Atrazine probably causes cancer in humans, WHO cancer agency says. Via @stacymalkan.bsky.social @usrighttoknow.bsky.social usrtk.org/pesticides/a...

Check out this great segment from @moreperfectunion.bsky.social, featuring insights from IATP's @benlilliston.bsky.social, on how corporate consolidation of Big Ag is hollowing out rural America and funneling taxpayer money through farmers into corporate profits: youtube.com/watch?v=cl02K72QFS0&t

The big beef companies' model depends on paying low prices to ranchers. Is this a blip or a recalibration? "The facility, in Lexington, employs more than 3,000 people. Tyson also announced that its beef facility in Amarillo, Texas, would go down to one shift a day." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/b...

We spent a year investigating billionaires for @washingtonpost.com. We found: the wealthiest 100 Americans gave $1.1 billion to influence the 2024 elections — 140x more than they did in 2000. And almost all of that giving boosted Republicans. washingtonpost.com/politics/int...

Some good news from Belem. The first big beef company has agreed to report scope 3 methane emissions, and set a reduction target. Marfrig owns National Beef in the US. Will be interesting to track what they report, and how they will reduce emissions.

I contributed a few contextual comments within this excellent piece by @moreperfectunion.bsky.social on the current challenges facing farmers, including a squeeze by powerful corporations and chaos created by the Trump Admin - www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl02...

Mpls Fed ag outlook not good. a Minnesota lender offered a foreboding assessment: “If conditions continue to deteriorate on the price side there will be producers unable to farm next year.” www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2025...

A nice development for global meat giant JBS, operating in Brazil and the U.S. Prices paid to U.S. ranchers dropped in anticipation of the tariffs.

Pretty eye-popping numbers here. The state is helping a handful of companies with a great deal of #taxdollars. Worth noting that one of the industrial dairies that has receiving over $20 million in less than 2 years is based in Minnesota. #CAFO #industrialag

Highly recommend this overview of the U.S. farm system and the challenges that rural, conventional farmers face @moreperfectunion.bsky.social @benlilliston.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl02...

Public grocery stores run into a monopoly problem: big grocers get better deals from suppliers. That's actually illegal, but the law that bars price discrimination to small grocers is effectively dormant. @emmarjanssen.bsky.social writes that NY is writing its own version of the law:

There goes a major talking point: “.. The new tally leaves tariff savings failing to fully offset Trump’s signature tax-cut law, which the CBO said would add $3.4 trillion to deficits ..” @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

1/ Today's Farm Policy News Summary covers how "agricultural lenders surveyed in the new 2025 ABA/Farmer Mac Agricultural Lender Survey expect only 52% of U.S. #farm borrowers will be #profitable this year, signaling a sharp decline from recent years." farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/11/only...

More than a quarter of U.S. farmers rely on the Affordable Care Act, but Biden-era tax credits expire at the end of the year. They are now weighing difficult decisions, like going uninsured or finding secondary employment.

NEW REPORT: Nearly half of all @usdagov.bsky.social food spending went to just 25 companies, with poultry giant Tyson Foods receiving the largest share despite a history of workplace safety, labor, environmental, and food safety concerns. foe.org/resources/us...

New analysis of claims by proponents of livestock manure digesters/biogas: do they improve air quality, mitigate environmental injustice, make economic sense, act as a climate solution? Researchers found biogas industry claims overstated link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New today: at @ewgofficial.bsky.social, we just released our updated Conservation Database. We now have conservation funding by practice for multiple different conservation programs, down to the county level for most programs. Found over $31B went to farmers 2017-2024. www.ewg.org/news-insight...

NEW: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a duty-free trade agreement between the U.S. & several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, expired at the end of September & was not renewed by Congress. Industries in these countries are already losing jobs. What comes next? www.iatp.org/end-of-agoa

A China purchase of soy was announced yesterday, but they are still far from the target the Trump Admin has touted for 2025. What about for 26-28? Here, I dig into what we know about ag in the US-China deal & how to assess Trump Admin announcements on trade vs binding agreements.

It's really helpful to the nation's largest polluters - incl fossil fuel global agbiz - to have a group of state AGs carry your water in fighting even the most basic climate reporting laws. iowacapitaldispatch.com/briefs/iowa-...

Global meat giant JBS, following its pattern of buying up smaller firms, expands its position in the US egg market - www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: We traced out a devastating outbreak of bird flu to its source: an egg farm in Ohio. Where the wind blew, the virus followed. Within weeks, the farms downwind were about 20 times as likely to see outbreaks as those that weren’t.

We and our allies reached a settlement on behalf of @ewgofficial.bsky.social for Tyson to stop making climate claims. Big Ag needs to know that we're protecting consumers from their greenwashing. More ➡️ farmstand.org/tyson-foods-... @animallegaldefense.bsky.social @earthjustice.org

Potato giant R.D. Offutt agrees to pay 442 Minnesota workers for sick leave violations minnesotareformer.com/briefs/potat...

🌐Today’s agricultural #trade rules do not meet the environmental, social & economic challenges of our time. To change this, scholars & practitioners have developed a 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘆, a new set of global rules to govern agricultural trade. Summary 👉 t.ly/gm0Mu About 👉 t.ly/hUvBr @iatp.bsky.social

Soybean sales to China since the Trump-Xi meeting have been even more tepid than we initially thought. USDA issues a correction after a Chinese buyer cancels 100,000 tons in orders.

The new Land Gap Report was released this week, with a chapter by IATP Executive Director Sophia Murphy. Here, Sophia gives insights into the project, and some proposals for what trade reforms must be made to close the gap between climate pledges and real progress. www.iatp.org/land-gap-cli...

Can always count on @grocerynerd.bsky.social to tell it like it is! A great breakdown of the past 5 years of food price hikes, why profiteering is a driver of these price increases, and policies that would help ensure food is a human right www.forbes.com/sites/errols...

A good deal for the big meatpackers Trump Admin says it is investigating. Argentina opens up imports of live US cattle (amidst a declining US cattle herd). US lowers tariffs on imported & unlabeled beef from Argentina to help manage prices paid to US ranchers. www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st...

Earlier this year, FarmSTAND helped us fight to restore our USDA RFSP grant after it was abruptly terminated by the Trump administration. Now, they’re exposing just how carelessly our grant and many others were cancelled. farmstand.org/case/deep-di...

America's largest meat company, Tyson Foods, was an early adopter of Palantir, establishing a blueprint for how large food corporations can leverage the surveillance technology. @greymoran.bsky.social reports:

FarmSTAND, @earthjustice.org, & Farmers Justice Center obtained docs from the USDA that prove how carelessly the Trump admin canceled grant funding. All they did was compile a list of words—like “diversity,” “equity,” “environmental justice”—& put the grants that included them on the chopping block.

Me quoted here on JBS and other agbiz players on the inside at #COP30: "this is the exact opposite way to really deal with food systems and climate change. These companies have too much at stake, too much of a direct conflict.”

NEW: As COP30 unfolds in Brazil and deadlines for mandatory climate reporting rules loom, major meat and dairy companies are still falling short on transparent and reliable reporting of their climate risk and GHG emissions. www.iatp.org/introducing-...

Missouri ranchers not happy with Trump actions on beef imports - app.publicnewsservice.org/story/missou...

With all that's going on, taking away peoples' THC drinks seems dicey - www.startribune.com/federal-shut...

1/ Today's Farm Policy News Summary covers how "#China’s purchases of American #soybeans appear to have stalled, less than two weeks after the US touted a wide-ranging trade truce that signaled thawing relations between the world’s two biggest economies." farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/11/chin...

Good analysis by @nsac-sustainableag.bsky.social on the #Farmbill & Senate deal. The elimination of payment limits on EQIP and CSP, combined w USDA staffing cuts, mean the largest farms will get more conservation $s. Less $ to help farmers lower costs sustainableagriculture.net/blog/release...

🔴 NEW 🔴 Mapped: Big Food’s Routes to Influence at COP30 Interactive map shows the food & farming corporations, trade groups and initiatives at COP30 in Brazil and how these are set to navigate the summit 📝 @rachelsherrington.bsky.social & Gil Alessi👇 www.desmog.com/2025/11/10/m...

Will be interesting to see if anything comes of this - including whether they take any action against top inauguration donor (and frequent lawbreaker) JBS. Particularly after Trump Admin's SEC just approved JBS for NYSE, positioning the company for new investors. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...

V pleased to have hosted the Family Farm Defender's podcast: Feeding the World? Or just the world's CAFOs? The State of Agricultural Trade conversation with Karen Hansen-Kuhn & Jim Goodman

The Senate’s deal to reopen the government has a number of problems that will hurt farmers and rural communities. The Senate attaches a 12-month Farm Bill extension to the deal, setting up the possibility for more chaos a year from now. 🧵

Brazilian meat giant JBS just settled a false advertising lawsuit with the NYAG for a million dollars. It's a small win, but it shines a light on the pervasiveness of greenwashing by the meat industry, which will only get worse at COP30. My latest @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2028...

Trump cut a deal w China, trade aid bailout coming, maybe tariffs come down - so the ag economy will be ok? Here, I write about how the ag econ was already broken. A return to normal means the loss of more farmers, more bailouts, agbiz control & export vulnerability. www.iatp.org/beyond-soybe...

“My friends, the world is changing. It's not a question of whether that change will come. It's a question of who will change it.” @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social People are choosing real alternatives instead of continuity. Mamdani stands for an antifascist economics in the name of the many. 🧵

Important to understand re Trump's claims on China deal. The ag portion specifics on purchase promises have yet to be confirmed by China. They still have a 13% tariff on US soybeans. Brazil soybeans are cheaper. So, they will still be buying from Brazil.

"Through a self-inflicted, perfect storm of damaging actions, the Trump administration has exposed the vulnerabilities of a fragile agriculture economy, highly dependent on exports of a few crops and reliant on immigrant labor." Our latest from @benlilliston.bsky.social: www.iatp.org/beyond-soybe...

The shutdown, combined with loss of USDA staff under Sec Rollins, is making it hard for farmers to plan for next year. Tariff and trade uncertainty + no Farm Bill making it even harder. Government Shutdown, Trade Wars Hit Farmers' Bottom Line Hard dailyyonder.com/government-s...

“We have this whole farm policy system that is built on overproduction of just a few crops. That system that depends so much on exports is really fragile... It has very little resilience built in.” civileats.com/2025/11/04/f...

Farmers face shaky markets, not knowing when or to what extent other countries might retaliate with their own tariffs on U.S. goods. Meanwhile, the trade war has raised the overall cost of farming. buff.ly/mvbPhNT