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Leaders of the House and Senate Ag committees announced dueling plans for a new farm bill as the partisan impasse appeared to deepen ahead of the House panel’s planned votes on May 23. House Ag Chairman Glenn Thompson released a broad summary of his planned legislation, and his Senate counterpart, Debbie Stabenow, followed with a much more detailed section-by-section summary of her draft bill.

The Treasury Department released long-awaited guidance for a new tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel. Ethanol-derived SAF would be eligible as long as the corn is produced with three climate-smart farming practices. 

The Biden administration is expected to announce key updates this week to its carbon-intensity scoring for sustainable aviation fuel this week, while lawmakers are struggling to break a partisan impasse over a new farm bill that Republicans are determined to move through the House Ag Committee in May.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed that the H5N1 virus has been found in a dairy herd in Colorado, the ninth state so far, the state's department of agriculture said Friday.

USDA will start requiring that certain cattle and bison have electronic eartags, if they are to be moved from one state to another.

The Labor Department has finalized a series of new protections for H-2A employees, including a right to participate in advocacy efforts over working conditions and restrictions on when workers can be fired for cause. A leading industry group denounced the regulations as "offensive" and "developed in bad faith."

Lactating dairy cattle scheduled to move from one state to another will first have to be tested for the presence of the H5N1 virus, according to a USDA order issued Wednesday.