The American Farm Bureau Federation, along with 14 state Farm Bureau organizations and 16 other national and regional agricultural organizations, has filed a motion seeking to intervene in Gulf Restoration Network, et al. v. Jackson, et al., a lawsuit seeking to force the Environmental Protection Agency to establish federal numeric nutrient water quality standards for all states in the Mississippi River Basin....More

During a Tuesday farm bill hearing, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture quizzed panelists on a broad range of topics regarding specialty crops and nutrition programs....More

In a letter to Senate leadership, the American Soybean Association (ASA) and stakeholder groups from across agriculture has urged the Senate to bring the 'Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012', more commonly known as the farm bill, to the floor for consideration as quickly as possible....More

The U.S. Department of Labor has withdrawn a proposed rule dealing with children who work in agricultural vocations....More

There is no argument that the farm bill passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday was bipartisan. It was not, however, regionally inclusive as all four senators on the committee from the South – Arkansas’ John Boozman, Georgia’s Saxby Chambliss, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and Mississippi’s Thad Cochran -- voted nay....More

Reaction of commodity and farm groups to the April 20 release of a Senate Agriculture Committee draft farm bill has been mixed. Several sectors of Southern agriculture are especially critical of the proposed legislation....More

American Farmland Trust (AFT) has welcomed the 2012 farm bill draft unveiled by the Senate Agriculture Committee....More

In an April 19 letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee, a group of eight prominent agricultural associations voiced support for the Senate’s approach to the 2012 farm bill, and raised several issues related to commodity and risk management programs....More

On Wednesday morning, the House Agriculture Committee passed the Agricultural Reconciliation Act of 2012. Passage came after 90 minutes of heated rhetoric, grandstanding and warnings that the budget cut proposals were a threat to the committee’s much-touted bipartisanship....More