NFU: Imposing Moratorium on Regulatory Actions
US - The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and a coalition of organizations sent a letter to the US House Committee on Agriculture and Senate Agriculture Committee, asking them to recommend a two-year...

Views on Ratification of FTAs; USDA Statement
US - President Obama yesterday sent three long-stalled free trade agreements (FTAs), with South Korea, Panama and Colombia, to Congress for final ratification.

NFU: Senate Must Pass Bill to Make FTAs More Fair
US - National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson sent a letter to US Senate Leadership today urging them to pass S. 1619, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011. The bill would...

FDA Announces Retail Food Safety Action Plan
US - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced its Retail Food Safety Action Plan. The plan specifically calls for new state and local food safety requirements for retail food establishments...

NPPC: GAO Report on Antibiotic Resistance
US - A new report from the US Government Accountability Office has called for government and food industry bodies to track the effectiveness of policies to curb antibiotic resistance, including FDA's voluntary...

Morell Fined for GIPSA Breaches
US - John Morrell & Co, part of the giant Smithfield Foods group, is to pay a $162,500 civil fine for undervaluing pig carcases and falsifying records at slaughterhouses in Sioux Falls and Sioux City,...

NPB: Nominations Open for Leadership Positions
US - The National Pork Checkoff Board is accepting nominations to fill five, three-year terms as directors of the board.

Lawsuit Settled with Meat Company
US - The $32-million settlement ends a 12-year legal battle to get paid for hours worked, says the union representing workers at Tyson Foods.

Congress Told about Feed Availability Challenges
US - In a hearing yesterday before the House Committee on Agriculture's Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, several producers and an economist testified about the challenges meat and poultry...

User Fees for Federal Inspection Opposed
US - More than 20 food and agriculture organisations in the US have send a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or 'Super Committee', opposing 'user fees' for Federal inspection of...

Two Cases of Swine Origin Influenza Detected
US - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported two cases of "swine-origin influenza" in children in the US.

NFU Supports Passage of Senate Appropriations Bill
US - NFU has welcomed the news that the US Senate Committee on Appropriations passed an agricultural appropriations bill that did not include a rider that would prevent the implementation of the Grain...

FTAs Mean Jobs for Struggling US Economy
US - While three key US free trade agreements (FTAs) are awaiting approval in Washington, the United States’ competitors in the red meat arena are moving ahead with their own FTAs to gain competitive...

Proposed NPB Budget Continues Consumer Focus
US - Bolstered by market research that shows the new Pork® Be inspiredsm campaign is having a positive impact on consumer attitudes, more than 50 pork producers will meet in Des Moines, 7-8 September,...

GHG Reporting Programme Deadline 30 September
US - The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Programme, which was announced in October 2009, requires the reporting of GHG data across a range of industry sectors,...

President Obama Urged to Stop GIPSA Rule
US - "Mr President, America needs jobs. The GIPSA rule would kill them," stated the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and National Pork Producers Council in a full...

FSIS Issues Directive on Salmonella Programme
US - The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued directive 5020.1 on verification of the Salmonella Initiative Program (SIP).

NPPC Commends USDA's Animal Traceability Rule
US - The National Pork Producers Council has been a strong advocate for animal traceability for several years. An effective traceability system is critical to the national animal health infrastructure...

USDA Seeks Comments on Disease Traceability
US - A proposed rule has been issued by the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to establish general regulations for improving the traceability of US...

Pork Checkoff Appoints Two New Vice Presidents
US - The National Pork Board has added two new vice presidents, Bill Winkelman and Jill Criss, to the Pork Checkoff management team. Mr Winkelman is the new vice president of producer and industry relations....

Animal Welfare Concerns, Doubt About Regulations
NEBRASKA, US - Nearly 70 per cent of rural Nebraskans define animal welfare in terms similar to those promoted by advocacy groups, but most don't think increased regulation of the state's livestock practices...

Inaction on FTAs Hitting Agrifood Industry
US - Four years of trade benefits for US farmers, ranchers and food processors have been forfeited because of inaction on pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with Korea, Colombia and Panama.

FSIS Proposes Rule on Labelling Meat with Solutions
US - FSIS has announced a proposed rule for better labelling of raw meat and poultry containing added solutions.

Market Preview: Sow Stall Decisions Being Haunted?
US - In this week's "Market Preview" from National Hog Farmer magazine, Steve Meyer discusses the latest announcement by the United Egg Producers (UEP) and the Humane Society of the United States...

Website Seeks to End Corn-Ethanol’s Federal Support
US - A group of industry organisations has set up a web site to explain corn-based ethanol's connection with rising meat and poultry prices and to urge consumers to take action.

AFBF Outlines Steps to Ease Regulatory Nightmare
US - Congress must help alleviate the burden of an ever-increasing array of federal environmental regulations on agriculture, according to Arizona Farm Bureau President Kevin Rogers, who testified today...

Industry Groups Unhappy over Ethanol Deal
US - Livestock and poultry groups have commented on what they describe as a compromise over ethanol taxes.

AFB Comment on Memorandum on Mexican Trucks
US - The American Farm Bureau is pleased that a memorandum between Mexico and the United States was signed yesterday, bringing an end to the long-running dispute over Mexican truck access north of the...

NPB Begins Building 2012 Plan and Budget
US - Working to maintain strong pork demand in the face of rising retail meat prices and continuing challenges to producer profitability, the National Pork Board begins work next week on its 2012 plan...

Livestock Rule Exceeds $100M Threshold
US - USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber was peppered with questions and frustrated comments from the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee during a hearing yesterday on the state of the US livestock...