It was a huge day for agriculture policy in Washington today with three major developments:
The House Agriculture Committee released the Chairman’s Mark draft of the 2018 Farm Bill. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) might be back on the negotiating table. President Trump is saying publicly that E15 approval is forthcoming.
Farm Bill Upon quick perusal, this draft includes some provisions of interest regarding livestock production. First, growers may continue to receive their loan deficiency payments (LDP) for wheat and barley or if they elect to instead cede that acreage for the grazing of livestock. Second, there is considerable funding for animal disease eradication efforts, including instructions to the secretary...
What You Need to Know Today: Crude oil prices dropped sharply with traffic flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. There were reports that Iran was behind an attack on a cargo ship near the coast of Oman, which would be a violation of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. Pr...
On Wednesday, the White House submitted a national security supplemental spending request for $87.6 billion. The majority of the request includes funding for the conflict in the Middle East, but there are agricultural provisions as well. The supplemental funding package includes more than $11 b...
Can we really expect a bushel of corn to carry an environmental passport throughout the entire food system? One that reliably documents its carbon footprint, biodiversity impacts, water use, soil carbon, and other environmental attributes all the way from the farm field to the consumer? This is...
