The Agriculture Department forecasts sharply higher beef, pork and egg prices this year although its overall estimate for U.S. food price inflation is unchanged at 3 percent. In its Food Price Report, USDA said it now now expects a 6 percent increase in beef prices for the year, with pork up 3.5 percent and eggs up 5.5 percent.

Congress is on track to trim the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, a cost-share program to reduce runoff from fields and feedlots, by as much as 16 percent from its authorized level of $1.6 billion. The FY15 USDA spending bills pending in the House and Senate each would cut the program; the House by $209 million and the Senate by $250 million.

At a meeting with school nutrition leaders, First Lady Michelle Obama said proposals in Congress to scale back nutrition standards were "unacceptable to me, not just as First Lady, but also as a mother." The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on Thursday on a USDA funding bill that would waive for one year the requirement for healthier meals if schools show they lost money on their food programs for six months.

"Tempting Europe with Ugly Fruit" is headline of New York Times story about a cooperative in Portugal that buys fruit and vegetables rejected under EU food marketing law and sells the goods to customers by circumvention of labeling requirements.

A bill to require labels on food containing GMOs was approved the a California Senate committee and could be called for a floor vote this week, says the Lake County News. State Sen. Noreen Evans said the bill, SB1381, is a response to consumer demand to know what is in food.

A nationwide roll-out it vital for success of a new whole-farm revenue insurance policy, says a small-farm group, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the new policy at the Organic Trade Association meeting last week.

Rising gasoline consumption could allow the EPA to set the ethanol mandate higher than it originally proposed, says Reuters. It says an industry source says there is enough leeway for EPA to set the mandate at 13.6 billion gallons for this year, compared to its November proposal of 13 billion gallons for corn-based ethanol.

First Lady Michelle Obama will stress the need "to protect and advance the tremendous progress that has been made" in school meals during a meeting this afternoon, according to the White House. School leaders and other experts have been invited to the White House to discuss school meals.

In an essay for CNN, Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow endorsed former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for president. She described Clinton as "extremely competent, extremely intelligent" and "someone who understands what middle-class families have been going through and how to give every family a fair shot to get ahead in life."

USAID announced a first-of-its-kind strategy to save 2 million children from chronic malnutrition or stunting over the next five years and to hold acute malnutrition below 15 percent in areas with humanitarian crises. USAID chief Rajiv Shah and National Security Advisory Susan Rice unveiled the initiative at an annual food conference sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted for flexibility in operating the school lunch program, a marked contrast to a House bill to allow waivers for some schools from the reforms written into a 2010 law. Conservatives say the reforms, which require more grains, fruits and vegetables in meals and less sugar, salt and fat, are too costly.

The new issue of Choices, the magazine of agricultural economists, discusses the possible role of higher education and the extension service as elements for rural renaissance. In the Farm Belt, the connection between university and farmer, facilitated by extension, is well-known for boosting agricultural productivity. Yet, agriculture no longer dominates the rural economy.

The United States will not change its meat-labeling regime before an expected World Trade Organization ruling in July, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gary Ritz told reporters following a meeting of farm ministers from Mexico, Canada and the United States, says Country Guide. Ritz said he told Ag Secretary Vilsack that Canada is ready to retaliate over the U.S. country-of-origin labeling rules.

Food production could shrink by 2 percent per decade for the rest of the century, pulled down by higher temperatures, shifts in rainfall and natural disaster, says a report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It calls on the United States to include climate change activities in international agriculture development efforts.

At the Organic Trade Association conference, AgSec Vilsack encouraged the industry to pursue a so-called checkoff program to pay for research and promotion of organic products. "This is an enormous opportunity the farm bill has created. The industry should take advantage of it," Vilsack said.

Ahead of the Senate Appropriations Committee markup today, Ag Secretary Vilsack spoke strongly against expected proposals to change WIC and school lunch rules. "I, for one, find it outrageous to be taking a step back from the commitments we made in 2010," Vilsack said, referring to the reauthorization of child nutrition programs.

The "Feed the Future" program, which combines private sector and U.S. funding with local leadership to spur agricultural development overseas, "reached nearly 7 million smallholder farmers and helped to save 12.5 million children from the threat of hunger, poverty, and malnutrition in just the last year alone," says USAID, the parent agency.

The agriculture ministers of the three giant nations of North America met in Mexico City and issued a statement "to reaffirm the benefits of fair and open trade for our economies and food security...From Mexico City, to Washington, to Ottawa, we will continue to show the world how trade and open borders support economic growth and jobs."

Groups supporting small farmers objected to cuts pending in House and Senate versions of the FY15 USDA funding bill. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said the House bill "cuts more than 1 million acres from the Conservation Stewardship Program, over $200 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and $60 million from the new Agricultural Conservation Easement Program."

Two weeks ahead of the Republican Senate primary in Mississippi, a new poll puts challenger Chris McDaniel ahead of incumbent Thad Cochran, the GOP leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, 43-40, with 15 percent undecided. The poll of 505 likely voters is the first in six weeks and was conducted last week, says Pollster.