Agribusiness Update for Thursday 4/11/13

This is the Agribusiness Update...I’m Greg Martin...

Petitions supporting strengthened Country-of-Origin Labeling rules and demanding that the integrity of COOL be protected in the face of World Trade Organization scrutiny garnered 35,600 signatures and were delivered to the USDA. One official said the outpouring of support for COOL makes it clear that USDA is doing the right thing by proposing strengthened and more informative labels.

It seems unlikely the so-called Gang of Eight will unveil immigration legislation this week as they had hoped. According to Senate aides, it’s more likely the group will announce its proposal next week at the earliest. Talks regarding a foreign farmworker program are reportedly taking center stage this week.

The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Animal Drug User Fee Act . ADUFA legislation authorizes the FDA to collect fees for certain animal drug applications. This allows pharmaceutical companies to pay a user fee to FDA, which is used to hire additional technical staff.

That’s today’s Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.