Federal

The U.S. Department of Agriculture joins the nation in celebrating National Ag Day, which highlights agriculture’s crucial role in everyday life, and honors the farmers, foresters, scientists, producers and many others who contribute to America’s bountiful harvest. As part of this effort, USDA is launching a new Youth and Agriculture website to connect young people and youth-serving organizations with Department-wide resources that engage, empower, and educate the next generation of agricultural leaders. [node:read-more:link]

Amid this trade-war fog, one thing seems clear: The Chinese are happy to talk about importing more American agricultural products -- maybe a lot more. That is not the case in another of America's unfolding trade wars. In the talks between the U.S. and the European Union, the EU is refusing to even discuss agriculture. Why? Because the EU knows what the U.S. would demand: relaxation of the EU's non-tariff barriers to American products, starting with genetically engineered crops. Previous EU-U.S. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the initial down-select list of 136 Expressions of Interest received from parties in 35 statesvying to become the new homes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).  USDA is following a rigorous site selection process to identify the new locations with involvement from USDA, ERS, and NIFA leadership.  [node:read-more:link]

Hundreds of employees of two key Agriculture Department research offices on Tuesday learned that they’re on the list to be transferred outside of Washington as part of Secretary Sonny Perdue’s disputed plan to move operations closer to farm industry stakeholders. [node:read-more:link]

The Census Bureau is quietly seeking information on millions of immigrants’ legal status, The Associated Press reported. [node:read-more:link]

The Trump administration’s latest budget recommendation for USDA looks a lot like proposals that failed to pass a Republican-controlled Congress for two years running. [node:read-more:link]

 The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Enumeration Clause, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern District of California ruled that the question was "quite effective at depressing self-response rates among immigrants and noncitizens, and poses a significant risk of distorting the apportionment of congressional representation among the states." [node:read-more:link]

The Dec. 31, 2018, butter stocks totaled a surprising 179.3 million pounds, up a whopping 16.6 percent from November and 6.2 percent above December 2017, according to the delayed U.S. Department of Agriculture Cold Storage report issued Feb. 22. FC Stone dairy broker Dave Kurzawski says that’s a shocking 42 million pounds heavier than pre-report expectations and over 1,000 truckloads but adds the caveat that “these numbers are more than 60 days old. If the number was incredibly burdensome, we think the markets would have felt it already. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. President Donald Trump looked set to open a new front in his trade wars with a plan to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States. The move comes as trade tensions between the United States and India mount. The United States is trying to rework pacts with a number of other countries as well, including China. Trump has said weak deals have cost millions of American jobs and has vowed to cut U.S. trade deficits. [node:read-more:link]