From agweb.com A federal appeals court on Friday morning said that the U.S. government could not begin implementing the controversial “Waters of the U.S.” rule that governs what waterways are subject to federal Clean Water Act permits and which waterways are not. “This is great news for cattlemen and women and all land users who have been at a loss ... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a series of fact sheets illustrating how the newly reached Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement can boost the U.S. agriculture industry, supporting more American jobs and driving the nation’s rural economy. Created by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the fact sheets graphically depict how each state and individual commodities stand to benefit from ... Read More »
From Feedstuffs The President traveled to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tuesday where he joined secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack for a meeting with agriculture and business leaders on the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for American business and workers. President Obama said with this trade agreement, which spans nearly 40% of the global economy, will enable the sale ... Read More »
From Agri-Pulse Key lawmakers involved in transportation issues are working to come up with a compromise that would push back the current end-of-year deadline for implementation of a rail safety system – avoiding a threatened disruption of grain and fertilizer deliveries. In the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Congress directed rail providers to install Positive Train Control (PTC) on ... Read More »
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, President Obama signed into law HR 2051, the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015, which reauthorizes the Grain Standards Act (GSA). The bill also extended the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 and authorized appropriations for the National Forest Foundation. The GSA component of the bill requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Grain Inspection Service to immediately take ... Read More »
From the Capital Press The percentage of Pacific Northwest and California farmers who are women easily tops the national average, according to statistics released by the USDA. Nationally, 31 percent of farmers are women, and they farm more than 301 million acres and have a $12.9 billion annual economic impact, according to USDA. In Oregon, 39 percent of farmers are ... Read More »
Following House passage last night of the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015, Brett Blankenship, NAWG president and wheat grower from Washtucna, Wash., issued the following statement: “This bill establishes more transparency and ensures there is no disruption in inspection services should a delegated state agency discontinue providing services. This bill provides the certainty wheat growers need. It’s important to have ... Read More »
From AgWeb.com If you’re wondering if there’s anything you need to know about the current budget battles in Congress, the answer is yes. If the House and Senate can’t reach an agreement on the federal budget—or more likely, a continuing resolution to fund the government while they hammer out a budget—by Sept. 30, the federal government will shut down on ... Read More »
From Agri-Pulse USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is inviting public comment on a proposed plan to strengthen oversight of field trials for genetically engineered wheat, following two recent detections of GE wheat where the plants should not have been growing. No varieties of GE wheat have been deregulated by APHIS. Read the rest of the story here. Read More »
From Agri-Pulse House Speaker John Boehner abruptly relinquished his leadership amid a growing rebellion in his caucus, throwing into doubt the prospects for getting an agreement on highway funding and on policy issues critical to agriculture. Boehner’s announcement that he will step down next month comes as he was struggling to avoid a government shutdown next week and preparing to ... Read More »
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