Obama

President Barack Obama could announce as soon as next week an overhaul of the immigration system that would protect up to 5 million people from deportation and provide work permits to many of them, said the New York Times, citing administration officials.

The partisan split between rural and urban America jeopardizes the future of the panoramic bills that meld farm supports, rural economic development, public nutrition and global food security programs into a single bill, says former agriculture secretary Dan Glickman.

A coalition of foodmakers, meatpackers and allies from industry asked Congress to order an overhaul of U.S. country-of-origin meat-labeling rules.

President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed by telephone to push for speedy agreement of a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership on trade, says the Xinhua news agency.

Iowa, the No 1 corn state, and Kansas, No 1 in wheat, are among five states that will decide which party controls the Senate for the next two years, writes political analyst Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call. Alaska, North Carolina and Colorado are the other three states on his list. Democrats control the Senate 55-45. Rothenberg says the GOP is likely to gain from 5-8 seats.

President Obama announced a series of U.S. steps to spur global efforts to slow climate change and to assist adaptation to it, including in food production. In a speech at the United Nations, Obama said the United States will take part in a dozen climate change partnerships being launched this week. In a fact sheet, the administration said "we continue to press the scientific and economic case for strong climate action."

President Obama selected Dallas Tonsager to a second stint as a member of the Farm Credit Administration board, announced the White House. Tonsager served on the board from 2004-09 and then was Agriculture undersecretary for rural development from 2009-13. A South Dakota native, Tonsager has been active in rural economic development for decades.

President Obama directed the government to combat the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with the Agriculture Department taking a major role. The executive order signed by Obama also told FDA to eliminate agricultural use of medically important antibiotics as growth-promoting agent. The agency started work on that point in December with drugmakers given three years to make the transition. Agriculture is commonly believed to buy 80 percent of antibiotics annually.

"(P)ublic health experts say hundreds of children under 16...continue to work in America’s tobacco fields" through an exclusion in labor law that allows youth as young as 12 years old to work unlimited hours as farm workers, says the New York Times in a story about youth labor on tobacco farms. The story says field workers risk green tobacco sickness - nicotine poisoning - from dew or rain water dripping from the leaves of tobacco plants. Vomiting, dizziness and irregular heartbeats are among the symptoms.

During a speech to the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, President Obama summarized $33 billion in new investment in the continent and said stable societies with forward-looking governments would be the foundation for economic growth.

President Obama announced a series of steps to help states and communities prepare for climate change and to speed recovery from storms and other adverse impacts. The steps range from three-dimensional mapping of the country as a way to deal with flooding to funds for management of coastal zones. The package included $236.3 million to improve the rural electric infrastructure in eight states.

Lawmakers and advocates on both sides of the issue say immigration reform "is effectively dead and unlikely to be revived until after President Obama leaves office," said the Washington Post.

Rep Luis Gutierrez, long active on immigration reform legislation in the House, "declared the prospects for reform dead this year and said the only option left is for President Barack Obama to take unilateral action to stem deportations," says Politico.

The Obama administration announced the "Local Food, Local Places" project to provide expert advice to rural communities to use local food systems as an engine for economic growth.

Two senators unveiled a bill that would remove two long-standing rules for U.S. food aid - that almost all the food be U.S.-grown and U.S.-flag vessels carry half of the donated food.

The methane digester on a Wisconsin dairy farm is the jumping off point for a two-page New York Times story on ways to harness the free market to reduce greenhouse gases. The digester was built with money from a California initiative.

Speaking to law enforcement groups, President Obama said there is a "narrow window" of time for passage of an immigration reform law before election-year politics become paramount. "So we've got maybe a window of two, three months to get the ball rolling in the House of Representatives."

House Speaker Boehner told fellow Republicans there was no "conspiracy" to move an immigration reform bill this summer, says Roll Call.