According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the U.S.-Panama FTA is a comprehensive free trade agreement that can result in significant liberalization of trade in goods and services, including financial services.

While President Obama did mention the Land Grant College initiative in the first debate, I have to wonder how many Americans even know what it is.

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman announced plans to introduce legislation that would increase information required on the amount and use of antibiotics in animals raised for human consumption.

In an attempt to bring relief to rural America, which is suffering from the worst drought in more than 50 years, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) filed official comments Monday, Oct. 15 urging Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson to waive the RFS mandate for the production of corn ethanol.

But the company has not been immune to activists. In May, Tyson was linked to an animal abuse video taken at a pork farm in Wyoming.

With no quick fix in sight on U.S. drought-stricken areas, USDA is trying to gain some insight into what may or may not help in the local, regional and state recovery process through four regional workshops.

While USDA’s October World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report had some big changes, it was in line with most analysts’ expectations. Corn yields remained declined slightly, but 2011 stocks were cut drastically and are now the lowest since 1995/96, according to analysts.

While some ag organizations have been busy fighting USDA’s national animal traceability program, officials in Texas have taken matters into their own hands, putting together their own state traceability program that may set a precedent for future national plans.

The Wilderness Ranger District, Gila National Forest, has issued a “Notice of Intent to Impound Livestock” roaming freely in the Gila Wilderness along the Gila River near Turkey Creek in the vicinity of Johnson Canyon and Miller Springs.

According to USDA’s latest land values report, pasture values in the Northern Plains jumped 21.9 percent over the last year. In the Corn Belt, the increase averaged 8.6 percent. Within those regions some states were strong standouts, specifically South Dakota, which registered the biggest year-over-year increase at an average of 25.