Perdue chooses new homes for two USDA research agencies
Ten months after he announced the initiative, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will meet with USDA employees privately Thursday and then announce to the public the new homes for two research agencies now sited in Washington.
Forest Service to scale back environmental reviews
In the name of greater efficiency, the U.S. Forest Service said on Wednesday that it would modernize its procedures for complying with the National Environmental Policy Act, the bedrock federal environmental protection law.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Access to health care is a 2020 issue (BPC): In larger numbers than their urban neighbors, rural Americans say access to medical specialists is a problem in their communities, and three out of five rural voters would support a candidate in 2020 who prioritizes rural health care, according to a poll by the Bipartisan Policy Center and the American Heart Association.
New rules on gene editing (NPPC): President Trump’s executive order to modernize the regulation of agricultural biotechnology might “break the FDA’s current grip” on gene editing of livestock and allow U.S. producers to catch up with China, Brazil, and Canada in the field, said the National Pork Producers Council.
Food and farm groups back USMCA (AFBF): Some 960 food and agriculture companies and associations sent a letter to Congress in support of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, saying it would build on the success of NAFTA, which led to a quadrupling of food and ag exports to the U.S. neighbors.
Restoring farming’s disappearing middle (Civil Eats): The nonprofit Ecotrust aims to replenish the disappearing middle of U.S. agriculture, the medium-sized farms whose operators, the group says, would benefit from attending a business boot camp.
3M knew about PFAS in food (The Intercept): Soon after an FDA study revealed the presence of PFAS compounds in our food, a report finds that 3M, the company that originally developed those compounds, has long been aware of the contamination.
