Ben Nuelle

The Department of Agriculture made few changes in the June World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report Thursday as traders and producers watch the weather with hopes of timely rains to fall on parched crops.

Some leading agriculture groups are urging lawmakers to reach a bipartisan agreement on infrastructure.

A broad array of national and state farm organizations is appealing to Congress and the Biden administration to provide $40 billion in new funding for climate-related and ag research infrastructure.

New pipelines aimed at capturing carbon from ethanol, fertilizer, and other industrial plants may soon snake across the Midwest as companies look to profit from helping those facilities lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

The White House is establishing a new task force on supply chain disruptions to provide a “whole-of-government” response to near-term challenges. The task force will be led by the secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Transportation.

USDA is using a new round of coronavirus relief funding to help farmers who serve local markets and socially disadvantaged producers. Food banks also will benefit from the $1 billion in funding that USDA is allocating.

A veteran senior Senate staffer, Fitzhugh Elder, will be taking over as GOP staff director for the Senate Agriculture Committee next month, sources tell Agri-Pulse. He will replace Martha Scott Poindexter, who’s moving to the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

​President Joe Biden’s proposal to eliminate stepped-up basis and tax capital gains at death has run into opposition from a key Democrat. The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Georgia Democrat David Scott, says the tax plan could hurt farmers even though the tax liability would be deferred as long as a family farm stays in operation.

Consumer demand for healthy foods is rising, and a non-GMO soybean variety containing high oleic trait technology could help meet those demands while also providing benefits to farmers.

The Biden administration is testing an idea for promoting cover crop adoption that has proven popular in some states - offering farmers a subsidy on their crop insurance premiums.