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The infrastructure spending deal that President Joe Biden struck with a bipartisan group of senators could go a long way toward addressing critical agriculture needs, from improving waterways to making high-speed internet universal and fixing many crumbling bridges and roads.

States in the West and the High Plains are currently facing what Brad Rippey, a USDA meteorologist in the Office of the Chief Economist, calls the “most expansive” drought the U.S. has seen since 2012 and 2013.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., has introduced the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications Act, or the RETAIN Act, which would require Ligado, an American satellite communications company, to compensate all GPS and satellite communications users affected by their new 5G services.

Fruit harvests in Washington are complicated as temperatures are predicted to peak at 115 degrees this week, a record-breaking high this early in the season.

Cattlemen’s Heritage Beef Company plans to build a new beef packing plant in western Iowa, adding to the sector’s processing capacity amid calls for greater expansion and diversification of ownership.

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.

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of small refineries seeking relief from the Renewable Fuel Standard, delivering a major blow to biofuel groups in a long-running legal battle over the governance of the nation’s ethanol and biodiesel policy.

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 $4 billion debt relief program enacted by Congress to address past racial discrimination of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers suffered another legal defeat Wednesday when a federal judge in Florida halted payments nationwide.