Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered CalRecycle back to the drawing board on a regulation to limit single-use plastics in packaging.
Produce, dairy and manufacturing groups raised alarms last month over potential conflicts with food safety standards and other unintended consequences.
Newsom heard the feedback and agreed the draft rules could impose unacceptable burdens on businesses and pass the costs on to consumers. A spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times the governor wants to ensure the SB 54 law is implemented fairly.
Conservation groups argued Newsom’s decision “puts the interests of the plastics and fossil fuel industry above the wallets and welfare of Californians and the environment.”
Walt Duflock, Western Growers VP of Innovation, shared examples of venture capital alternatives for agtech startups during the 2025 World Agri-Tech Summit in San Francisco. (Chloe Lovejoy) Duflock forecasts need for alternative agtech funding
Agtech startups need to get creative with funding sources, says Western Growers Vice President of Innovation Walt Duflock, as venture capital continues to be a scarcity for innovators looking to take off. During a World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit discussion on solutions to the ag labor shortage, Duflock referenced his fellow panelist and Driscoll’s Senior vice president of Global R&D Scott Kumar, who developed an alliance with Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo to funnel industry investment into a dedicated university research team.
The partnership resulted in the Cal Poly Strawberry Center, which has several products successfully out to market for growers on the Central Coast. Duflock hopes a similar strategy can be applied to the lettuce industry.
He believes the lack of venture capital is the result of talent moving to other sectors, like auto manufacturing, where factors like weather and environment are predictable and simpler to segment into an assembly line.
Congress crawls toward government funding solution
It’s up to the Senate now. The House has narrowly passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open past midnight on Friday. The bill, which would fund the government through Sept. 30, needs at least eight Democratic votes to pass the Senate; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., says he won’t support it.
The continuing resolution would cut non-defense funding by around $13 billion while increasing defense spending by almost half as much.
In the House, only one Democrat, Maine’s Rep. Jared Golden, crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans. Golden said in a statement that while the CR is “not perfect,” a government shutdown “would be worse.” Kentucky’s Rep. Thomas Massie, was the lone Republican to oppose the bill.
But, but, but: Over in the Senate, Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Agri-Pulse there are “million things that are bad about” about the House CR. He’s most concerned by the lack of assurances that the spending won’t be used by the president in a punitive way.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Democrats are continuing to discuss the bill but face a difficult decision with only two options. “One is to vote for a pretty bad CR, or the other is to vote for potentially even worse shutdown,” King said. “So, it’s a very tough choice.”
Ag funding paused for Maine land grant university
USDA has paused funding to the University of Maine System after Trump clashed with state’s governor over transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. The freeze extends to funding for potato breeding, technical assistance with succession planning, biosecurity and disease outbreak education, support for 4-H youth leadership, and more.
UMaine, a land grant university, received $29.8 million from USDA in FY24. The funds will remain frozen as the agency determines if it should take any actions over its Title IX failures. Title IX refers to a civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs like sports.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, says she’s appalled by the decision. She says the process lacked any formal notification, findings of a Title IX violation or a hearing.
“Once again, it appears as though this Administration is targeting our state for retribution—all because our elected officials are standing up for the rule of law,” she says.
USDA says probationary employees will be paid
USDA will continue to pay nearly 6,000 probationary employees who were fired last month, as it develops “a phased plan for return-to-duty.”
The action comes about a week after the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that USDA’s termination of probationary employees likely violated federal personnel law. MSPB said the employees should be reinstated until April 18 for a 45-day period while the case is stayed.
By today, the department “will place all terminated probationary employees in pay status and provide each with back pay, from the date of termination,” USDA says.
Lawmakers seek expedited rollout of economic, disaster aid
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to expedite rulemaking for distributing $21 billion in disaster aid to farmers.
The 29 House members and senators say in a letter that swift dispersal would “provide certainty and, in many cases, a lifeline for farmers to continue their operations.” The lawmakers worry that producers in disaster-impacted areas are at risk of having to shut down their operations if the funding is made available “in the upcoming months."
U.S-Canadian trade officials to discuss ‘renewed USMCA’ this week
Senior Trump administration officials will meet Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford in Washington on Thursday to discuss the future of a North American trade deal.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Ford after he agreed to drop a tax on electricity exports from his province to three U.S. states. Trump responded to the surcharge by threatening to further increase duties on Canadian steel and aluminum slated to go into effect Wednesday. The White House backed down from the threats after Ford nixed the energy export tax.
Trump negotiated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in his first term, and the deal is eligible for review in 2026. In recent days the president has repeatedly complained about the market access U.S. dairy products receive under the deal.
Former Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit. (Chloe Lovejoy) Final word:
“Instead of the farmer working two jobs or three jobs, how come we can't figure out how the farm can generate two or three or four sources of income from what they do?” — Tom Vilsack, former Ag secretary and current CEO of the World Food Prize Foundation, during a panel discussion at the 2025 World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in San Francisco.
