Articles by Steve Davies

The Organic Trade Association has chosen its next CEO and executive director. Tom Chapman, who has extensive experience in the organic industry, will replace outgoing OTA leader Laura Batcha on April 18.

President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2023 includes a $2.6 billion, or 9%, increase for USDA with many of the same themes of the first budget he proposed a year ago.

The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 12, an animal housing law that requires pork sold in the state come from sows afforded a minimum amount of space.

Agri-Pulse Daybreak: Budget process kicking off * Fortenberry resigning * USDA revises supermarket prices for 2022 upward * Ukraine gets new ag minister

Senate leaders are testing the waters to see if they can bring up the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and pass the bill relatively quickly.

With the war in Ukraine dragging on, farmers in the European Union are going to be allowed to plant crops on conservation acreage this spring, and there is new pressure on the Biden administration to do the same.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says it’s far too early to tell how much impact the war in Ukraine will ultimately have on consumers and global food supplies.

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering how to allow some continued uses of chlorpyrifos in the future, even though the chemical’s use on food crops has been revoked.

The Food and Drug Administration has stayed certain parts of a rule issued last year amending the standard of identity for yogurt, in response to objections filed by the International Dairy Foods Association and yogurt maker Chobani.

A federal judge has struck down Iowa’s most recent attempt to enact a so-called “ag gag law” that would have criminalized undercover investigations at animal confinement facilities, finding that “the state … may not single out individuals for special punishment based on their critical viewpoint of agricultural practices.”