FDA to Consider Organic Labeling Claims

The Food and Drug Administration will apparently investigate labeling claims of organic products. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb took to Twitter this week, responding to a critical Wall Street Journal editorial, which a former FDA official argued under the headline “The Organic Industry is Lying to You,” that the agency has been lax in allowing the use of non-GMO and pesticide-free …

Coalition Pushing for COOL in NAFTA for Beef and Pork

The Coalition for a Prosperous America is urging the U.S. to include Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) for beef and pork in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Negotiations. Coalition member, R-CALF, says in a news release that reinstatement of COOL labeling will help U.S. consumers “to find safer food alternatives and will also help to boost domestic agriculture.” R-CALF points …

Weekly Drought Monitor Update

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday shows a continuation and expansion of prolonged drought in the Midwest and Southwest United States. Drought conditions now extend from Washington State down the coast and along the U.S.-Mexico border to Louisiana and Mississippi, and north across Missouri to Colorado. The weekly measure notes that livestock production has been seriously impaired by the …

Grains Exports on Track to Set New Record

U.S. exports of grain in all forms are on track to set a new record in 2017/2018, with two months of sales left to report, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and analysis by the U.S. Grains Council. During the first ten months of the marketing year, September 2017 to June 2018, the United States exported 98.3 …

USDA Announces Further Reorganization

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) Thursday announced it would move some jobs out of Washington, D.C. under a realignment plan. The agency says the moves are intended to “improve customer service, strengthen offices and programs, and save taxpayer dollars.” As per the announcement, The Economic Research Service, currently under USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics mission area, will realign with the …

National Peanut Board, Peanut Industry Partners Expand Research Dollars with NIFA Matching Funds

The National Peanut Board, along with funding partner USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), announces the awarding of three research grants focusing on genomics-enabled plant breeding. Collaborating with two peanut industry funding partners, the Southeastern Peanut Research Initiative (SPRI) and the Peanut Foundation, the National Peanut Board was able to allocate $542,226. NIFA’s dollar-for-dollar matching funds yielded a …

UF/IFAS Experts Explore Multiple Strategies to Control New Palm Disease

Home and business owners should use an antibiotic to help limit a new disease threatening certain species of Florida palm trees, a University of Florida scientist says. Lethal bronzing is killing palm species known as Sabal palmetto (sabal or cabbage palms), Phoenix sylvestris (silver date palms), Phoenix dactylifera (date palms) and Phoenix canariensis (true date palms), said Brian Bahder, an …

Next Round of Tariffs Set

The U.S. says it will begin imposing tariffs of 25 percent on an additional $16 billion in Chinese imports, further escalating the trade war between the two countries. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office says Customs will begin collecting the extra duties on 279 different product lines. The list includes a lot of industrial and machinery products. Agricultural machinery is on …