Articles by Jim Webster

The United States and the European Union may be poles apart on agricultural biotechnology and the protection of “geographical indications,” or GIs, for unique foods, but negotiators may be able to find a way to compromise on those and other issues, according to experts at a forum on the Trans-Atlan

The drive to require labeling of food with biotech ingredients "is not going to go away," former Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan said today.

Many legislatures in states with concentrations of livestock and poultry production have adjourned for the year after debating and occasionally passing legislation to make it illegal for animal rights crusaders to take undercover videos inside production facilities without permission.

Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and David Scott, D-Ga., yesterday introduced a bill that would offer dairy farmers revenue protection without what they call the “supply management” feature of the dairy section in last year’s Senate and House Agriculture Committee farm bills.

Senior members of the Senate Finance Committee signaled today that they want the administration to negotiate a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that expands market access for U.S. agricultural exports and protects patents and other intellectual property for such products as medicine

Splitting Smithfield Foods into three independent companies by “divesting underperforming and highly volatile hog production and select European assets” and taking other steps would boost its share price to $40 within three years, Continental Grain said

The Environmental Working Group is touting government research [http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm335102.htm] that, it asserts, “has documented startlingly high percentages of supermarket meat containing antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”

The Department of Justice confirmed today that its Antitrust Division will not stand in the way of JBS USA’s acquisition of cow and bull slaughter plants at Omaha, Neb., and Nampa, Idaho, from bankrupt Canadian firm XL Foods

The International Dairy Foods Association says that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has options to avoid or delay the effect of a 1949 law that could drastically raise milk prices

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., warned the Senate Friday that milk “market chaos will erupt” if Congress fails to stop a permanent 1949 law from taking effect in January, setting off a chain of events that could double the prices of milk and dairy products.