Steve Davies

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to consider the nomination of Katherine Tai to be President Joe Biden’s U.S. Trade Representative and point person on the future of trade relations with China.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, who is 97, starts treatment on Monday for stage four lung cancer. “While I certainly have some hurdles ahead. I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own,” Dole said in a statement he posted Thursday.

Interest groups have become so hardened in their views about which types of agriculture benefit the environment that the fact that some COVID vaccines have been developed using genetic engineering is unlikely to change minds about the technology’s benefits, an industry advocate says.

Former House Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson is gearing up to join the upcoming congressional debate about climate and farm policy. Peterson tells Agri-Pulse he’s talking to several firms about consulting roles, but he indicated he’s not in a rush to sign up.

An end is finally in sight in the wait for a new agriculture secretary. The Senate has scheduled action for Feb. 23 on Tom Vilsack's nomination to return for a second stint at the head of USDA.

There are new signs of division on the Senate Agriculture Committee when it comes to climate change. The committee’s top Republican, John Boozman, told members of the National Cotton Council Thursday that funding to address climate change could come out of existing farm bill programs.

The new chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Georgia Rep. David Scott, passed his first test as Democrats stuck together Wednesday night to advance their piece of a sweeping $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

Beef producers can achieve feed efficiency gains of about 5% by using Enogen corn, a new lifecycle assessment released by Syngenta Seeds and the University of Arkansas Resiliency Center (UARC) has found.

The House Agriculture Committee will debate a $16 billion stimulus measure that includes a substantial down payment on Democrats’ promise to address racial justice issues. The committee’s draft bill, which will be part of a broader $1.9 trillion stimulus package, would provide sweeping debt relief to minority farmers on USDA loans.