NAWG Second Vice President Erik Younggren testified Thursday to key House Members on wheat growers’ experiences with 2008 Farm Bill programs and the process the Association will go through to set 2012 Farm Bill priorities.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) announced Friday his Committee will hold a mark-up of a bill to ease trade and travel restrictions with Cuba on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week reversed a lower court’s nationwide ban on the cultivation of biotech alfalfa, considered a victory in the Court’s first case examining the technology.

The House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management met Thursday to hear from a key USDA official on the status of 2008 Farm Bill programs and request information for the upcoming rewrite of federal farm policy.

Reps. Tim Holden (D-Penn.) and Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) introduced a bill late last week they intend to serve as an alternate proposal for management of water quality improvements in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Canada’s House of Commons approved on Monday a trade agreement between that country and Colombia, taking a major step toward passage of a measure that could ultimately devastate the U.S. wheat industry’s share in its largest Latin American market.

NAWG joined more than 100 other members of the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports in writing key agriculture appropriators last week to urge continued strong support for USDA export development programs in the 2011 fiscal year appropriations cycle.

A disapproval resolution introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) failed to move forward in the Senate on Thursday after hours of long-anticipated debate on the merits of greenhouse gas regulation.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) released a letter Thursday from more than 70 pro-democracy Cuban leaders encouraging the passage of H.R. 4645, a bill strongly supported by NAWG that would loosen agricultural trade and travel restrictions against the island nation.

Kansas State University and Monsanto announced Friday a partnership that will allow them to share germplasm and technology and, ultimately, improve their wheat breeding programs.

NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) responded this week to growing concerns about extremely high basis levels producers are facing in hard red winter wheat states.

A proposal for a new general permit for pesticide applications released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week has left more questions than answers about what exactly will be required of producers who utilize pesticides.

Consumers support the use of food biotechnology – including wheat biotechnology – when they consider its potential benefits for reducing the impact of food and food production on the environment and for improving sustainability.

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee will hold its first hearing in the 2012 Farm Bill process on June 30, Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) announced this week.