Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg announced USDA intends to enter into an agreement with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver up to $452 million in fiscal year (FY) 2025 Food for Peace assistance. The funding will help U.S. producers move American-grown food to people in need around the world, sending nearly 211,000 tons of U.S. agricultural goods to people in need in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda.
The World Food Prize Foundation announced the launch of its official podcast, hosted by Foundation CEO Tom Vilsack, creating a new global platform for meaningful dialogue at the intersection of food, science and human progress. Released twice monthly, The World Food Prize Podcast: Dialogue that Feeds The World will go beyond the surface and feature in-depth conversations with leaders from across the global food system, uncovering the stories, breakthroughs and lived experiences driving solutions to hunger, nutrition and sustainable agriculture—amplifying the voices working every day to ensure food security for all.
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution celebrating the designation of 2026 as ‘International Year of the Woman Farmer.’ U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, introduced the resolution in the Senate. U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-IA2) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME1) introduced companion legislation in the House.
The shortage of a skilled and reliable workforce is the single greatest threat to agriculture. That was the message American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall delivered to leaders of Congress, describing the challenges facing more than 5 million Farm Bureau members across the country. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, President Duvall said a lack of workers will ultimately affect the availability of healthy food.
Forty farm and agricultural groups, and growing, launched the Agricultural Coalition for the United-States-Mexico-Canda Agreement, underscoring the accord’s vital role as an economic engine for the U.S. farm economy and calling for its renewal with targeted improvements. As part of the launch, the group unveiled a new website and kicked off an aggressive ad campaign in the nation’s capital, all of which is designed to promote the benefits afforded to the U.S. food and agriculture sector under the USMCA as the administration approaches the 2026 mandatory review.
National Farmers Union (NFU) welcomed new guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clarifying that the Clean Air Act (CAA) supports farmers’ right to repair their own equipment and cannot be used by equipment manufacturers to block their access to independent repair. The EPA’s statement is a step forward for family farmers and ranchers who have long pushed back against repair restrictions that limit competition and drive up costs.
The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) applauded Congress for passing the fiscal year funding package that includes an extension of the authorization for the U.S. Grain Standards Act (USGSA) through Sept. 30, 2026, providing critical continuity for the federal grain inspection and weighing system.
The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) elected Jamie Kress as President during their 2026 Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Jamie and her husband Cory own and operate an 8,500-acre dryland farm in the Rockland Valley of eastern Idaho. Their farm is comprised primarily of winter and spring wheat, along with a variety of rotational crops including: canola, safflower, mustard, dry peas, and chickpeas. Kress most recently served as president of the Idaho Grain Producers Association—the first woman to hold that role—and has held multiple leadership positions within NAWG, including service on the Board of Directors, the Budget Committee, and as chair of the Domestic & Trade Policy Committee.
During its first quarter meeting, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Board of Directors elected its 2026 officers who also comprise the organization’s Executive Committee. Those elected to serve as officers in new Executive Committee positions in 2026 are: Troy Knecht, President; Chris Studer, Vice President; and Dave Sovereign – Chairman of Golden Grain Energy’s Board.
A bipartisan group of former leaders of America’s major agricultural commodity associations and biofuels organizations, farmer leaders, and former senior USDA officials, have issued a stark warning to Congress about the deteriorating state of the farm economy, calling current conditions a potential “widespread collapse of American agriculture.” In a letter to House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership, twenty-seven former agricultural executives and officials with decades of experience detailed how current Administration policies have harmed the farm economy and the need to take substantial action. Read the letter.
