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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Sunday, July 28, 2024
Xochitl Torres Small, a former congresswoman and the granddaughter of farmworkers, was easily confirmed by the Senate Tuesday as USDA's new deputy agriculture secretary.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow is planning to hold a committee hearing on foreign land ownership at some point this Congress, though she is still unsure of when, she told reporters Monday.
The Senate is expected to approve a new deputy secretary for USDA this week as lawmakers return from their July 4 break facing a backlog of fiscal 2024 spending bills heading into the August recess.
The drought that continues in much of the Midwest despite recent rainfall could affect not only crops but also the ability of producers to get their corn and soybeans to foreign markets.
For the third Congress in a row, House members have offered a bill addressing agriculture’s labor shortage, reintroducing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which allows year-round ag labor for H-2A workers and creates a merit-based visa program for the ag sector.
The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are still several months away from voting on a new farm bill, but the major issues in each of the 12 titles are coming into focus even as lawmakers continue offering new proposals they’d like to see included. Here is a summary of the issues in play as well as notable proposals lawmakers would like to see included in the bill.
Russia’s threat to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative continues to threaten global supplies of wheat and corn, but China would be one of the biggest losers would be China if that happens.