Articles Tagged with ''American Farm Bureau Federation''

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai signaled Monday that the Biden administration is ready to begin pressing Beijing to fulfill its promises under the Phrase One agreement, but she didn’t commit to negotiating a much-desired second phase that would elicit new promises of ag commodity purchases.

Ag groups are pushing back against rumors that the Build Back Better bill being crafted by Democrats on Capitol Hill would impose an emissions tax on livestock that would cost more than some of the animals are worth.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture has tapped Ted McKinney to be the organization’s new CEO, and President Joe Biden has selected civil rights lawyer Margo Schlanger to be USDA’s assistant secretary for civil rights.

The American Farm Bureau Federation has selected a veteran economist with the Agriculture Department and the dairy industry to lead the organization's economic analysis unit.

Sources familiar with the agriculture provisions in the massive spending package Democrats are putting together expect it to include historic increases in conservation and research spending totaling nearly $36 billion.

House Democrats are moving ahead this week with debating key provisions of the $3.5 trillion tax and spending package. The House Ways and Means Committee has announced plans to take up the health care, paid leave and child care provisions Thursday and Friday. That would push its action on tax issues into next week.

The overwhelming majority of federally threatened and endangered species are likely to be “adversely affected” by three commonly used neonicotinoid insecticides, the Environmental Protection Agency said in draft assessments that were met with immediate criticism from grower groups.

The Biden administration is putting an end to the use of chlorpyrifos insecticide on food crops, provoking a backlash from some ag groups.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer is making it clear he wants the Senate to finish its $3.5 trillion reconciliation package by Sept. 15. “We’ve got a chance, a good decent chance” of passing the bill, he told reporters Wednesday.

California regulations that will require hog farms to provide sows with more housing space starting in 2022 will likely pose logistical challenges for pork exports while increasing production costs and raising retail prices, say producers and industry analysts.