A CropLife America report says the increased crop production and resultant economic spin-offs that stem from the use of crop protection products generate $33 billion in wages for over 1.05 million American workers. Read More...

The Chicago Public Schools has begun serving local chicken raised without antibiotics to students in 473 schools, the Pew Charitable Trusts announced Tuesday. Read More...

The Chicago Public Schools will announce today that it will serve chicken raised without antibiotics in its school meals programs. Read More...

The International Food & Agriculture Trade Policy Council has published a paper pointing out that trade conflicts are likely to occur when countries do not adopt regulations on biotechnology at the same time, and recommending a “practical” approach to dealing with biotech crops that have been approved in the exporting country and may not have been approved in the importing country. Read More...

Congress should increase mandatory spending on organic farming in the next farm bill to $185 million over five years to encourage the already-expanding industry, the Organic Farming Research Foundation said at a news conference Monday. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Ohio on Friday and to Florida on Saturday to promote the jobs program that President Barack Obama will discuss in a speech in a joint session of Congress tonight at 7. Read More...

Amendments to keep the Food and Drug Administration from approving “Frankenfish” genetically modified salmon and to stop the Agriculture Department from cutting back on the use of potatoes and other starchy vegetables in the school lunch program are among those that might be offered on the Senate floor if the Senate version of the fiscal year 2012 Agriculture appropriations bill comes up there as an independent piece of legislation. Read More...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., announced today that the Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee will hold two hearings next week. Read More...

Bio-based products are competitive with petroleum-based products at current petroleum price levels, a key polymer executive told the Senate Agriculture Committee today. Read More...

A July 1 news release from the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regarding the regulation of genetically-engineered Kentucky bluegrass “could drastically reduce the number [of] genetically engineered plants subject to regulatory oversight,” the Union of Concerned Scientists said today. Read More...

Consumer groups and the biotech industry are issuing different interpretations of a new Codex Alimentarius Commission agreement on biotech labeling. Read More...

ROME — José Graziano da Silva, the director general-elect of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said today that he believes in genetic modification in agriculture but is opposed to individual companies being granted monopolies on genetically modified seeds. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will raise the issue of science-based rules that could allow countries to adopt biotechnology and promote biofuels at the Paris Air Show when he travels to Paris this month, he told The Hagstrom Report today. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today it might be possible to create an insurance fund to compensate organic growers who believe they have been hurt by the drift of genetically modified seed into their fields. Read More...

TAMPA, Fla. — Agriculture Secretary Vilsack vigorously defended the biofuels industry today, saying it is not responsible for rising food costs and still needs subsidies to become a mature industry. Read More...

The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced today its decision to deregulate corn genetically engineered to produce a common enzyme called alpha-amylase that breaks down starch into sugar. It is used in ethanol production. Read More...

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today partially deregulated genetically modified sugar beet seed for planting. The decision will allow farmers to move ahead with planting while USDA works on its environmental analysis of the crop. Read More...

Food & Water Watch today launched a campaign to oppose USDA’s decision to approve genetically modified alfalfa for widespread planting. Read More...

A wide range of farm and agribusiness groups praised Thursday’s announcement that USDA would allow the planting of Roundup Ready genetically-engineered alfalfa without restrictions, but the Organic Trade Association said in a news release it was “deeply disappointed.” Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has granted genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa seed non-regulated status, which means it can be planted anywhere without barriers or geographic restrictions. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said despite the Democrats’ losses in rural America in the 2010 congressional elections, he believes President Obama will do well when he runs for re-election in 2012. Even though the president is criticized by both organic and conventional farmers for not favoring one approach to agriculture, Vilsack said farmers will recognize that the Obama administration’s attempt to aid all types of agricultural production is the best way to proceed. Vilsack also said he still enjoys his job and has no plans to leave. Read More...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today made his first appearance before the House Agriculture Committee since the Republicans gained controlled of the House, and announced he would make a decision on the regulatory status of Roundup Ready alfalfa “very, very shortly” after a comment period comes to an end on January 24. Read More...

On the eve of a House Agriculture Committee public forum on the biotechnology regulatory approval process, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said today they had sent Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack a letter questioning USDA’s process for approving the planting of genetically engineered alfalfa. Read More...

ATLANTA — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack broke from his prepared remarks to the American Farm Bureau Federation here Monday to observe that he had come to the convention with “a heavy heart” after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others on Saturday in Arizona. “We need to take a minute to appreciate what we have,” Vilsack said, adding that it was hard to give a speech under the circumstances. He said, however, that he thought it fitting to thank Farm Bureau members for producing the nation’s food supply and to thank rural Americans for their contributions to American life, particularly because a disproportionate number of them serve in the military.
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