We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Terms and Cookie Policy
Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Wednesday, October 02, 2024
The chairman-elect of the House Agriculture Committee plans to invite EPA Administrator Michael Regan to testify about the new Waters of the U.S. rule, which the Biden administration released in late December.
States in the Chesapeake Bay watershed must continue to focus on reducing agriculture’s impact on the estuary, a major environmental group said Thursday in its latest update on the bay’s health.
The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are ready to focus on debating a new farm bill after lawmakers used the newly enacted omnibus funding package to clear their to-do lists. But it took several years to pass a farm bill the last time a divided Congress tried to do the job.
The latest definition of “waters of the U.S.” may be better in some respects for farmers than a Obama administration’s 2015 rule, but the new regulations give the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers discretion that will create uncertainty for landowners.
Tax credits and funding boosts for on-farm energy programs through the Inflation Reduction Act could incentivize more farmers to install anaerobic digestion systems on their farms, a major part of the Biden Administration’s plan for reducing methane emissions.
The Biden administration's new “waters of the U.S.” rule came under immediate criticism from farm groups and their GOP allies in Congress, who said it could expand federal jurisdiction over agricultural lands.
Many farm groups list crop insurance as their top priority for the next farm bill, but the organizations start to differ when it comes to other concerns, according to this week's Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.
A new rule defining “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act maintains longstanding exemptions for farming activities but also trims back an exclusion for prior converted cropland that had been in the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the top story in global news throughout 2022, forcing American ag and food policy watchers to keep a close eye on the war’s implications for domestic agriculture interests and world food security.