PRESIDENT OBAMA'S AGRICULTURE BUDGET...FOOD SALES TO CUBA MAY RISE...LAST DAY TO VOTE ON LAMB CHECKOFF REFERENDUM...SUGAR LEADERS IN WASHINGTON, DC...

• President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2009 agriculture budget proposal, released Thursday, increases spending for child nutrition programs while phasing out direct payments to the nation's biggest farmers-specifically those with $500,000 per year in sales.

• Pending U.S. legislation aimed at easing the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba should boost food sales to the communist-led island, but increases will be limited until the embargo is fully lifted. Legislation passed by the U.S. House of Represetatives on Wednesday and now awaiting a vote in the Senate would eliminate trade obstacles.

• Today is the last day for sheep producers and lamb feeders to vote ...

Later this week, thousands of wheat, corn soybean–and for the first time sorghum—producers will gather in Grapevine, Texas for the 14th annual Commodity Classic. Ahead of that convention is the Bayer Crop Science Issues Forum.

Yesterday Dr. David Kohl, Professor Emeritus with Virginia Tech gave his summary of the economic climate not only for 2009, but also for the next few years. Kohl said we are coming into an extended period of economic moderation, not only in the U.S., Canada and Mexico—but worldwide. We’ll see volatility at extremes, followed by periods of calm that are almost going to be dead cat bounces. Kohl explains the five wor ...

Legislators have reached the half way point of the 61st legislative session. The house yesterday had already adjourned for transmittal break, and the senate met briefly to put their final stamp of approval vote on some bills before leaving until next Monday, to begin the second half of the session.

$8.3 million from excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment is coming to Montana in restoration funds from the federal government next fiscal year, the 7th highest total in the nation for allocations from the U.S. Wildlife Service. It will be used for various projects. Separate funding will help support hunter education programs, and shooting ranges.

A report released by Montana's Attorney General Steve Bullock is highly critical of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the rates it charges Montana farmers, due to a lack of competition. The Department of Justice report shows Montana farmers are paying more than farmers in other states to ship grain.

EPA RULES ON DUST...ANIMAL ACTIVIST ATTACKS...COMMODITY CLASSIC IS UNDERWAY IN TEXAS...U.S. SHEEP OPERATIONS INCREASE...

• THIS WEEK THE D.C. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS ISSUED A DECISION TO DENY A PETITION FOR REVIEW OF THE EPA RULE THAT REGULATES DUST UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT. THE PETITION WAS FILED BY SEVERAL OF THE NATION’S LEADING AGRICULTURAL GROUPS. THE REGULATION OF AGRICULTURAL DUST MEANS THAT ACTIVITIES RANGING FROM SOIL TILLING, CATTLE MOVEMENTS, DRIVING ON UNPAVED ROADS, AND PLANTING AND HARVESTING OF CROPS COULD ALL COME UNDER THE REGULATORY STRONG-ARM OF THE EPA.

• THE ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA-BASED ANIMAL AGRICULTURE ALLIANCE REPORTS THAT DURING 2008, ATT ...

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula will allow limited expert testimony of a key government witness in the federal conspiracy case against W. R. Grace & Co., but is not limiting opinions of an expert witness who was an onsite coordination in Libby when it's asbestos contamination gained national attention in November, 1999.