Sara Wyant

Lobbying expenses reported by food and agribusiness companies and trade associations and producer groups last year totaled $137,853,745, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics from lobbyist disclosure filings in Congress. The total is up from $131,031,173 reported the prev

With Senator Thad Cochran now serving as the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, the south appears to be rising again.

As the House and Senate Agriculture Committees prepare to start writing a new farm bill over the next two weeks, farm and conservation groups reached what they described as a “delicately crafted” compromise designed to protect crop insurance from “means testing” and payment limitations while also o

With a growing number of food companies adding caffeine to everything from candy to potato chips and now chewing gum, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to review the potential impact of the stimulant on human health, especially young children.

Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow plans to markup a new farm bill in committee next month and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., signaled that the full Senate will take up a new five-year farm bill in May.

The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology and Foreign Agriculture, held a public hearing to examine specialty crop priorities for the 2013 farm bill today but heard growers say that immigration reform is one of the most pressing issues they face.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., plans to start marking up a new five-year farm bill on May 15, according to committee spokesperson Tamara Hinton.

While noting that “we do not envy your position,” in the current budget environment, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman took issue with USDA’s plan to cut direct payments by 8.5 percent as part of the agency’s sequestration cuts.