Three nominees for CFTC commissioner, including Timothy Massad for chairman, were approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday.

Science Daily says a field test conducted by the University of California-Davis "has demonstrated that elevated levels of carbon dioxide inhibit plants' assimilation of nitrate into proteins, indicating that the nutritional quality of food crops is at risk as climate change intensifies."

The government could issue an updated target for biofuel use by late spring or early summer, said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy at the North American Agricultural journalists meeting.

AgSec Vilsack is optimistic about a foundation created by the 2014 farm law to encourage agricultural research. Funding is a recurrent problem despite wide agreement about the long-term payoff from the work.

The Agriculture Department plans to begin monthly reports in September or October on soybean crush, corn mill grind and cotton mill use, a senior official told reporters on Monday.

Four House Agriculture Committee leaders filed a bill to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A mark up is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. The meeting will be Webcast.

The food-stamp cuts proposed by the House Budget Committee, if implemented, could force states to cut enrollment by 10 mln people or to reduce benefits by $40 a month, says the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

A federal appeals court says it will hear arguments on May 19 before the court's full panel of judges in a challenge by the meat industry to U.S. meat-labeling rules, says Canadian Press.

States are following the law in averting cuts in food stamp benefits tied to utility costs, said Rep Jim McGovern of Massachusetts during a lively moment in a House Agriculture Committee hearing.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote on April 8 on three nominees for commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, including Timothy Massad for chairman.

AgSec Vilsack mentioned during the House hearing a possible "food corps" to provide mentoring and training for young people interested in farming.

The Conservation Reserve, the largest U.S. land retirement program, holds 25.58 mln ac, down 30 pct from its peak of 36.77 mln ac in 2007, at latest count by USDA.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus was discovered in Vermont this week, meaning the disease has hit 28 states, says DTN.

Michigan Republican Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he will retire at the end of this term.

Nearly 15 percent of Americans live in nonmetropolitan counties, also known as rural areas, a total of 46.2 mln people in 2013.

Commercial banks across the country reported a dramatic increase in volume this year for short-term agricultural production loans, says the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank in its quarterly Agricultural Finance Databook.

The fiscal 2015 budget resolution proposed by House Budget chairman Paul Ryan again calls for converting food stamps to a block grant program run by states.

"(C)ivil rights and worker-safety groups arranged for poultry workers to meet with lawmakers and administration officials to warn against the proposed acceleration of processing-line speeds...

The durable Thomas Malthus, who helped economics gain its nickname of the dismal science with his belief population growth would forever strain the food supply, takes a cameo role as the New York Times'...

Says a story at Feedstuffs, "The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Royal Society, the national science academy of the U.K., released a joint publication Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C., that...