Ben Nuelle

As students return to classrooms — or return to distance learning — the school lunch program is operating under unprecedented uncertainty, which is set to trickle down to commodities such as dairy and produce that rely on the lunch trays to carry a good portion of their demand. 

The impasse over coronavirus relief continues on Capitol Hill. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson doesn’t think a deal is going to be reached this month, but he tells Agri-Pulse he’s watching to see if some ag provisions could be included in a continuing resolution that will be needed to keep the government running after the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

With schools across the country struggling to reopen, the Agriculture Department will let them continue serving meals to all students at no charge until the end of the year or until the available funding runs out. 

The conventions are now over, and one thing seems pretty clear: Two or three battleground Midwest states could decide the presidential election.

A new report suggests the federal share of capital investment in water infrastructure should increase drastically to fight an aging system.

Vice President Mike Pence used his acceptance speech from Fort McHenry Wednesday night to defend President Trump’s trade war with China, an issue Democrats are trying to use against the president in farm country.

Republicans used Day Two of their convention to make a full-throated defense of President Trump’s trade policies with testimonials of a dairy farmer and others.

U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin talked by phone Monday evening with China’s Vice Premier Liu He about progress on the “phase one” trade agreement.

USDA is moving to make it tougher for members of some large family farm operations to get federal subsidies. USDA is publishing a rule in the Federal Register today that will require people trying to qualify for payments as active managers of a farm to provide either 25% of its management or 500 hours of time. The requirement already applied to members of partnerships.

President Donald Trump gets a shot at this week's Republican National Convention to demonstrate he's maintained the strong support that he needs in farm country and battleground states to win re-election this fall.