Governor Brown signed SB 1192, which is the California Healthy-by-Default Kids’ Meal Drinks bill! The bill requires restaurants in the state that market children’s meals to offer only water or milk as the default beverage for the children’s meals. This is a big step towards reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by children and creating a healthier food environment.  [node:read-more:link]

Officials in Australia have identified the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus in six pork products tested under recent routine border checks at Australian airports and mail processing centers as they were about to enter the country. Two weeks of testing by the Australian Animal Health Laboratory uncovered six pork products among 152 seized and tested that were contaminated with the ASF virus. Authorities said the detection of the virus at the border does not change Australia’s ASF-free status, the report added. The nation’s pork producer organization, Australian Pork Ltd. [node:read-more:link]

As the U.S. and European Union trade negotiations unfold, the two sides have competing perspectives over what will be discussed:  The U.S. has included agriculture in its Summary of Specific Negotiating Objectives, while the EU has not.  Despite the discord, recent trade data indicates that the EU has purchased an increasing amount of U.S. soybeans.  “Trump boasted of his verbal agreement with leaders of the European Union, (‘we’re starting the documents,’ Trump said as an aside), that would move toward the elimination of trade barriers. [node:read-more:link]

A Nebraska farmer looking to add chickens to his operation, in order to supply Lincoln Premium Poultry with broilers for Costco’s rotisseries, has been denied the permits to do so. he spate of chicken farms being built in an area traditionally known for cattle and crops has spurred opposition from neighbors concerned about pollution, traffic and pests.  [node:read-more:link]

Mountaire Farms could donate $1 million to Selbyville, Del., as part of a plan to address increasingly congested traffic near its chicken processing plant in town. The plan could involve permanently closing a portion of the street leading to the facility to thru traffic. [node:read-more:link]

From a recent finding of unconstitutionality in Iowa, to an award of attorney’s fees in Idaho, to a new legal challenge in Kansas, “ag gag” laws have continued to be in the news recently.  “Ag gag” laws are generally designed to prohibit a person from entering an agricultural operation without permission or by fraudulent means and obtaining video or photographs of the operation. [node:read-more:link]

On Thursday, the House revived previously unpublished conference report language in an effort to move the fiscal year (FY) 2019 appropriations process forward. The specific language expressed concern about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan to relocate and reorganize the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA). [node:read-more:link]

Governor Larry Hogan has announced several items in the administration’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget. Included is level funding support for the Rural Maryland Council (RMC), Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund (RMPIF) and the Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Fund (MAERDAF). [node:read-more:link]

The European Union is willing to discuss car tariffs but will not remove duties on farm products in trade talks with the United States, its trade chief said on Friday, setting it on a possible collision course with Washington. The European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 28 member European Union, published two negotiating mandates on Friday, which were notable more for what they left out than for what they included.The EU proposal on tariffs falls far short of the wide-ranging wish-list, including comprehensive agricultural market access, set out by U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Not withstanding, the president’s rhetoric, after 14 months of what appeared to be stressful negotiations, the new NAFTA (the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA) ended up looking a lot like the old NAFTA with relatively small changes in the agricultural provisions. The good news was not really that that there was promise of additional access to Canada’s dairy, poultry and eggs sectors (the benefits from which have been estimated to be small, increasing NAFTA exports by about 1 percent). [node:read-more:link]