Expanding Milk Options and Federal Grazing Policy Dispute
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**The National Milk Producers Federation praised a new USDA interim final rule expanding milk options in federal child nutrition programs, allowing schools to offer whole and 2% milk at breakfast and other federally supported meals.
The rule implements key portions of the Whole Milk for
Healthy Kids Act of 2025, signed into law in January, and restores milk choices removed under federal nutrition standards adopted in 2012.
**Dispute is growing over federal grazing policy in western states as environmental groups prepare legal challenges against efforts to expand livestock grazing on public lands.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed notice of intent to sue over the administration’s new Grazing Action Plan, which would reopen and expand grazing allotments across parts of the West.
The group argues the plan could violate the Endangered Species Act by threatening wildlife habitat and sensitive ecosystems.
**More than three-quarters of USDA researchers affected by planned agency relocations say they do not intend to move, according to a federal employee union survey, raising concerns about staffing losses and disruptions to ag research.
The Federal News Network reports that 76% of employees surveyed said they would not relocate under USDA plans to move positions from Washington D.C. to Kansas City, similar to a 2019 move in which 85% resigned or retired.
