Articles by Philip Brasher

The top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee is calling on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to delay signup for the Conservation Reserve Program because of the war in Ukraine.

Congressional leaders announced agreement early Wednesday on a $1.5 trillion, government-wide spending bill for fiscal 2022 that includes new funding for rural broadband expansion and authorization of a cattle contract library at USDA to address concerns about market power in the beef sector.

The war in Ukraine is threatening to cut global grain supplies and worsen food insecurity, leading to proposals to ramp up agricultural production in the United States and Europe by planting crops this year on conservation acreage.

USDA is taking additional steps to provide relief to historically underserved farmers and other producers holding direct loans from the Farm Service Agency.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is opposed to extending waivers that eased school nutrition rules during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Food and Drug Administration for the first time cleared the marketing of products from a biotech food animal, approving beef cattle that are genetically altered to be more tolerant of hot weather.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is reporting that global food prices hit their highest level on record last month, and that doesn’t account for the full effects of the Ukraine crisis.

Congress faces a Friday deadline to pass a massive bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, but negotiations were still far from final heading into the weekend.

Global food prices hit an all-time high in February, led by sharp increases in vegetable oil and dairy prices as well higher costs for grains, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Organizations representing wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum will wait until this summer before finalizing policies for the next farm bill.