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Starting Monday, the Agriculture Department will start providing farmers their second tranche of payments under the 2019 version of the Market Facilitation Program, the Trump administration's effort to compensate farmers for the impact of retaliatory tariffs.

House Democrats and the Trump administration are close to striking a deal on enforcing labor standards in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the principal remaining issue that is yet to be resolved before a House vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

China is lifting its four-year ban on U.S. poultry, opening the way for hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. exports and demonstrating a further thaw in U.S.-China trade relations.

House and Senate negotiators will have to sort through some sharply different priorities and spending targets for USDA and other departments and agencies important to agriculture.

For U.S. red meat exporters, it's been touch and go with their major markets for two to three years, yet their foreign sales keep growing robustly, and they hope to set records again in 2020.

The U.S.-China trade war that forced U.S. exporters to diversify market priorities has played a role in the colossal rise of trade with Egypt, but only on the surface.

Meat exporters’ scouts abroad describe plant-based meat substitutes as popular in spots, a curiosity or absent in others, and too pricey so far in most places.

Federal dollars have been a major catalyst in advancing renewable power, but industry officials say that government support going forward could be affected by proposed federal regulatory revisions and possible action in Congress. 

Call it what you want — a “plateau” or a “slow-motion recession” — the ag economy is not performing well, and successful producers will be those who can innovate and manage their farms well, speakers at the annual Agricultural Bankers Conference in Dallas said this week.

Senate Democrats say the Trump administration’s trade assistance is unfairly benefitting large growers and Southern farmers to the detriment of producers more deserving of the aid.