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The U.S. and some allied nations won a key battle last week in Rome over the international acceptance of the livestock industry’s ability to use a key growth-promoting drug, but the European Union, China and others managed to barely block a full victory.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put a bill to avoid a rail strike on the agenda after President Joe Biden called on Congress Monday to pass legislation adopting a deal brokered by the White House.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack personally warned Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador against banning genetically modified corn and later said the Biden administration expects to receive a proposal soon from Mexico on how to “engage in dialogue assuring the safety of biotechnology products.”

The produce industry is pointing to the release of USDA’s Farm Labor Survey the day before Thanksgiving as a reason for passing farm workforce legislation.

Lawmakers resume their lame duck session this week facing a deadline looming to avert a government shutdown, but they will also take some time to put a spotlight on a proposed merger of supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons.

The U.S. corn sector has been adamant that it cannot easily or quickly shift to producing non-GMO corn to comply with an upcoming Mexican ban, but Brazilian and Argentine farmers are also telling Mexico that it’s mistaken if it thinks it can rely on them to make up for the coming loss of U.S. supplies.

American agriculture leaders are set to travel to Spain next week for a trade mission in two European countries.

Leaders in the United Nations, Turkey and Russia are announcing that a deal has been reached to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative for another 120 days beyond Nov. 19, when the original deal would have expired without a new agreement.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky doesn’t just want the Black Sea Grain Initiative to be extended before the deal expires Nov. 19 – he wants the deal to be “extended indefinitely.”