On August 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input on its formulation of processes, priorities, and criteria for...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially reinstated all tolerances for chlorpyrifos on February 5, 2024, undoing a prior rule that had halted chlorpyrifos use on all food and feed commodities in early 2022....more
Agriculture is on the very frontlines of our changing climate. Climate change directly affects many of the most fundamental aspects of agricultural production: the length of crop growing seasons; the ranges of insects, weeds,...more
President Biden’s January 27, 2021 Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” ("the Order”) focuses unprecedented attention on the role that agriculture can play in combating climate change and...more
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS) published its final rule establishing the Domestic Hemp Production Program on January 19, 2021, effective March 22, 2021. The final rule...more
Key Takeaways What Happened: USDA is seeking comment on its intent to transfer portions of the regulatory framework governing agricultural animals modified or produced by genetic engineering from USDA to FDA....more
Key Takeaways:
What Happened: On August 5, 2020, USDA proposed a significant expansion of certification and recordkeeping requirements and enforcement activities under the National Organic Program....more
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published final amendments to its biotechnology regulations codified at 7 C.F.R. part 340 under the Plant Protection...more
On December 19, 2019, EPA announced that it has approved ten applications seeking to add new hemp uses to pesticide products registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) in time for the 2020...more
Producers of cell-cultured meat – synthetic meat products derived from animal cell cultures that are intended to simulate the taste, appearance, and texture of traditional animal products – may soon receive regulatory...more
On May 28, 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a legal opinion resolving significant ambiguities about the legality of hemp following the passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (more commonly...more
Passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (commonly known as the “Farm Bill") into law on Thursday, December 20, 2018 is anticipated to encourage rapid growth in the burgeoning U.S. hemp industry. The $867 billion...more
On February 8, 2018, the United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) filed a petition with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting that the Agency establish a food labeling requirement that the term...more
On December 29, 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) issued its annual report on the status of agricultural biotechnology in China. According to the new report, which...more