The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been around for more than 150 years, stressing the importance of American agriculture to a bountiful food production system since Abraham Lincoln first signed it into being in 1862. Lincoln himself, in fact, in his 1864 final annual message to Congress, christened USDA “the people’s Department,” just before commending it “to the continued attention and fostering care of Congress.” From industrialization to the mechanization of farming,...
Category: USDA
Register Now For “TSCA Reform – Nine Years Later” Virtual Conference, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (EDT), June 25, 2025: Complimentary registration is now open for this dynamic virtual conference providing updates and insights regarding the current state of Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) implementation, ongoing and emerging issues, and related developments. As with our previous TSCA anniversary events, a stellar faculty of speakers from government, non-governmental organizations, industry,...
Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), its global consulting affiliate The Acta Group (Acta®), and consortia management affiliate B&C® Consortia Management, L.L.C. (BCCM) are pleased to share with you our 2025 Forecast. For all the reasons you might imagine, our seasoned team was especially challenged this year in speculating on what to expect in 2025 regarding global industrial, agricultural, and biocidal chemical regulatory and policy initiatives. Given the European Parliamentary...
May 6, 2024
USDA Will Fund More Than 700 Clean Energy Projects, Expanding Access to Domestic Biofuels
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on April 23, 2024, that it is funding more than 700 clean energy projects to lower energy bills, expand access to domestic biofuels, and create jobs and new market opportunities for U.S. farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers. According to USDA, many of the projects are funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, “the nation’s largest-ever investment in combating the climate crisis.” USDA is providing $238 million in...
April 23, 2024
AMS Publishes RFI on Electronic and Digital Link Disclosures under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard
On April 10, 2024, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a request for information (RFI) about potential amendments to the electronic or digital link disclosure option as it pertains to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (Standard). 89 Fed. Reg. 25187. Responses are due June 10, 2024. Background As amended in 2016, the Agricultural Marketing Act requires USDA to establish a national mandatory standard for disclosing any...
April 12, 2024
ARS Researchers Discover Ability of Cotton Gin Waste to Transform Silver Ions into Silver Nanoparticles
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service announced on April 9, 2024, that ARS researchers published a study revealing the ability of cotton gin waste to synthesize and generate silver nanoparticles in the presence of silver ions. ARS states that cotton gin waste, also known as cotton gin trash, “is a byproduct of the cotton ginning process and occurs when the cotton fibers are separated from the seed boll.” Using a simple heat treatment of cotton gin waste...
On March 28, 2024, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested information about potential additions to or subtractions from the List of Bioengineered Foods (List) as it pertains to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (Standard). 89 Fed. Reg. 21484. Under 7 C.F.R. Section 66.1, a bioengineered food is a food that -- subject to certain factors, conditions, and limitations -- contains detectable genetic material that has been...
April 1, 2024
APHIS Seeks Comment on Draft EIS for Deregulation of Maize Developed Using Genetic Engineering
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on March 22, 2024, that it has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) evaluating the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk that may result from the approval of a petition for nonregulated status for maize developed using genetic engineering for dicamba, glufosinate, quizalofop, and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid...
March 15, 2024
USDA Releases Plan to Strengthen the Bioeconomy through a More Resilient Biomass Supply Chain
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released on March 14, 2024, a report entitled Building a Resilient Biomass Supply: A Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America, “a plan that will boost biomass supply chain resiliency for domestic biobased product manufacturing, while also advancing environmental sustainability and market opportunities for small and mid-sized producers.” According to USDA, the plan is one of the key USDA deliverables of President Biden’s 2022 Executive Order on...
March 11, 2024
USDA Releases Reports on Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry and on Hemp Research and Innovation
On March 8, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture honored the second annual National Biobased Products Day, “a celebration to raise public awareness of biobased products, their benefits and their contributions to the U.S. economy and rural communities.” USDA states that as part of its activities to honor National Biobased Products Day, it released two reports: Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry USDA states that its commissioned report “An Economic Impact...