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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Senate negotiators look to finalize and advance a bipartisan infrastructure bill this week, while the House debates a package of appropriations that would sharply increase funding for USDA, EPA and other departments and agencies important to agriculture.
Livestock producers across the West and northern Plains are relying heavily on rangeland insurance policies this year, even as the Agriculture Department considers changes to the program that could limit future indemnities for some farmers and ranchers.
Lawmakers return to work with Senate Democratic leaders determined to move both a bipartisan infrastructure package as well as an even bigger, partisan reconciliation bill ahead of the long August recess.
House spending bills for fiscal 2022 are making climate action a priority both at home and abroad while also ramping up spending for enforcement of environmental regulation.
The Agriculture Department says it plans to conduct preparatory work on the debt relief program for socially disadvantaged farmers, following an order from a federal judge in Texas stopping USDA from providing payments.
The House is pressing ahead with a partisan infrastructure bill this week at the same time there is uncertainty about the future of a freshly minted, $1.2 trillion agreement between President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators.
House appropriators are proposing to steer new Agriculture Department funding into tackling climate change and expanding rural broadband service under a fiscal 2022 spending bill released Thursday.
A bill that would lay the groundwork for ag carbon markets by putting USDA in charge of certifying farm advisers and credit verifiers won easy Senate approval Thursday in a defeat for some progressives and fossil fuel advocates on opposite sides of the climate issue.
The beef industry will face scrutiny this week from senators who are under pressure to curb the pricing power of big meatpackers, while the full Senate is nearing a vote on a bill to accelerate the development of ag carbon markets.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told senators Tuesday that his department is working on measures that will “significantly” increase U.S. meatpacking capacity, a top priority of producers who believe industry concentration is depressing livestock prices.
