Chuck Grassley

Senators Jon Tester, Chuck Grassley, and Mike Rounds recently reintroduced their Meat Packing Special Investigator Act, which they say is an effort to fight consolidation and enforce the national anti-trust laws.  The bill would create the “Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters” within the USDA.  The office would be...

A bipartisan group of senators, including Ron Wyden, reintroduced the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023.  In addition to Oregon's senior senator, Montana’s Jon Tester, and Republicans Chuck Grassley and Deb Fischer rolled out the legislation.  The lawmakers...

First, it was a competition issue, but recently, foreign ownership of U.S. farmland, especially by China, has become a U.S. national security issue.  With that Chinese spy balloon spotted over Montana, the U.S. Air Force is now warning, proposed Chinese land buys in North Dakota are too close to a military drone testing facility.  Io...

Last week, Senator Chuck Grassley announced plans to reintroduce the Farm Credit for Americans Act.  The legislation bans the federal government from allowing foreign individuals to obtain credit and financial services through the Farm Credit System.  The Iow...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is non-committal on supporting a renewed push in Congress for livestock marketing reforms.  Vilsack was careful in recent comments to not to overstep the general support he voiced last year for the Grassley-Fisher bill to boost price discovery and beef industry competition.   “...

The Senate’s $1.7 trillion spending bill to finish this fiscal year boosts agricultural research, rural development, and nutrition, but doesn’t include long-fought cattle market reforms.  The more than 4,000-page bill leaves out controversial legislation sought by Senator Chuck Grassley to force some cattle price negotiating by major packers, known as the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Ac

Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley wants to know the latest when it comes to the Seeding Rural Resilience Act.  Grassley sent a letter to the Department of Agriculture as well as Health and Human Services.  The legislation, approved in 2020, is designed to curb the rising rate of suicide in rural communities, via the National Defense Authorization Act.  Grassley’s law re...

Senators Chuck Grassley and Sherrod Brown introduced legislation this week to prevent foreign individuals from obtaining credit and financial services through the Farm Credit System.  The Iowa Republican and Ohio Democrat content that currently, certain foreign individuals and entities are eligible to receive credit through this government-sponsored enterprise.   ...

Earlier this week, Senator Chuck Grassley introduced the Biochar Research Network Act.  The Iowa Republican’s legislation seeks to study the effectiveness of biochar, which is a carbon-rich material produced from biomass.  Specifically, the bill would establish a national biochar research network to test the impact of biochar across various soil types, application methods and climates to learn mor

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it’s not ready to back a cattle competition bill by House Ag Chair David Scott but adds the legislation is a much better starting point than the alternative.  While the NCBA opposes Senator Chuck Grassley’s Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, Tanner Beymer said they aren’t ready either to back Scott’s Small Family Farmer and Rancher Relief Ac