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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.

A California law allowing farm labor organizers to enter private property for up to three hours a day, 120 days a year amounts to an unconstitutional taking requiring compensation, the Supreme Court concluded in an opinion issued Wednesday.

With an emergency order for the Russian River watershed, the state water board revived a tool that several members cautioned is a blunt but necessary instrument.

While California has loosened restrictions for masks in workplace settings, farm groups were disappointed the emergency regulations still stand.

In January 2020, California Organic CEO Kelly Damewood outlined her organization’s plans to push for more organic acres in California and offered her take on Gov. Gavin Newsom. A pandemic and two legislative sessions later, organic demand is high and more farmers are looking into the potential transition.

Nichole Morgan has been appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve on the State Water Resources Control Board and Sec. Tom Vilsack's communications director leaves USDA.

American ag exporters have been finding it increasingly difficult to get their commodities into containers and onto ships as Chinese companies and international shippers monopolize ocean transportation, but lawmakers are hoping to alleviate the situation with new legislation.