Federal

The White House wants researchers to focus on curbing the impact invasive plants, animals and insects have on the U.S. environment and economy. Earlier this month, with just a few weeks until his term ends, President Barack Obama signed an executive order committing to prevent the “economic, plant, animal, ecological and human health impacts that invasive species cause.” For instance, a population of zebra mussels were accidentally introduced into the Great Lakes and the infestation then spread into Mississippi River, the Arkansas River and Lake Champlain. [node:read-more:link]

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled in favor of the United States and New Zealand in the two countries’ dispute with Indonesia concerning trade restrictions on agricultural products from the U.S. and New Zealand. The WTO on December 22 revealed its findings in the dispute. Indonesia has 60 days to either accept the ruling or appeal it. WTO ruled in favor of all 18 of the complaints the U.S. issued against Indonesia, revealing that the restrictions were inconsistent with WTO fair trade rules. The restrictions involved U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Former California Lieutenant Gov. Abel Maldonado Jr. is set to interview for the U.S. secretary of Agriculture post with President-elect Donald Trump this week. He joins Elsa Murano, former Agriculture undersecretary for food safety and former president of Texas A&M, as the latest candidates the new administration is exploring for the position, incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during a transition briefing Wednesday. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Trade Representative is planning a public hearing in mid-February to consider possibly reinstating punitive trade measures against the European Union over the EU's ban on beef grown with certain hormone implants.  The hearing starts the process of possibly imposing punitive tariffs on as much as $116.8 million on imports from the EU. USTR is taking such actions even as the Obama administration is preparing to leave and President-elect Donald Trump has yet to name a U.S. trade ambassador to oversee the agency. Nonetheless, the USTR set a Feb. [node:read-more:link]

The World Trade Organization has ruled in favor of the U.S. and New Zealand against Indonesia’s restrictions on its imports of fruits, vegetables and meats. The restrictions cost about $115 million in U.S. agricultural exports to Indonesia in 2015, including $28 million worth of apples and more than $29 million worth of grapes.    Prior to restrictions begun in 2012, Indonesia was a 2.7-million-box per year Washington apple market, Powers said. [node:read-more:link]

There is a battle going on in the organic industry over hydroponics, the technique of growing plants without soil. The debate gets at the very heart of what it means to be “organic” and may change the organic food available to grocery store shoppers.  To be labeled as organic, fruits and vegetables are required to be grown without genetic modification or synthetic chemicals, and to meet other rules set out by the Agriculture Department. [node:read-more:link]

Canada’s trade minister says the world-leading trade relationship between Canada and the United States does not need to be on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s list of things to fix once he takes office. Chrystia Freeland told The Canadian Press last week the trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada “is very balanced and mutually beneficial.”Freeland visited Washington earlier this month and met with some senior Trump advisers and Republican senators, including Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts. [node:read-more:link]

Peter Navarro, an outspoken critic of China and U.S. [node:read-more:link]

More than 167,000 U.S. farms locally produced and sold food through direct marketing practices, resulting in $8.7 billion in revenue in 2015, according to the results from the first Local Food Marketing Practices Survey released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The report results cover both fresh and value-added foods, such as meat and cheese. Farms selling food directly to institutions and intermediates, such as wholesalers who locally branded the product or food hubs, brought in the most revenue at $3.4 billion. [node:read-more:link]

Mississippi River Basin states should be given a chance to address nutrient pollution first, before the federal government steps in, a federal court ruled.  “EPA's ‘policy' of partnering with the states and maintaining a states-in-the-first-instance approach is . . . an integral part of the (Clean Water Act) as enacted by Congress,” U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey said in his opinion, issued Dec. [node:read-more:link]