But along with testing my taste buds, it was obvious that industry groups, like CAB, are working diligently with partners, be it restaurants, grocery stores, packers or consumers, to offer new and creative options to increase the bottom line for producers.

The Center for Food Integrity has created an Animal Care Review Panel to provide a balanced analysis of undercover video investigations, such as this one. This process engages recognized animal care specialists to examine video and provide expert perspectives for food retailers, the pork industry and the media.

Al Armendariz, the top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official for Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, has drawn fire for referring to Roman crucifixions in saying he’d make examples of environmental offenders, and that blaze has been credited for his recent resignation.

After an overnight delay and a few more adjustments, the Senate Ag Committee did vote, 16-5, to move it forward. The 900-page bill is expected to create $26.4 billion in savings over the next decade, largely by ending the current system of direct cash payments and reinvesting in new forms of crop insurance.

Pressure from ag groups played a large role in preventing the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from banning children under 16 from using most powerdriven farm equipment, including tractors.

Just as the beef markets were seeing recovery from the fallout of lean finely textured beef (LFTB), a case of BSE hit the news, wreaking havoc on midweek markets. But industry groups quickly rallied together to stand behind U.S. beef products, and the markets responded with a quick turnaround.

In response to a court deadline, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized standards to reduce harmful air pollution associated with oil and natural gas production, but delayed implementing some of the regulations until Jan. 1, 2015..

The U.S. Supreme Court last month ruled that two property owners could challenge an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determination that their property contained regulated wetlands, challenge the administrative order requiring the property owners to remove fill they had placed on their property, and challenge the outrageous fines EPA had imposed.

Producers welcomed news that at long last, starting next month, the U.S. will obtain duty-free access to the Colombian market. Signed six years ago and passed by Congress last October, the agreement opens South America’s third-largest market to the U.S..

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) recently hosted a White House Business Council Agriculture Roundtable discussion at its Denver, CO, headquarters with Ambassador Isi Siddiqui (pronounced IZZY SU-DEE-KEY), the chief agriculture trade negotiator in the Office of the U.