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The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley has offered Gov. Gavin Newsom a list of projects to fund in response to the deepening drought.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack named Randy Moore as the new chief of USDA’s Forest Service and the California Legislature appointed Sen. Connie Leyva of Chino to serve as a nonvoting member on the Air Resources Board.

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.

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.

California’s law mandating minimum space requirements for certain livestock and poultry survived a challenge at the Supreme Court this week, though meat industry groups plan to continue their efforts to block implementation of Proposition 12.

More workers and a more diverse food system, including small and medium-sized meatpackers, are necessary for American agriculture to maintain resilience in the face of threats to the system, commenters told USDA as the department embarks on its effort to reimagine the country's agricultural supply chains.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has appointed Randy Moore, a regional forester in California, as the new chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

The Supreme Court has denied a petition to review California’s Proposition 12, which prohibits the sale of meat products that do not conform with the state’s animal housing standards.

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.