Articles by Bill Tomson

Public protests in communist Cuba are rare, so when people recently took to the streets to demonstrate in protest against the government, the world took notice and America’s ag sector is still weighing the implications for trade between the two countries.

A fiscal 2022 funding bill for USDA and the Food and Drug Administration is headed to the full Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill, which was approved Monday evening by the committee’s Agriculture subcommittee, includes about $7 billion in supplemental assistance for farmers who have been affected by drought and other natural disasters.

Senators spent the weekend finalizing the details of the massive bipartisan infrastructure bill and will now start debating amendments.

USDA is providing a fresh update on its plans for issuing some widely anticipated new regulations.

The key to reducing the growing U.S. dependence on imported fruit and vegetables is greater investment in controlled environment agriculture – a form of high-tech, glass-enclosed hydroponic production – according to witnesses who testified on Capitol Hill Thursday.

A bipartisan infrastructure deal is alive and well after the Senate voted 67-32 Wednesday evening to begin debate on the measure. An agreement was reached earlier in the day on the package’s final details.

The U.S. and European Union are vowing to look past their significant differences on how to improve agricultural production practices, strengthen food supplies and protect the environment, says USDA Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh, who spoke to reporters from Rome after attending the United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit.

The House is close to finishing work on a seven-bill package of fiscal 2022 spending measures needed to fund USDA, EPA and other departments and agencies important to agriculture.

Some of the largest and most influential American farm groups are uniting to make their voices heard on reforming trade rules of the World Trade Organization as the institution prepares for its upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference.

U.S. poultry has only regained access to the Chinese chicken market for about a year and a half, but trade is booming and the U.S. was the number-one supplier to China in the last two months of 2020.