Grower-leaders from NAWG and organizations representing corn, soybean, rice, cotton and sorghum growers met with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack this week for an unprecedented dialogue about farmers’ relationship with EPA and their concerns about pending environmental regulations.

A child nutrition reauthorization bill approved unanimously by the Senate Agriculture Committee this week would increase spending on child nutrition programs by $4.5 billion over ten years.

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) this week released information about its request for application process that will ultimately award $262 million in competitive grant funding from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).

As the budget process tilts into full gear amid ongoing debates about health care and tax extenders, agriculture supporters are making known their opposition to cuts proposed in the Obama Administration’s budget and the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) renegotiation.

NAWG, U.S. Wheat Associates and other members of an ad hoc food aid coalition submitted for the record this week their comments on funding levels and priorities for FY2011.

Application information for NAWG’s 2010 summer internship is now available online, with all submissions due by Friday, April 16.

NAWG urges all wheat growers to contact their Members of Congress to reiterate the importance of the Market Access Program (MAP) after the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus within the Republican delegation, this week added the program to its list of programs to eliminate for budget savings.

NAWG joined a coalition of agricultural organizations Monday in filing a joint friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court in support of the petitioners in Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms.

MGEX, commonly known as the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, announced last Friday that its ownership has approved eliminating a rule precluding the delivery of genetically modified wheat.

Oregon State University announced Friday that it’s wheat breeder and the head of the National Wheat Improvement Committee (NWIC), Dr. Jim Peterson, has accepted a position in the private sector as the vice president of research with Limagrain Cereal Seeds.

More than 4,000 people including more than 1,300 growers made their way to Anaheim this week for the events associated with the 2010 Commodity Classic.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced last weekend at Pheasant Fest in Des Moines, Iowa, that USDA will hold a sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) this year.

NAWG President Karl Scronce urged the administrator of the Risk Management Agency (RMA) this week to take steps to ensure discounts due to falling numbers irregularities are included in crop insurance coverage for the 2011 year.