Whats New

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced that the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Economic Research Service (ERS) divisions will be relocated out of the Washington, D.C. metro area to the Kansas City region.
A cost-benefit analysis o...

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has proposed a fourth list of imported items from China that are likely to be subject to retaliatory tariffs, unless the ongoing trade dispute with China is resolved.  Imports of these “list 4” items represent an estimated $300 billion in annual imports.  If the proposal is finalized, they would be subject to a 25 percent punitiv...

In mid-June, the House of Representatives began taking action on a handful of fiscal 2020 funding bills.
On June 19, the House passed a package of spending bills that would fund the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Defense, State, and Energy from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. Several amendments were filed to those bills including an amendment that woul...

Phytophthora ramorum, the cause of so-called “sudden oak death,” was detected on plant material being sold in garden centers in Indiana and Kansas this spring. The pathogen is not expected to be established in these areas but entered the states via the plant trade.
One source, Kansas State Extension, reported that infected rhododendrons were found in ten Midwest stat...

On June 19, the House of Representatives passed an FY 2020 spending package that includes funding for the Department of Labor (DOL). The spending bill contains an H-2B provision that would allow for visas to be allocated proportionally on a quarterly basis.
The House is now de...

AmericanHort has officially announced the Impact Washington Summit, which will be held on September 16-18 in Washington, D.C. Confirmed keynote speakers at this signature horticulture industry event include:
Andrew Wheeler, Administrator – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Andrew Wheeler was confirmed the fifteenth Administrator of the Environmen...

USDA, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Biotechnology Regulatory Services (APHIS-BRS) has proposed revisions to current biotechnology regulations, which were established in 1987.  This marks the third attempt by USDA to alter these regulations, previously in 2008 and 2017; however, the proposals were withdrawn in the face of substantial pushback in public comments.

On June 4, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act.  The final vote tally was 237-187, with seven Republicans voting for the bill. Should t...

In advance of the House Appropriations Committee’s expected consideration of the fiscal 2020 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, a bipartisan group of 58 Members of Congress sent