Author: staff

With Congress back in session, legislators will take up a set of issues they haven’t comprehensively addressed since 2018 — the year the last farm bill passed. Farm bills are massive pieces of legislation that address a diverse constellation of topics, including agricultural commodities, conservation, trade, nutrition, rural development, energy, forestry and more. Because of their complexity, farm bills are difficult to negotiate in any political environment. And as the topics have expanded since the first iteration in 1933, Congress has generally agreed to take the whole thing up once every five years or so. However, the most recent farm…

DAILY BITES Managers unaware: Newly obtained recordings of OSHA interviews with ADM personnel show top managers at a Nebraska plant were unaware of federal safety standards related to grain dust. Little discipline: Few, if any, ADM employees were disciplined for unsafe behavior. Potentially unsafe behavior: The new OSHA records show the agency was told ADM employees were using compressed air to clean dust while machinery ran, which would be a violation of safety requirements. DAILY DISCUSSION On Christmas Eve 2022, parts of Archer Daniels Midland’s Fremont, Nebraska, grain processing plant were damaged in an explosion. A mechanical malfunction had created…

Through its Patriots’ Pledge program, Zoetis has contributed over $2 million to Folds of Honor in a four-year span, advancing the organization’s mission to provide academic scholarships for the families of fallen or disabled members of the U.S. Armed Forces and First Responders. Since 2022, Zoetis has supported Folds of Honor by donating a portion of select cattle product sales, and in early 2025, expanded the program to include select pork and poultry products as well. “Many of our customers have ties to a military service member or a first responder, or they know someone who does,” says Kristin Kasselman,…

Texas Animal Health Commission officials have confirmed anthrax in a steer on a premises in Briscoe County. The agency received confirmation on December 31, 2025, and announced the case in a January 6, 2026, release. The affected premises, located about 5 miles north of Silverton, Texas, has been quarantined. Under Texas Animal Health Commission rules, quarantine will remain in place until affected carcasses are properly disposed of on-site. Anthrax is a bacterial disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a naturally occurring organism found in soil across the world, including certain regions of Texas. Because anthrax is zoonotic, it poses a risk…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the long-awaited Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, on January 7, dubbing it a “big reset” in nutritional advice that seeks to “put real food back” in American health. Clearly influenced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make American Healthy Again movement, the new guidelines even feature a reworking of the food pyramid, now depicted upside down. The document emphasizes minimally processed, nutrient-dense foods, including protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains, while encouraging Americans to reduce highly processed foods, added sugars, and artificial additives. “As…

Running a temperature helps humans protect themselves from infections, but research testing avian flu viruses in mice suggests these strains share a trait with those that caused some of the world’s worst pandemics: the ability to resist a fever. Though more research is needed to see if the findings can be replicated and extrapolated to humans, the results suggest that this trait enables viruses to continue sickening their hosts, increasing the threat of severe disease in humans. A study published in the journal Science finds that bird flu viruses, which have adapted to tolerate temperatures of 40 to 42 degrees…

The U.S. dairy industry has scored a significant trade win ($128 million in U.S. exports in 2024) after Colombia officially ended its investigation into U.S. milk powder imports and confirmed that no additional tariffs or countervailing duties will be imposed. The decision preserves long-standing market access for American exporters and reinforces the importance of fair and transparent enforcement of trade agreements. Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism formally dismissed the case on December 30, 2025, concluding that accusations of unfair subsidies and harm to local dairy producers were not supported by evidence.  The investigation began in 2024, when Colombian…

Finding one tick on your body is scary enough. Tick-borne diseases are serious, but what if you found more than 10 on yourself in just one month? That’s the plight of some farmers as the threat of ticks and tick-borne diseases grows, according to new research featuring experts at Binghamton University, State University of New York. New research led by Mandy Roome, associate director of the Tick-borne Disease Center at Binghamton, reveals that farmers and outdoor workers in the Northeast are facing an escalating threat of tick-borne diseases, which could be devastating to their livelihoods. Ticks are surging and spreading…

DAILY Bites AFBF urged EPA and the Army Corps to finalize a clear, durable WOTUS rule that reduces uncertainty for farmers and ranchers. The group said the proposal aligns with Supreme Court precedent, especially Sackett v. EPA, by narrowing jurisdiction and defining key terms. AFBF backed clearer wetland standards, continued exclusion of prior converted cropland, and keeping most ditches and groundwater outside WOTUS. DAILY Discussion The American Farm Bureau Federation submitted formal comments on Monday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army regarding a revised definition of “waters of the United States.” In its comments,…

Farmer sentiment dipped slightly in December as producers grew a bit less optimistic about the long-term outlook for U.S. agriculture, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. The barometer index fell three points from November to a reading of 136, driven primarily by softer future expectations. The Future Expectations Index dropped four points to 140, while the Current Conditions Index held steady at 128. The survey was conducted Dec. 1 to 5, 2025. Purdue/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer, October 2015-December 2025 (Image by Purdue) Brazil competition and soybean export worries chip away at optimism Purdue economists Michael…