South Dakota

The Butcher Block Act, which supporters say will boost U.S. meat processing capacity, won bipartisan support from the House Ag panel last week. The legislation is in contrast to the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act, which was fiercely contested, advancing only along partisan lines ...

The White House and U.S. Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai are under new pressure to fill the Chief Ag Negotiator position, following the unexpected withdrawal of Elaine Trevino. Impatience is growing across farm country as USTR remains without a top ag negotiator more than 14 months into the administration ...

Lawmakers in D.C introduced the Connect Unserved Americans Act this week. The bipartisan legislation seeks to ensure the Department of Agriculture targets funding through the ReConnect Program to areas most in need of reliable broadband services ...

How has the national drought impacted the country's winter wheat crop? "Last year's winter wheat crop, the one planted in the fall of 2020 and harvested in 2021, a lot of that crop made it through before the drought got intense across the great plains ...

When it comes to the latest winter wheat conditions across the country, USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey said there is reason to pause. "This is probably the most concerning chart of the week, showing 44% of the crop rated as good to excellent, that is down 2% from a week ago," Rippey noted ...

Last week, a bipartisan group of four Senators jointly announced the American Beef Labeling Act. The legislation would mandate the reinstatement of beef and beef products into the existing Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling Law (M-COOL), allowing for a 12-month development and implementation grace period. ...

As part of the recently approved $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” bill, the Senate agreed to preserve stepped-up basis, which many in the farming community say is critical to ensure farms can be passed down to the next generation. South Dak ...

Earlier this week House lawmakers introduced the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021. The bipartisan legislation is the first major update of federal regulations for the global ocean shipping industry since 1998. The legislation would support American exports by establishing reciprocal trade opportunities to help reduce the United States’ longstanding trade imbalance with China and other countries

South Dakota Republican senator John Thune says his question is a simple one. Why is a federal agency that has repeatedly fumbled broadband grants being put in charge of massive new broadband funding in the recently Senate-passed infrastructure bill ...

House and Senate Republicans recently introduced legislation that would create tax incentives supporting small and mid-sized meat processing plants. The Hagstrom Report says the goal of the bill is to help cattle producers compete for better prices ...