agriculture

The House Ag Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture held a public hearing Wednesday to examine the implications of potential retaliatory measures against the U.S. regarding Country-of-Origin Labeling. Subcommittee Chair David Rouzer says the threat of retaliation is severe - and Congress must act quickly to prevent irreparable damage to certain industries and the overall economy... Read

The House Agriculture Committee held a public hearing on Tuesday to examine the costs and impacts of states implementing mandatory biotechnology labeling laws. Last year - 30 different states introduced 125 bills mandating labeling of biotechnology...

Mexico and other major countries have imposed new import restrictions at the end of last week after the H5N2 strain of avian influenza was found in the heart of America’s poultry region. Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, California, Washington and Oregon already face bans or restrictions...

The Waterways Council Inc. and more than 40 other organizations and businesses sent letters to the House and Senate Appropriations leaders stressing the importance of maintaining U.S. navigation channels and inland waterways for safe and efficient freight movement to avoid similar impacts like the West Coast port dispute...

When we think of farming jobs we tend to think of the big red barn and coveralls but the ag industry has a very diverse job market that can include high tech industries and laboratories as well. The need to feed an ever growing population on less farmland will put a big stress on the research end of agriculture and college students will find a growing number of jobs in those areas...

The House Judiciary Committee has advanced mandatory E-Verify legislation by a vote of 20 to 13. This legislation would force employers to use E-Verify to ensure workers can legally work in the U.S. Democrats argued this legislation would devastate ag employers - but Judiciary Committee Chair Robert Goodlatte says the committee will consider a separate agricultural guest worker bill as soon as pos

There is strong opposition to the Legal Workforce Act currently being considered in the House Judiciary Committee. The Agriculture Workforce Coalition - comprised of more than 70 agricultural organizations - says any bill mandating E-Verify must only come after or in conjunction with legislation to address the labor crisis America’s farmers, ranchers and growers currently face...

MGEX has recorded the 2nd-best month in its storied history, reporting a total volume of 221,410 from February. MGEX also saw its electronic volume from February finish the month at 197,456, making it the highest electronic volume month ever for the Exchange...

The issue of whether to trust agricultural science and scientists is coming to a head as there is a demand for more science-based information. Recent examples like removing potatoes from the WIC program and then turning around and putting them back in…or that eggs are a cholesterol demon to be avoided when new research says not to worry about that...

Nearly 400 farm, nutrition and conservation groups have written congressional budget letters urging Senate and House leaders to reject calls for additional cuts to the 2014 Farm Bill. The groups say Congress passed sweeping changes to the nation’s food and farm policy that included significant deficit reduction just over one year ago...