Ag Policy
As the Combatting Illicit Xylazine Act clears a major Senate hurdle, veterinary leaders are working to ensure new federal regulations don’t unintentionally disrupt livestock handling and animal care.
Driving innovation to combat NWS and prevent its northward spread.
With a New World screwworm case now less than 200 miles from the U.S. border, Seth Meyer says the growing threat adds risk and uncertainty for cattle producers making critical calving-season decisions.
APHIS will host three listening sessions on new funding for Farm Bill animal health programs.
USDA says this is now the northernmost detection of NWS during this outbreak, and the one most threatening to the American cattle and livestock industry.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin proposes rescinding the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. If the proposal goes into effect, it could potentially lead to DEF systems no longer being required in tractors, trucks and other equipment using diesel-powered engines — a decision many farmers and others in the ag community would applaud.
“It begs the question — if producers are paying more, and consumers are paying more, who is winning?” said Glenn “GT” Thompson, committee chairman.
At least nine dairies in Texas were targets of I-9 audits over the weekend. Producers argue it’s a “broken” immigration system, and the recent audits prove the E-Verify program has flaws. Despite criticism, the dairy industry is pushing to be included in the H-2A guest worker program.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announces plans to reopen Moore Air Base in Texas as a New World screwworm sterile fly distribution facility. Long-term production is anticipated to be 300 million sterile flies per week.
The Senate Agriculture Committee has advanced the bipartisan Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, a major step toward restoring whole and 2% milk options in schools.
NCBA applauds Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’ aggressive efforts to suspend Mexican cattle, horse and bison imports, saying Mexico’s corruption and mismanagement has caused the pest to spread closer to the U.S.
Mexico has committed to eliminate restrictions on USDA aircraft and waive customs duties on eradication equipment aiding in the response to the spread of New World Screwworm (NWS).
The move could improve the outlook for beef exports to China, which has upped its spending on Australian beef during the past two months.
President Trump has announced a series of tariffs, scheduled to roll out over the next few days, on some of agriculture’s most significant trade partners. The outcomes could be a net positive for cattlemen, some beef industry members say.
Veterinarians are vital to the work of America’s farmers and ranchers and the integrity of our food supply chain. Yet many areas of the country suffer from lack of access to their services, saysRep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.).
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency is hyper-focused on poultry, but no vaccine is yet available. The agency has ‘separate work streams’ to address the virus in the ‘cattle and dairy’ industries, but dairy is not part of USDA’s primary focus for now.
Less than a year after USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced it was nixing a major cattle inventory report, the agency now says it’s reinstating the July Cattle Inventory report.
The plan, announced by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, dedicates up to $500 million to help poultry producers implement biosecurity measures and up to $400 million in financial relief for farmers whose flocks are affected by avian flu.
Rollins’ confirmation was expected, as the Senate maintains its quick pace of confirming President Trump’s key cabinet positions.
Following President Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Canada announced its own 25% tariffs on $155 billion worth of U.S. imports. Mexico also announced its own retaliatory measures, but no specifics were unveiled as of Sunday morning.
U.S. farmers and various trade groups are very apprehensive about not only the potential negative impacts of tariffs on the U.S. ag sector, but what they do to garner new trade agreements.
Sec. Mike Naig says the U.S. government is using what he describes as a three-legged stool approach to address the virus in the dairy and poultry industries.
As the nation grapples with immigration policy debates, the livelihoods of those within the dairy sector hang in balance, underscoring the urgent need for balanced reform that considers both economic imperatives and humanitarian values.
Trump agenda | Delay in China tariffs | Dollar tumbles | Biden issues family pardons | Vilsack criticizes EPA report on biofuels | Putin open to dialogue on Ukraine with Trump | Buller chief of staff at USDA
Outgoing USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack sent a letter to Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture acknowledging the progress made in reopening cattle trade between the two countries following the detection of New World Screwworm, but says more action is needed to resume trade.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Jan. 3 that it will award $306 million to continue its H5N1 Avian Flu response.
From trade and deregulation to alternative land uses and cash rent prices, ag economists have no shortage of issues on their radar for 2025.