**House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway of Texas says he expects fewer new programs in the 2018 farm bill than there were in 2014. Money is the big consideration. At the Ag Outlook conference last week in Washington, D.C., he said that the introduction of new programs for the 2018 farm bill will need to be accompanied by proposals of where funding will come from.

Conaway says if they decide to give funding to one new idea, that money will have to be taken away from other programs.

He says the House Ag Committee will not be doing field hearings, but instead will do on-the-record listening sessions at various locations.

**A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit seeking labels on egg cartons describing the way hens are raised.

The Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and Agricultural Marketing Service each denied petitions submitted by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Compassion Over Killing.

The groups want labels that would say “Free-Range Eggs,” “Cage-Free Eggs,” or “Eggs from Caged Hens.”

**Ray Starling, a key aide to North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, has been named to the senior staff of the National Economic Council where he’ll serve as President Trump’s special assistant for Ag, Trade and Food Assistance.

Starling has been serving as Tillis’ chief of staff and previously served as general counsel to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

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