The American Farmland Trust has hired Laura Trivers as the director of marketing and communications. Read More...

The Environmental Working Group released a report Thursday concluding that the Environmental Protection Agency proposal to reduce the corn ethanol mandate under the Renewable Fuel Standard by 1.39 billion gallons would prevent as much greenhouse gas pollution as taking 580,000 cars off the road annually. Read More...

CropLife America has posted videos of its annual national policy conference sessions last week on its website. Read More...

Faegre BD Consulting has hired David Lyons to lead its food and agriculture consulting practice in Washington. Read More...

The American Medical Association on Thursday issued a statement endorsing healthier school meal standards and in opposition to congressional intervention in their development. Read More...

One hundred seventeen biodiesel companies and affiliated businesses from 41 states wrote President Barack Obama last week to urge the administration not to reduce the biodiesel mandate in the Renewable Fuel Standard. Read More...

The Futures Industry Association has hired Heather Vaughan as director of public relations, a new position.
Read More...

The United Fresh Produce Association today expressed deep disappointment at the House Appropriations Committee’s vote to maintain a provision in the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill that requires the Agriculture Department to issue waivers from school meal rules to schools that claim their meals programs are losing money. Read More...

In addition to its actions on school meals and potatoes today, the House Appropriations Committee considered a number of amendments. Read More...

The Agriculture Department today awarded $6 million in grants for universities and state cooperative extension services to educate farmers about the farm bill. Read More...

The House Appropriations Committee today approved a fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill by a vote of 31 to 18. But House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Sam Farr, D-Calif., said it would face a series of problems as it moves to the House floor because it contains a provision requiring the Agriculture Department to grant waivers from school meal nutrition requirements to any schools that say they have lost money in the program for six months. Read More...

The School Nutrition Association today praised the House Appropriations Committee for keeping a provision to grant school meal requirement waivers to schools that say they are losing money but the group also said USDA should rescind several key requirements of school meals under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Read More...

The House Appropriations Committee has rejected an amendment offered by House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Sam Farr, D-Calif., to strike the provision in the bill that requires the Agriculture Department to grant waivers from current school meal nutrition requirements to any schools that say they have lost money in the program for six months. Read More...

As the House Appropriations Committee prepares to take up the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill today, First Lady Michelle Obama published an op-ed article in The New York Times. Read More...

Five U.S. agriculture groups — the National Pork Producers Council, the International Dairy Foods Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the USA Rice Federation and the U.S. Wheat Association today called on the Obama administration to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations without Japan unless that nation agrees to provide significant market access for the United States. Read More...

The one-year waiver from school meal requirements for schools that have lost money for six months will not work because the Agriculture Department would have a hard time figuring out whether a school district was really struggling financially, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a telephone call to reporters today. Read More...

The National Parent Teachers Association has written appropriators that the organization opposes any changes to the school meals rules. Read More...

Retired military leaders who are part of the “Mission: Readiness” organization joined Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a telephone call to reporters on Friday to oppose congressional efforts to allow schools exemptions from the healthier meal standards under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Read More...

The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a markup on Thursday on an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevenson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Read More...

In a direct confrontation with the School Nutrition Association and House Republicans, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted school food service directors from New York City, Los Angeles, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia today at a White House event to discourage Congress from granting waivers from the healthier school meal rules that have been put in place under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., today announced the implementation of a new regional conservation partnership program that they said will “launch a new era in American conservation efforts.” Read More...

Sam Kass, the executive director of “Let’s Move,” First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign, says the White House is ready for the battle over changing the nutrition requirements for school meals, Obama Foodorama reported in an exclusive interview today. Read More...

Tom Stenzel, the president and CEO of the United Fresh Produce Association, said in a news release Thursday that the Senate Appropriations Committee had reached a “sensible resolution” on changes to school meals, and that the full House Appropriations Committee at its markup next week of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill should make changes to the bill passed by the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. Read More...

Western Growers, whose members raise half the nation’s fresh fruits and vegetables, today praised the Senate passage of the Emergency Drought Relief Act. Read More...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday that he would support letting immigration reforms take effect in 2017, but that the House needs to take up a bill by August if a conference is to be completed this year, Roll Call reported. Read More...

National Security Adviser Susan Rice announced Thursday that the U.S. Agency for International Development has completed a new nutrition strategy. Read More...

Three ethanol industry advocates who participated in a recent Agriculture Department trade mission to China said this week they believe there is a market for ethanol there, even though China now bans ethanol imports. Read More...

Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. Read More...

In an extensive story last Sunday, The Des Moines Register examined Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s prospects to get the Democratic nomination for vice president in 2016. Read More...

In a major victory for farm and transportation groups and a defeat for Heritage Action America, the Senate today passed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act by a vote of 91-7. Read More...

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved the fiscal year 2015 appropriation for the Agriculture Department and related agencies with amendments affecting school meals, potatoes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC), horse slaughter, international food aid and labeling of biotech salmon. Read More...

Apparently reacting to the fact sheet on the school lunch program put out by the Agriculture Department, the School Nutrition Association, which has called on appropriators to make changes to the school lunch program meal requirements under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, today published its own version of facts on the school program. Read More...

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs today released a report urging the U.S. government to take several steps to improve the prospects for global food security in the era of climate change. Read More...

Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah announced today that USDAID will grant $25 million to Purdue University in Indiana to establish an innovations lab for its Feed the Future program. Read More...

In highly personal terms today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appealed to members of the Organic Trade Association to lobby against the changes that appropriators are planning to reduce schools’ obligations to feed healthier food to children in meal programs and in school vending machines. Read More...

Schools that would get waivers from the updated school meal rules would be allowed to keep the 6-cent increase in federal reimbursement under the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill that the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved Tuesday, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., noted during the wide-ranging debate on the bill. Read More...

The Brazilian and U.S. governments will meet on Friday in Washington to discuss resolution of the cotton case that Brazil won against the old U.S. cotton program and how the farm bill affects it, the Agriculture Department confirmed today. Read More...

The Senate Finance Committee today approved President Barack Obama’s nomination of Agriculture Deputy Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Darci Vetter to become the chief U.S. agriculture negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today he is working with Attorney General Eric Holder on a way to release the hemp seeds that the state of Kentucky wants to import from Italy, but that customs officials have stopped because importation of hemp seeds is still illegal under federal law on the grounds that hemp is related to marijuana. Read More...

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will allow ConAgra Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., CHS Inc., and Horizon Milling LLC to proceed with the formation of Ardent Mills, a flour milling joint venture, but only after the companies divest themselves of four other competitively significant mills. Read More...

Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon announced today that schools that can demonstrate significant challenges in serving whole-grain-rich pastas can continue serving traditional enriched pasta products for up to two more years. Read More...

The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee today passed the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill. Read More...

The House passed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 today with a 412-to-4 vote. Read More...

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill today.The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill today. Read More...

As the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee prepares to meet this morning to consider the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill, the battle has heated up over provisions to give USDA authority to waive schools’ compliance with new school rules and to allow purchases of white potatoes under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children known as WIC. Read More...

The U.S. Agency for International Development has released the final version of its report on Feed the Future, the Obama administration's signature program of agriculture and nutrition development in low income countries. Read More...

The House of Representatives will take up the Water Resources Reform and Development Act today, while Heritage Action for America is telling members it will attempt to punish those who vote against it and the National Association of Manufacturers says it will reward those who vote for it. Read More...

All of Mexico is now open to U.S. potato imports, the National Potato Council and the United States Potato Board announced Monday. Read More...

The House Appropriations Committee today released a draft of the fiscal year 2015 bill for appropriations for the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies. Read More...

The School Nutrition Association is supporting changes to the school meals programs made in the draft of the House 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill while the Pew Charitable Trusts is opposing it. Read More...

The Senate Appropriations Committee has scheduled a full committee markup of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill on Thursday. Read More...

After meeting in Mexico City today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Mexican Agriculture Secretary Enrique Martínez and Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said they hope the North American countries can be a model of cooperation and integrated supply lines based on science. Read More...

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition today praised the draft of the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill for some provisions but said it slashes funds for conservation and it “launches an assault” on the new farm bill in other cases. Read More...

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah is scheduled to release today a major study on the results of the Feed the Future initiative that the Obama administration unveiled in 2009 to fight poverty and hunger through agricultural development and improved nutrition in developing countries. Read More...

“The difference between our losing weight in Europe and gaining it here isn't the food. It's the exercise,” writes Urban Lehner, editor emeritus of DTN —The Progressive Farmer, in his column, commenting on the documentary “Fed Up” about American obesity. Read More...

Tuesday will be the day for both Senate and House markups of the fiscal year 2015 appropriations bills for the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration and related agencies. Read More...

The United Fresh Produce Association and advocates for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children known as WIC are fighting against changes that appropriators are considering in the fiscal year 2015 Agriculture appropriations. Read More...

Heritage Action for America sent out a memo over the weekend on the Water Reform and Resources Development Act conference report that was released Friday. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will speak at the Global Forum on Agro Food Expectations in Mexico City today, the Agriculture Department announced late last week. Read More...

Rep. Coya Knutson, D-Minn., the first woman appointed to the House Agriculture Committee, faced many difficulties in her political career in the 1950s, National Public Radio recalled in a recent story. Read More...

The American Origin Products Research Foundation is sponsoring a webinar today on the role of geographic indicators in the the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. Read More...

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a markup on the fiscal year 2015 appropriations bill for the Agriculture Department and related agencies on Tuesday. Read More...

The tax extenders bill that includes a renewal of the biodiesel tax credit stalled in the Senate Thursday over a conflict between Democrats and Republicans about amendments, The Hill reported. Read More...

The Center for Science in the Public Interest announced Thursday it fears members of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee will try to make changes to the school meals program rules next week — and that the organization is launching a national petition drive to discourage the subcommittee members from making any changes in the way the Agriculture Department has written rules for the program. Read More...

Sales of organic products jumped to $35.1 billion in 2013, up 11.5 percent from the previous year’s $31.5 billion and the fastest growth rate in five years, according to the latest survey on the organic industry from the Organic Trade Association (OTA). Read More...

An Agriculture Department annual survey of beekeepers, released today, shows fewer colony losses occurred in the United States over the winter of 2013-14 than in recent years.
Read More...

This year, 3,300 pounds of venison have been donated to charities in the Washington area, and many are surprised that the meat came from Rock Creek Park, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Read More...

The Waterways Council, the National Grain and Feed Association and the American Soybean Association today endorsed the final conference agreement of the Water Resources Reform Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014, which is heading toward floor consideration in Congress. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said today that an Animal Welfare Institute report released Wednesday saying that FSIS is failing to verify the accuracy of label claims such as “humanely raised” and “sustainably farmed” on meat and poultry products sold in the United States is false. Read More...

U.S. trade negotiators should not give in to European demands to adopt geographical indicators for certain dairy products, 171 House members have written to Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Read More...

Six Democratic senators — Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana — today called on the Obama administration not to cut the biodiesel volumetric requirement under the Renewable Fuel Standard and on Congress to put the expired biodiesel tax credit back in place. Read More...

The Obama administration is continuing to push the House of Representatives to pass immigration reform legislation this year, even as prospects for any bill there remain murky at best. Read More...

The Environmental Protection Agency today extended the comment period for the proposed revisions to the agricultural Worker Protection Standard for an additional 60 days, until August 18, in response to requests from growers, industry, farm worker advocates and states for additional time to provide input, the agency said in a news release. Read More...

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mark Wetjen said today that the agency needs more personnel and better information technology to oversee the futures marketplace. Read More...

The International Food Information Council Foundation has published a rebuttal to the film “Fed Up,” the documentary about obesity produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David. Read More...

Gerald Bange, the chairman of the Agriculture Department’s World Agricultural Outlook Board since 1994, will retire on May 31 and Seth Meyer, a USDA senior economist will become acting chairman, USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber announced Tuesday. Read More...

The National Confectioners Association has hired John Downs Jr. as president of the trade association, Robert Simpson, NCA Board chairman and COO of Jelly Belly Candy Company, announced today. Read More...

Latin America and the Caribbean could increase their agricultural productivity to help feed the world as the population grows, but countries need to change agricultural and trade policies and the private sector needs to invest more in the region, according to a report highlighted today at the National Press Club and on Capitol. Read More...

A report jointly released by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Global Harvest Initiative, a group of private sector companies, has documented the agricultural advantages of Latin America and the Caribbean and the challenges they face in further development and modernization. Read More...

The American Frozen Food Institute has launched a $90 million advertising campaign to encourage consumers “to take a fresh look at frozen food.” Read More...

The impact of the Cooperative Extension System, which is celebrating its centennial this year, has been great, but is hard to quantify in relationship to other agricultural research and development activities, according to an article in Choices, the publication of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. Read More...

Twelve Democratic senators led by Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Corey Booker of New Jersey have called on the Agriculture Department to stop the slaughter of downer calves, according to a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that was released by the Humane Society of the United States. Read More...

The Center for Food Safety today released an online map of Michigan confined animal feeding operations that includes links to each operation’s farm subsidies. Read More...

An Iowa farmer who is an early adopter of analysis of farm data to provide more precise data on planting says it has paid off as companies develop different prescription agriculture products, The Des Moines Register reports. Read More...

The Organic Trade Association has hired Maggie McNeil as director of media relations. Read More...

The Senate Agriculture Committee has released the list of witnesses for a hearing Tuesday on high-frequency and automated trading in the futures market. Read More...

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., has joined more than 40 Republican members in asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to ease rules for the school meals programs under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Read More...

While urban schools have developed gardens that provide vegetables for school lunch, agriculture classes in some rural schools are now raising meat for the school lunch program, The New York Times reported today. Read More...

Anne Cannon MacMillan, a deputy chief of staff to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, has left USDA to become the director of government relations for Roll Global, the California-based company best known for making Pom Wonderful, but that also sells Fiji water, almonds and other food products. Read More...

Television journalist Katie Couric, a producer of the film “Fed Up,” is challenging Americans to avoid all sweeteners and flour for 10 days while the Grocery Manufacturers Association has launched a website to counter the film’s message about prepared foods. Read More...

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., a member of the conference committee on the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), revealed a few details of the bill’s contents Friday when he announced that he had signed the conference report. Read More...

Western states are mounting an effort avoid listing of the sage grouse on the Endangered Species List, The Washington Post reported today. Read More...

The film “Fed Up,” which debuted this weekend, fails to appreciate the political battles that nutritionists won when the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act was enacted and also fails to propose practical changes in the future, Jerry Hagstrom writes today in his National Journal column. Read More...

The Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the resource needs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has named Dan Christenson as a deputy chief of staff to succeed Anne Cannon MacMillan. Read More...

The Grocery Manufacturers Association has announced it plans to sue the state of Vermont over the law that Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, signed Thursday to require labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients sold in the state. Read More...

The United States International Trade Commission today determined that there is a “reasonable indication” U.S. sugar growers have been materially injured by imports of Mexican sugar that were subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value. Read More...

Conferees on the Water Resources Reform and Development Act reached agreement on the $8.2 billion measure late Thursday and are making plans to bring the bill to the House and Senate floors for final passage, leaders of the committees in charge announced late Thursday. Read More...

Darci Vetter, President Barack Obama’s nominee for chief agriculture negotiator, a position with ambassadorial rank, received a warm welcome today at her nomination hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.
Read More...

President Barack Obama today announced his intention to nominate Lisa Mensah as Agriculture undersecretary for rural development.
Read More...

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, today signed the first state law to require labeling of food for genetically modified ingredients. Shumlin said in a tweet that he was “proud” to sign the bill because “Vermonters have the right to know what’s in their food.” Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is making a total of $78 million from the 2014 farm bill available for local and regional food systems, including food hubs, farmers markets, aggregation and processing facilities, distribution services, and other local food business enterprises. Read More...

Gene White, president of the board of the Global Child Nutrition Foundation, which promotes school feeding programs in developing countries, today announced the appointment of Arlene Mitchell as executive director. Read More...

In what could be interpreted as a development in the relationship between the United States and Russia over the events in Ukraine, President Barack Obama today removed Russia from the list of countries that can export certain goods duty-free to the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences. Read More...

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is retiring at the end of this term, took the opportunity at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing today to praise Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa Democratic governor, for his public service. Read More...

A coalition of farm groups today wrote Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to make sure that a “broad” coalition from all parts of the country are included when USDA awards funds to land-grant universities for the development of websites and Web-based tools to assist producers in deciding which of the new law’s programs to sign up for. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service today defended its release of an audit of the Brazilian food safety system on Monday as “routine,” even though the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it should have been released while a comment period was still open on a proposal to allow the importation of Brazilian beef into the United States. Read More...

Everything from the “actively engaged rule” and conservation compliance to the Brazil cotton case and the new position of Agriculture undersecretary for trade came up when Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee today on the implementation of the 2014 farm bill. Read More...

Agriculture Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse is leading a trade delegation to China that includes several representatives of biofuels companies, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service announced today. Read More...

Calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to preserve the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standards while extending the compliance deadline “reasonable,” the U.S. District Court of Appeals today denied a petition to review the case. Read More...

Pro-biofuels groups today praised the National Climate Assessment, but said it proves that the Obama administration’s proposals to cut biofuels requirements are wrong. Read More...

The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing May 13 entitled High Frequency and Automated Trading in Futures Markets, to examine high-frequency trading and other forms of automated trading in the derivatives markets and what the Commodity Futures Trading Commission can do to help ensure market integrity. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today praised the Obama administration’s National Climate Assessment, and said that for the first time the assessment examined the effects of climate change on rural communities. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service today released a report on its audit of Brazil’s food inspection system, which was conducted because Brazil wants to export meat to the United States. Read More...

The White House today released its third and latest assessment of climate change, including a special chapter on agriculture that declares climate change is affecting farming in every region of the country. Read More...

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ramped up the political battle over immigration reform late last week, after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, gave conflicting accounts about his desire to pass immigration reform and his views on some of his fellow Republicans. Read More...

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released a strategy document on implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and Nisei Farmers League President Manuel Cunha today held a news conference that seemed intended to put pressure on House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to take a role in immigration reform. Read More...

Opponents of immigration reform are asking candidates for Congress to sign a pledge that they will oppose bills and policies that would ease immigration, The Hill reported Friday. Read More...

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which has jurisdiction over 245 million acres of government land, announced a new land-use planning strategy today and called for public comment. Read More...

The use of American flowers at the White House for the state dinner for French President François Hollande followed a lobbying effort, The New York Times reported on Saturday. Read More...

The National Milk Producers Federation said today it has “soured” on the Food and Drug Administration’s willingness to devote attention to regulating the names of certain types of sugar, while at the same time “ignoring the misuse of dairy-specific names in foods with no milk content.” Read More...

The American Seed Trade Association has hired Stan Barrett as the new director of membership and education services. Read More...

The Agriculture Department today released the full 2012 Census of Agriculture. USDA released preliminary findings in February, but the full Census was delayed due to the government shutdown last fall. Read More...

The propane industry and the government need to take action soon or the country will face an even worse propane shortage next winter than it did this past season, a Minnesota turkey grower testified Thursday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Read More...

The potato industry is making progress in its campaign to convince appropriators to force the Agriculture Department to allow white potatoes to be purchased under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children known as WIC, Politico reported. Read More...

The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank said Thursday that farm lending is up 28 percent over last year, with farmers citing increased input costs and lower cash revenues as the reasons. Read More...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has scheduled a hearing on Thursday to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Darci Vetter as chief U.S. agricultural trade negotiator, a position that carries with it the rank of ambassador. Read More...

The Agriculture Department has begun working on the rule to allow rural communities to engage in regional planning under USDA rural development programs, but it will not go into effect until 2015, a key USDA official said today. Read More...

In a dramatic shift from the leadership of former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the new chairman, today devoted more attention to problems with trade than to its benefits when Trade Representative Michael Froman appeared before his committee to discuss the Obama administration’s trade agenda. Read More...

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told community bankers today that she is determined the Fed will not place “undue burdens on your institutions” as it tries to protect the country from a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. Read More...