs. Read More...

Thirty Republican senators last week introduced a bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from proceeding with their proposed rule known as the Waters of the United States. Read More...

Incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Sunday called for the expiration of the Export-Import Bank, but today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers sent members of Congress a letter calling for the bank’s reauthorization. The letter was signed by some of the biggest companies in the country and some of the smallest rural companies that also benefit from the bank’s programs to finance exports. Read More...

The Environmental Protection Agency has missed its own June 20 deadline to announce a final rule on the Renewable Fuel Standard and it probably won't be out for another month, DTN/The Progressive Farmer reported Friday. Read More...

The Organic Trade Association has hired Monique Marez as its senior manager for international trade. Read More...

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the appointment of Gretchen Lowe as principal deputy director and chief counsel in the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement. Read More...

President Barack Obama today announced a government-wide strategy to promote the health of honey bees and other pollinators, which are vital to many crops but that have been declining in numbers in recent years. Read More...

The Obama administration reacted cooly to a request from the School Nutrition Association Thursday for a meeting with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and First Lady Michelle Obama to discuss their conflicts over the healthier meals rules in the school lunch program. Read More...

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., today filed an amicus brief in the case of American Farm Bureau Federation, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, et al. over the EPA’s regulations on the Chesapeake Bay, which is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced what he called “a ground-breaking commitment” from USDA to save the greater sage-grouse population that lives along the border of Nevada and California. Read More...

President Barack Obama today announced a program to deal with unaccompanied Central American children who are showing up at the U.S. border, but House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., called the plan “nothing but smoke and mirrors,” and said Obama had caused the problem to occur. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., today distributed an op-ed article from The Detroit News defending the healthier meals rules written by Betti Wiggins, executive director of the Detroit Public Schools Office of School Nutrition and vice chair of the Local Food Association. Read More...

The House on Thursday approved the rule for the Customer Protection and End User Relief Act, which would reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, by a vote of 230 to 184, but then proceeded to finish consideration of the fiscal year 2015 Defense appropriations bill. Read More...

Tom Nassif, the CEO of Western Growers, and United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez congratulated Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on his election as House majority leader Thursday but differed in their emphasis on immigration reform. Read More...

Following the lack of an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on how to proceed with amendments on the “minibus” of fiscal year 2015 appropriations bills Thursday, a spokesman for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Thursday that she would try to bring up the measure again next week. Read More...

The Senate today is expected to begin consideration of a measure containing three fiscal year 2015 appropriations bills, including the Agriculture bill, this afternoon. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressed confidence Wednesday in a porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) vaccine that won a conditional USDA license this week, Reuters reported. Read More...

First Lady Michelle Obama met Wednesday with a small group of medical and health reporters, telling them that healthier school meal rules should stay in place and that students should be taught to cook home to fight obesity, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported. Read More...

Agriculture Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie came under intense bipartisan fire today at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on a rule that interprets the applicability of the Clean Water Act (CWA) on agricultural practices. Read More...

House Republicans will begin voting today at 2 p.m. to elect a new House majority leader and, assuming that the current whip, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., wins the majority leader race, a new House whip. Read More...

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday adopted a structured rule on the bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has advised that the debate on the rule will occur today. Read More...

CHICAGO — Bayer CropScience, a company known for its commodity seeds and herbicides, has formed a horticultural division and is seeking ways to make fruit and vegetable growers aware of its products, company officials said last week on the sidelines of the United Fresh Produce Association meeting here. Read More...

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has hired Paul Wolfe, as a policy specialist. Read More...

House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Sam Farr, D-Calif., said the delay in bringing up the Agriculture appropriations bill may mean Republicans fear they no longer have the votes to maintain the provision to require the Agriculture Department to grant a waiver from healthy school meal rules to any school that says it has been losing money on its meals program for six months, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Sam Farr, D-Calif., said the delay in bringing up the Agriculture appropriations bill may mean Republicans fear they no longer have the votes to maintain the provision to require the Agriculture Department to grant a waiver from healthy school meal rules to any school that says it has been losing money on its meals program for six months, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said today that senators are welcome to offer amendments on the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill. Read More...

CHICAGO — A prominent school food service director last week challenged the fruit and vegetable industry to compete with the processed food industry in convincing school officials to buy their products. Read More...

CHICAGO — Schools can serve healthier foods and get children to eat them if school food managers put enough effort and creativity into the meals, several school food service directors explained here last week at the United Fresh Produce Association meeting.
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The World Food Prize Foundation has awarded the prize this year to Sanjaya Rajaram, a colleague of Norman Borlaug, the “Green Revolution” scientist who started the prize. Read More...

Neither the Senate nor the House has passed a fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill yet, but a large coalition of conservation groups is already weighing in on an item they hope will be settled in conference. Read More...

The government of Hong Kong has agreed to import the full range of U.S. beef and beef products consistent with access before December 2003, when a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the United States, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today. Read More...

The Senate today will begin consideration of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill and two other appropriations measures in a package, and will apparently consider them simultaneously. Read More...

Almost all of the 28 European Union agriculture ministers and other agricultural officials who met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Luxemburg City today raised the importance of geographical indications in the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) negotiations, Vilsack told reporters today. Read More...

Outgoing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has announced that beginning Wednesday, the House will take up the fiscal year 2015 Defense appropriations bill and the bill reauthorizing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Read More...

The Senate will begin consideration of a “minibus” of three appropriations bills on Tuesday, including the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill, although the Ag bill is expected to come up third, a knowledgeable Senate aide has told The Hagstrom Report. Read More...

Stan Garnett, a former director of child nutrition at the Agriculture Department, has resigned from the School Nutrition Association over its efforts to encourage members to lobby Congress to pass a bill requiring the USDA to waive healthier school meal requirements to any school that says it has lost money in the program for six months. Read More...

The International Dairy Foods Association has named David Carlin senior vice president of legislative affairs. Read More...

The Senate last week confirmed Todd Batta as the Agriculture Department assistant secretary for congressional relations.
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Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech to the Food Marketing Institute and the United Fresh Produce Association joint session in Chicago last week lacked vision and could signal she will experience the same problems in a 2016 presidential campaign that she experienced in 2008, Jerry Hagstrom writes in his National Journal column today. Read More...

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama today are visiting Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, the home of Chief Sitting Bull. Read More...

In the race to succeed House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, has dropped out but Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, is considering a race against House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. the National Journal and Time have reported. Read More...

The Agriculture Department is seeking applications for $14.5 million in two USDA bioenergy programs, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will spend next week in Europe to promote the U.S.-European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), USDA announced today. Read More...

The Supreme Court decision that Pom Wonderful can proceed with a lawsuit against Coca Cola over a label Pom considers misleading has implications for advertising and marketing claims, Advertising Age said today. Read More...

The Senate is expected to take up a bill that includes the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill on Tuesday. Read More...

After voting on a series of amendments to the fiscal 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill but avoiding action on school meal requirements, the House Republican leadership late Wednesday delayed further action on the bill until next week. Read More...

A coalition of Mississippi farm leaders has formed “Farmers for Thad,” to support the re-election bid of Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss, in advance of the June 24 runoff. Read More...

CHICAGO — Western Growers, the California- and Arizona-based organization whose members produce about half the fruits and vegetables produced in the country, vigorously opposes the House Agriculture appropriations bill provision that would grant waivers from healthier school meals rules, Tom Nassif, the Western Growers president and CEO said in an interview of the United Fresh Produce Association meeting here. Read More...

When the House takes up the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill today, members may offer amendments to strike the school waiver provision and address a number of other issues, according to documents obtained by The Hagstrom Report. Read More...

The House is expected to take up the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill on Wednesday. It is scheduled to come into session at 10 a.m. for the morning hour, but not to consider legislation until noon. Read More...

The defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., in his primary late today killed any chance that the House of Representatives will take up immigration reform this year and could affect other legislative and political issues, the Cook Political Report and The New York Times said in stories this evening.
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President Barack Obama today signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, a measure long sought by agriculture and public works groups, particularly because it authorizes repair and modernization of the locks and dams on the Mississippi River and in ports around the country. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., announced today that she will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 17 entitled “Grow it Here, Make it Here: Creating Jobs through Bio-Based Manufacturing.” Read More...

The Obama administration has issued a policy statement opposing the House version of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill, primarily over the school meals changes and the provision to require the Agriculture Department to allow use of white potatoes in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Read More...

School children and food service officials from Florida, West Virginia and Texas school districts will join First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday to harvest the summer crop from this year’s White House kitchen garden. Read More...

Responding to pressure from farm groups and others, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today extended the public comment period for the Waters of the U.S. proposed rule from July 21 until October 20, an additional 91 days. Read More...

CHICAGO — The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates today endorsed the Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to include added sugars on nutrition labels. Read More...

The lobbying over whether to keep the healthier school meal rules imposed under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act is intensifying as the House prepares to take up the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill this week. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has announced the following witnesses for the hearing on reauthorization of child nutrition programs on Thursday. Read More...

The Food and Drug Administration today issued draft guidance that pregnant women and mothers should eat more fish. Read More...

The U.S. International Trade Commission today released the study that explained its reasoning for a recent preliminary determination that unfair trading practices by Mexico are harming U.S. interests. Read More...

The U.S. Forest Service, a division of the Agriculture Department, today released a report showing how limited federal firefighting budgets have impacted states over the last two fiscal years (FYs 2012 and 2013). Read More...

The House Rules Committee will meet Tuesday to consider a rule on the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill. Read More...

Students from around the country cooked healthy meals at the Education Department today, helping Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House nutrition adviser Sam Kass in their campaign to stop Congress from granting waivers on the healthier school meal rules that the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act has imposed. Read More...

The latest Agriculture Department Farm to School Census shows that school districts around the country purchased more than $386 million worth of food from local farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and food processors and manufacturers during the 2011-2012 school year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today at a White House Rural Council event. Read More...

Cargill, the agribusiness giant, will phase out pig gestation crates on its company-owned pig facilities by 2015 and its contractors’ facilities by 2017, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported over the weekend and Supermarket News reported today. Read More...

Sharon Bowen was officially sworn in today as a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC said in a news release.
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NEW YORK CITY — “All the Way,” the play about President Lyndon Johnson that won the Tony Award for best play and best actor on Sunday, contains two key scenes involving agriculture, and originated at one of the nation’s premier rural theatrical venues, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Read More...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released a graphic on healthy school meals and links to accounts of schools that have succeeded in implementing the healthier meal school rules under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Read More...

The District of Columbia government has become the first local government in the nation to use local tax dollars to provide money for low-income people to buy produce at farmers markets, according to officials with DC Greens, a group that is distributing the checks. Read More...

The National Grain and Feed Association today urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject a petition from rail carriers that they be exempted from the statutory requirement to file agricultural transportation contract summaries. Read More...

Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., has joined the Senate Agriculture Committee and made his first speech in the committee today. Read More...

The White House Rural Council will host an event entitled "Regional Food Economies: Building Market Opportunities for Rural America" on Monday.
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The House of Representatives will take up the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill and the reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in June, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said in a memo to Republican members distributed today. Read More...

The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the benefits of expanding U.S. trade and eliminating barriers to U.S. exports, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has announced. Read More...

Leaked documents described as internal Brazilian government papers indicate that Brasilia has taken up demands by domestic cotton growers that the United States pay hundreds of millions of dollars in order to finally settle a long- simmering World Trade Organization dispute over U.S. farm subsidies, Inside U.S. Trade reported today. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has launched a campaign to reduce food waste in landfills, but he won’t have to look any farther for new ideas on how to accomplish that or for ideas on conservation and food safety than some of the exhibitors at this year’s White House Science Fair.
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With the 70th anniversary of D-Day coinciding with the opening of the Agriculture Department’s 19th seasonal Farmers’ Market, USDA officials today highlighted veterans who are growing food for farmers’ markets, the growth of markets on military bases to improve the food available to the troops and their families, and military chefs in a barbecue competition. Read More...

Timothy Massad was officially sworn in today as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC said in a news release. Read More...

The United Farm Workers held rallies and civil disobedience actions Wednesday to encourage 28 House Republicans to support immigration reform. Read More...

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Reserve Bank of Australia and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Australian Authorities) have entered into a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation and the exchange of information in the supervision and oversight of clearing organizations that operate on a cross-border basis in the United States and in Australia, the CFTC said in a news release today. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a $26.2 million program to combat porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), but the reactions from the National Pork Producers Council and from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., were muted. Read More...

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved an amendment that would stop the government from interfering with hemp research at land grant colleges. Read More...

Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and John Thune, R-S.D., today asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to include acres of approved prevented planting in the calculation to determine current year revenue for both the individual and county levels under the Agricultural Risk Coverage Program. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday that USDA will begin a continuous sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program beginning Monday, but that farmers who have contracts expiring in September can get a one-year extension. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., announced today that the committee will hold a hearing Thursday on reauthorization of the child nutrition programs, including the school lunch program. Read More...

The U.S. government has submitted to the World Trade Organization an analysis of farm subsidies and tariffs that have proven controversial this week, Washington Trade Daily reported.
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Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., will seek the support of Democrats and independents in his runoff primary race against state Sen. Chris McDaniel, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has named Ambassador Islam Siddiqui a senior adviser for the Global Food Security Project.
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Sixteen wheat and farm groups in the United States, Australia and Canada announced today that they “will work toward the goal of synchronized commercialization of biotech traits in wheat in the three countries.” Read More...

Several Northern California school districts were early adopters of the school meal menus that are national and say the increased cost and effort have been worth it, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today. Read More...

The School Nutrition Association is apparently angry with the Obama administration over what its leaders view as the unwillingness of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Sam Kass, the executive director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity, to meet in person with its leadership this spring. Read More...

The School Nutrition Association gets about half its $10 million operating budget from companies that supply food to schools, according to an analysis of public tax filings, Politico reported today. Read More...

Steve Case, the AOL founder and venture capitalist, announced today that he will invest in Revolution Foods, the Oakland, Calif.-based supplier of healthier school meals to schools. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today headlined in Canonsburg, Pa., the first of what he said would be five “Made in Rural America” regional export forums organized under the White House Rural Council. Read More...

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., introduced a bill Tuesday that would change U.S. food aid programs by allowing the purchase of either U.S. or foreign-produced food items, ending monetization — the sale of food aid with the proceeds used for development — and ending the requirement that 50 percent of the food going overseas be shipped on American-flagged vessels. Read More...

With neither Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., nor his tea party primary opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, receiving the 50 percent of votes needed to win the Mississippi Republican primary Tuesday, a runoff will be held June 24, and Republican groups are deciding whether to be involved or not, The Cook Political Report said today. Read More...

The Commerce Department’s International Trade Commission said Tuesday it needs more time to investigate whether subsidized sugar is entering the United States. Read More...

Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of State, former Democratic U.S. senator from New York, and likely 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, will give the keynote address at the Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention on June 25 in San Diego. Read More...

President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Allan Mustard, a career member of the Foreign Agricultural Service with the rank of career minister, as U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan. Read More...

The Senate today confirmed a new chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and two new commissioners, bringing the five-person to a full complement. Read More...

As polls were near closing in Mississippi today, The Atlantic published a lengthy analysis of the race between Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and his primary opponent, Chris McDaniel. Read More...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today that the tax extenders bill will have to wait until after the November election, Reuters reported. Read More...

The opening of the USDA Farmers’ Market for the season on Friday will feature a barbecue battle featuring military chefs from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Read More...

The School Nutrition Association is acting dangerously in its campaigns to ask Congress for one-year waivers from the healthier school meals rules and possibly for permanent changes to the rule next year, Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon told The Hagstrom Report in an interview Monday. Read More...

In a campaign appearance in Boston Monday, First Lady Michelle Obama said that Republican opposition to the school meals rules is a reason people should vote Democratic in the 2014 congressional elections. Read More...

The reactions from farm groups and rural senators to the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement Monday of a proposed rule to cut carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent have followed the expected ideological and regional lines. Read More...

The Senate is expected to vote later today on the nomination of Sharon Bowen, a Democrat, to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and possibly on other nominees later in the week. Read More...

The School Nutrition Association's campaign to ease healthier school meal rules has complicated the image of cafeteria workers and reveals conflicts within that organization, Jerry Hagstrom writes in his National Journal column today. Read More...

Sam Kass, executive director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity and White House nutrition adviser, held a strategy session with advocates for healthier school meal rules late Friday afternoon, Obama Foodorama reported. Read More...

The American Federation of Teachers on Friday wrote Congress a letter urging rejection of proposals to grant waivers or otherwise ease up on the meals standards that have been imposed under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Read More...

The Environmental Protection Agency today released its rule cut carbon pollution from power plants. Read More...

As his primary election approaches on Tuesday, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., noted late last week that the Agriculture Department has sent the rule that would shift catfish inspection from the Food and Drug Administration to the Office of Management and Budget, and that catfish is now available through the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program. Read More...