GOP-written farm bill is headed for House defeat, says senior Democrat House Republicans are following the “same ideological strategy that led to the failures of farm bills on the House floor in 2014 and 2018,” said Georgia Rep. David Scott, the senior Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. Republicans plan to tamper with future SNAP benefits, a red line for Democrats. EPA issues waiver allowing sales of E15 this summer Pointing to war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East, the Biden administration announced an emergency waiver allowing summertime sale nationwide of E15, a higher blend of ..read more

USDA assesses vaccine to protect cattle from bird flu virus The Agriculture Department said its research agency “has begun to assess the potential to develop an effective vaccine” against the H5N1 bird flu virus in cattle, although it warned that it is too early to say how long the process would take. The virus has so far infected 29 dairy herds in eight states, though there have been no detections in commercial beef herds since the disease was identified in cattle in late March. Global cropland growth is mostly in tropics, challenging U.S. role The world has added 398 million harvested acres ..read more

Senators tell Biden administration to ‘play offense’ on trade The Biden administration is sitting on its hands when it ought to be knocking down trade barriers and negotiating new trade pacts for U.S. food and ag exports, said a bipartisan chorus of senators on Wednesday. Since President Biden took office in 2021, the administration has not initiated formal talks for a new free trade agreement anywhere, said members of the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing on the U.S. trade agenda. Swampbuster rule is unconstitutional, says Iowa lawsuit The Agriculture Department violates the Constitut ..read more

Farm bill vote in committee before Memorial Day, says House Ag chairman After repeated delays, House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson said on Tuesday that his committee, “without a doubt, will mark up a farm bill before Memorial Day.” Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee plan to release a farm bill framework soon after the House panel acts, but Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat, cautioned, “We haven’t set an exact timeline” to move the bill. In food and beverage exports, EU points to heritage and quality The European Union is running a four-year promotion ..read more

House Republicans embrace ‘pretty radical’ farm bill ideas — Vilsack Most of the Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee — 21 of 29 — support “pretty radical” farm bill proposals at a time when only a bipartisan bill is sure of enactment, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. “It just underscores the difficulty of getting to a farm bill” when control of Congress is almost evenly divided, he said. India uses wheat stockpile to fight inflation India is drawing down its government-held wheat reserves more rapidly than expected as it tries to control inflation, said the monthly ..read more

(AG Insider) The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse passing over North America on April 8 is a rare occurrence that brings excitement and some amazing changes to the weather over the course of about four hours. Besides the obvious change in daylight, the temperature could drop, humidity could rise, and wind patterns may change. These brief but extreme fluctuations in our local weather may lead you to wonder, how will the eclipse affect agriculture? With total eclipses being so rare, there has been little research on how they affect agriculture. However, they are known to affect animal behavior. More int ..read more

USDA: Test for bird flu before interstate transport of cattle Michigan officials said the H5N1 bird flu virus has infected three additional dairy herds in the state, just as the USDA recommended farmers test their herds for the virus before moving cattle between states. The tests should both give us more information and should mitigate further state-to-state spread between herds,” said the USDA’s animal health agency. Rivals trim soy oil’s lead among biomass-based diesel feedstocks With the explosion in production of renewable diesel, yellow grease and corn oil are cutting into soybean oil’s p ..read more

Food insecurity twice as high in U.S. military as among civilians A quarter of the U.S. military experienced food insecurity in recent years, more than twice the civilian rate of 10 percent, said a USDA report on Thursday. Rates were highest among active-duty personnel under the age of 25 who were members of a minority group and whose spouses were unemployed. Drought imperils production of corn, a vital food, in southern Africa Hot and dry weather has reduced corn yields throughout southern Africa, “threatening food security for millions of households depending on this key staple for a signifi ..read more

HPAI found in dairy cows in seventh state The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in a dairy herd in North Carolina, said state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler on Wednesday, making it the seventh state in a little over two weeks to report infected cattle. “We have spent years developing ways to handle HPAI in poultry, but this is new, and we are working with our state and federal partners to develop protocols to handle this situation,” he said. Brazil, an agricultural giant, could expand cropland by 35 percent Already a major soybean, corn, and cotton grower, Brazil could expand its crop ..read more

GOP senators call for higher crop insurance subsidies Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee proposed a $4 billion injection into the crop insurance program so that the government would pay a larger share of the premiums on policies offering the highest levels of coverage. “We need more farm in the farm bill to get it passed,” said Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, the lead sponsor, on Tuesday. USDA announces update of WIC food packages The USDA has completed a months-long update of the foods available through the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC) to reflect the latest nutrit ..read more