If Congress passes a $1.3-trillion government funding bill this week, it will fix the so-called grain glitch, which gave farmers a powerful incentive to sell their grain and livestock to cooperatives.

With President Trump ready to impose trade sanctions on China for hijacking U.S. technology, his chief agricultural negotiator told a farm conference that the administration is defending agriculture, too.

A USDA report released March 20 finds that consolidation is rampant across agricultural sectors, affecting nearly all crops and most livestock.

President Trump could order $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese products before the end of the week, according to the Washington Post and other reports. U.S. agricultural leaders said they expect farmers will be hit if China retaliates. "Has there ever been a retaliation that didn't include agriculture?" asked Chuck Conner, head of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.

Last October, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said the agency would investigate whether it has the authority to allow year-round sales of E15, a goal of the ethanol industry. It's still doing the research five months later and may find the answer soon, Pruitt told AgDay TV, when asked about possible changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Up against a Monday deadline, Trump’s appointee for general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board negotiated a settlement in a lawsuit between two dozen workers and McDonald’s. The settlement means McDonald’s will avoid a verdict that could have dramatically shifted the relationship between workers and franchise restaurant chains.

An ambitious 10-year study undertaken by the National Institute for Health, which examines whether daily drinking can have positive health effects, is largely funded by the alcohol industry. It raises questions about the integrity of the trial and whether NIH employees broke the agency’s fundraising policies.

The meatpacking industry is famed for using all parts of the animal except the oink or the moo. Even by that standard, a tiny Canadian pharmaceutical company, BLES Biochemicals, does the industry one better, by collecting an off-white foam — a pulmonary surfactant — from the lungs of cattle at a slaughterhouse for eventual use in helping premature babies breathe, reports Stat, the medical news site.

American corn faces import levies of up to 25 percent, according to a 10-page list of potential targets for retaliatory tariffs released by the European Commission, reported AgriCensus. The tariffs would counter the Trump administration's announcement that it intends to imose high tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum.

Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee say they are increasingly concerned that Republican Chairman Michael Conaway is pursuing steep cuts in food stamps. As a result, the panel’s lead Democrat, Collin Peterson, shut off farm bill negotiations until Conaway releases all pertinent materials.

The United States and South Korea, the sixth-largest customer for U.S. farm exports, agreed to limit the trade impact of any outbreaks of deadly avian influenza in the future, announced the USDA.