The Senate Agriculture Committee voted Tuesday to advance a bill that would overturn duplicative and onerous new permitting requirements for pesticide applications.

A strong and proactive Surface Transportation Board (STB) is necessary to help agricultural shippers and others who are captive to one railroad line receive fair rates and good service, NAWG President Wayne Hurst told that Board’s Members at a hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Agricultural applications of biotechnology can help feed the world and preserve resources, but the regulatory process the technologies must go through is problematic, witnesses said Thursday at a meeting of the House Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee with jurisdiction over the technology.

The House of Representatives passed its agriculture appropriations bill by a largely partisan, 217 to 203 vote Thursday afternoon following a week of intense debate and maneuvering.

A coalition of 113 agriculture organizations wrote the three highest ranking U.S. officials this week to express strong opposition to disproportionate cuts to agriculture programs in the quest to reduce the country’s debt load.

USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) broke ground this week on a state-of-the-art greenhouse in St. Paul, Minn., that will play a key role in expanding the U.S. capability to address the global threat of Ug99 and other plant rusts.

NAWG President Wayne Hurst, a wheat farmer from Burley, Idaho, traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to participate in a meeting of commodity leaders with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson.

A planned mark-up of S. 158, the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2011, was postponed this week due to a large amount of other business on the Senate Commerce Committee’s schedule.

A new video released this week by U.S. Wheat Associates aims to educate policy stakeholders about the vital importance to wheat producers and the U.S. economy of maintaining strong export market development programs.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would deeply cut from the agriculture and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) budgets in FY2012, particularly in the area of agriculture research.

A pending railroad reform bill is set to be considered by the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, June 8, at 10 a.m., though rail shippers have concerns that amendments to it could dilute its impact when enacted.

Members of the U.S. “grain chain” applauded on Thursday the introduction of a new healthy eating icon, dubbed MyPlate, which highlights the importance of grains to a well-balanced diet.