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WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -With record floods in North Dakota and along many parts of the Missouri River basin last year, and extreme drought across much of Texas, it’s not surprising that crop insurance payouts in 2011 are headed to record levels.

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -The 2011 demise of the 45-cent-per-gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit for ethanol blenders is prompting a “rush” among ethanol producers to extract more corn oil to make up the loss in revenue

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -A conference of water experts meeting in New Mexico last month say renewable energy will be key to developing and improving desalination water projects throughout the United States.

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -Many farmers oppose new environmental regulations, but a chance to voluntarily comply with regulations in exchange for some type of “certainty” carries some appeal especially when stiff fines or lawsuit-happy environmental groups are presented as alternatives.

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -Retiring President Obama’s proposal to merge the U.S. Trade Representative and four other independent agencies into a new department that includes business-related components of the Department of Commerce is running into criticism from agricultural and trade interest g

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -A federal district judge in San Francisco has thrown out the most recent challenge in the long legal campaign to overturn USDA’s decision to approve biotech alfalfa for commercial planting.

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -The U.S. National Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Committee (PNT) says that the LightSquared network could “cause harmful interference to many GPS receivers” as well as the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS).

WASHINGTON, January 18, 2012 -The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is expected to draft a long-term, six-year surface transportation bill within the next couple of weeks in the hopes of adopting a measure before current law expires March 31.

With Congress seemingly headed for another year of gridlock, renewable energy advocates say they are looking more at states to provide the leadership in clean energy development.

Senator John Thune, R-S.D., said obstacles to passing the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 through the Senate include amendments regarding regional differences as well as unrelated amendments that may be proposed.