Employers can force workers to settle disputes outside of court, the U.S. Supreme Court said this week, which could negatively affect agricultural workers and employees who earn low wages. That’s because ag-sector workers, like farmhands and meatpacking-plant employees, often have to turn to class-action lawsuits to collect unfairly withheld or stolen wages.Monday’s 5-4 decision in Epic Systems v. [node:read-more:link]

FEMA had a warning for local governments at the annual Governor’s Conference on Hurricanes: Don’t count on Uncle Sam to be there immediately after the next natural disaster. “If you’re waiting on FEMA to run your commodities, that’s not the solution,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said Wednesday. “I can’t guarantee that we can be right on time to backfill everything you need.” [node:read-more:link]

A representative from Kentucky said it was about consumers’ food choices. A coalition of food safety groups said it was a threat to public health — particularly children. The U.S. House just said no. With a vote of 331-79, legislators from both sides of the aisle joined to crush an amendment to the farm bill that would have allowed the interstate sale of unpasteurized raw milk. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY, said his proposed legislation would protect farmers from “federal interference” while respecting state laws. [node:read-more:link]

It may be time to cut cattle stocking rates by as much as 10% in some parts of the Northern Plains. That news comes as drought conditions that began last year there continue, and many producers are warned to expect reductions in forage production on pasture and rangeland going forward."Last year, some producers experienced as much as a 75 percent reduction in forage production on pasture, range and hayland due to the drought," said Kevin Sedivec, North Dakota State University Extension rangeland management specialist.In many areas, pasture and rangeland received excess grazing pressure. [node:read-more:link]

States' livestock rules to protect against disease can vary widely and are based on the unique needs of that industry and the people there. Identification is an especially challenging issue because we have no mandatory national system. (By the way, that fact scares the willies out of me when I think about some sort of foreign disease outbreak. [node:read-more:link]

The farm bill, which failed on the House floor Friday, will get a second vote June 22 after a vote on a conservative immigration bill earlier that week, House Majority Whip Steve Scalisesaid Monday. The immigration bill by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas that leaders have scheduled a vote on includes border wall funding, security and enforcement provisions, cuts to legal immigration and a process for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipients to obtain three-year renewals of their work permits. [node:read-more:link]

Last week, as the U.S. House considered its twice-a-decade Farm Bill, Minnesota’s sugar growers got the challenge they had been expecting for years: an amendment, filed to the massive nutrition and agriculture bill, that would “reform” and “modernize” the federal sugar subsidy program. [node:read-more:link]

Ag technology promoters are pedaling hard for biofuels-friendly policies in Washington, D.C., to make life livable for cash-strapped farmers supplying markets that didn't exist 30 years ago.Erick Lutt, director of industrial and environmental policy for Biotechnology Innovation Organization, speaking at the 2018 Bio Industry Summit on the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo on May 15, said biofuels promoters are working to monitor and address mixed messages from the administration. [node:read-more:link]