House Ag leaders say GMO bill focuses on labels only
With a floor vote near, the leaders of the House Agriculture Committee say a bill to bar states from requiring labels on foods made with genetically modified foods is targeted in its scope.
After slow start, revenue support is a farm-program winner
When Congress first experimented with a revenue-support program for farmers, there were few takers. Only 8 percent of "base" acres were enrolled in the so-called ACRE program in 2013.
AMIS sees bigger corn crop and stocks worldwide
The Agricultural Market Information System, an international body, said it raised its forecast of this season's corn crop worldwide "significantly, mostly on improved outlook for crops in the EU and the United States." AMIS pegged the crop at 1,001 million tonnes, up 13 million tonnes from a month ago, and said end stocks for 2014/15 would rise by 27 million tonnes.
Supreme Court says raisin-market program is unfair to grower
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the raisin-marketing program unconstitutionally blocked a California grower from selling his crops, and said he should be compensated for the governmental seizure of his property.
Dry weather cuts grain crops 21 percent in southern Africa
An extended dry spell will slash the corn harvest in southern Africa by 26 percent from last year's bumper harvest, according to a quarterly FAO report. Corn is the major grain in the region, accounting for 80 percent of cereal production.
New York proposes high-salt warnings for menus
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city's Health Commission unveiled a plan that would require restaurant chains and movie theaters to label items as "high in sodium" if they contain more than 2,300 milligrams of salt, says the Fooducate blog of the New York Times.
USDA has role at US-China trade meeting
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Krysta Harden will take part in the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing this week, says USDA. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew are leaders of the U.S. delegation for meetings Wednesday and Thursday on "the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas," said a State Department official quoted by AFP.
11 percent of egg-laying hens dead in two months from bird flu
U.S. egg farmers lost 11 percent of their laying hens in two months, the government said - the latest impact of the worst avian influenza epidemic to ever hit the poultry industry.
Obama signs law easing rules on inspection of foreign cotton
President Obama signed into law HR 2620, which backers say will encourage development of new types of cotton futures contracts that help growers hedge their risks.
House panel approves bill for new types of cotton futures
The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill intended to make it easier to develop new cotton futures contracts. The law now requires all cotton tendered under a futures contract listed in the United States to be sampled and graded by the USDA.
Startlingly high US corn and soybean yields possible
With continued good weather, U.S. corn and soybean crops could be well above the records now projected for this year, says economist Carl Zulauf of Ohio State University. "The current crop conditions report suggests that yields are likely to be above trend line," Zulauf writes after citing four methods to estimate the potential yields.
From Midwest to Plains, winter wheat harvest is slow
Repeated rain storms have slowed the winter wheat harvest from Indiana to Kansas, says the weekly Crop Progress report.
Canadian ag groups stand by supply management
Farm groups in Canada suspect they will face unfair competition from U.S. dairy and poultry producers if the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement opens the border to U.S. imports, says Commodity News Service, based in Winnipeg.
House hands COOL repeal to Senate, where it faces greater scrutiny
Three weeks after an adverse WTO ruling, the House sent to the Senate a bill to repeal the law that requires packages of beef, pork and chicken sold in grocery stores to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. Advocates of the so-called country-of-origin labels (COOL), routed in the House on a 300-131 rollcall, hope the Senate will stop the stampede to repeal.
White House begins update of food and ag biotech regulation
The administration launched an update of its multi-agency system of regulating food and agricultural biotechnology with a goal of writing the new version of its "coordinated framework" by July 2016.
As Americans get heavier, obese outnumber the overweight
The portion of Americans who are overweight or obese is growing, with three-fourths of men and two-thirds of women in those categories, say two researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine. "Overweight and obesity are associated with various chronic conditions," say Graham Colditz and Lin Yang in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
House GOP plans to pass GMO pre-emption bill this week
Large aquifers around the world are being drained
NASA research shows 21 of the world's 37 largest aquifers, from Asia and Europe to California's Central Valley, "have passed their sustainability tipping points, meaning more water was removed than replaced during the decade-long study," says the Washington Post.
U.S. appeals court upholds Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet”
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, upheld the EPA's "pollution diet" intended to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay, affirming a 2013 ruling by a U.S. district judge.
Groups urge USDA to set tighter rules for GMO crops
Three-dozen consumer groups and businesses asked the USDA to tighten its regulation of crops containing genetically modified organisms as part of an overhaul of its regulatory system, said Reuters.