The ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow, says lawmakers are getting “close” to reaching a deal on GMO labeling. Stabenow told Politico she and the committee’s chair, Kansas Republican Pat Roberts, are “narrowing the issues” surrounding GMO labeling legislation. Stabenow says she and Roberts are meeting constantly. However, they have yet to share a draft bill with the full Senate. The bill, aimed at blocking state laws like the Vermont law taking effect July first, would set a national GMO labeling standard. To stop the Vermont law in time, the Senate must pass the legislation this week for any hope the House can consider the bill before going on recess next week. Politico says questions remain over one of the most fundamental issues, being whether on-pack labels should be part of a mandatory disclosure system. Come July first, on-pack labeling will become the de facto national standard, as food and beverage manufacturers will be forced to comply with Vermont’s law or potentially face a $1,000 fine per day, per product.

The White House says President Barack Obama will sign a chemical safety bill this week that passed the U.S. House and Senate recently. Obama will sign the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act Wednesday morning. The new chemical safety rules are designed to overhaul federal regulation covering thousands of chemicals in daily use. The Wall Street Journal calls the bill a rare bipartisan action in a year when Congress is torn by presidential politics. Chemical makers, including Dow and DuPont, favored the legislation as retailers, such as Wal-Mart, were stepping in with their own, sometimes far-reaching rules on chemical safety. The bill is the first significant update to federal chemicals safety law in 40 years. The legislation gives the Environmental Protection Agency authority to evaluate and impose restrictions on chemicals used in everything from dry-cleaning to grease removal to paint thinners. In most cases, that authority pre-empts states from passing laws to regulate a chemical while the EPA is making its determination.

Weather experts in the Midwest say they are monitoring what could become a flash drought, according to a representative of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The weather event often develops when a drop in precipitation combines with increased temperatures and winds. So far, 2016 is comparable to 2012, when widespread drought parched the Midwest, at a time when there was also little concern regarding drought. However, while recognizing the similarities to 2012, the climatologist told DTN “right now, we’re not anticipating another 2012.” Soil profiles across the region have adequate moisture, even in some of the driest areas. While some areas are starting to show signs of drought, a soil recharge that occurred in the winter and spring is limiting the impacts. Regardless, most of the Corn Belt has seen temperatures anywhere from five to ten degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the past 30 days.

Canada is joining the United States in again considering a GMO labeling bill that would create a national standard. Meatingplace reports the bill is not the first GMO labeling effort considered in Canada, but the sponsor of the bill claims nearly 90 percent of the nation’s citizens support labeling GM foods. All previous attempts at GMO labeling in Canada’s Parliament have fell short. The sponsor of the bill referenced a Health Canada report on food labeling that indicated “Canadians want the government to take concrete measures to ensure that GM foods are labeled.” The bill was proposed just weeks before a hotly debated GMO labeling law is set to take effect in Vermont, a state that borders Canada. Lawmakers in the U.S. continue negotiations on reaching a compromise on a national GMO labeling standard that would supersede state laws like Vermont’s. However, given the legislative calendar, if the U.S. Senate fails to reach an agreement this week on GMO labeling, the Vermont law will go into effect as scheduled.

A rider on the Senate Interior Appropriations bill seeks to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from funding campaigns against agriculture. The rider, one of many on the bill, followed the EPA billboard funding controversy in Washington State. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman, Republican Pat Roberts, applauded the Senate Appropriations Committee for advancing the bill last week. However, Democrats on the Appropriations Committee warned the bill would be a non-starter on the Senate floor. At issue was an advocacy campaign, funded in part by a $20.5 million EPA grant. The campaign included billboards and a website attacking agriculture and urging Washington State lawmakers to increase regulation over the agricultural industry. Other riders on the spending bill include a block on the EPA’s ‘Waters of the U.S.’ rule.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says direct payments made to farmers are expected to increase roughly 31 percent this year to $13.9 billion. Direct farm program payments are those paid directly by the U.S. Government to farmers and include fixed payments, crop price and revenue-based payments, and other payments such as conservation payments and disaster relief. The forecast reflects changes made in the 2014 Farm Bill that eliminated several programs and added new support programs, the Price Loss Coverage program, or PLC and the Agricultural Risk Coverage program, known as ARC. PLC and ARC together are expected to account for over $9 billion in 2016, about 96 percent of all crop price, and revenue-based payments. The majority of ARC payments were paid to farms with a history of corn production, followed by wheat and soybeans. PLC payments were primarily made to farms with a history of long-grain rice, peanuts, and canola production.

The Senate has just four working days on the calendar between now and July first, the date the Vermont GMO labeling law goes into effect, to reach a compromise on a national GMO labeling law. Politico reports that makes Friday, June 24th, the last day to get legislation to President Barack Obama’s desk to beat Vermont. The House will go on recess on the 24th and not be available to consider any bills passed by the Senate. Meanwhile, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts continually insist that negotiations are ongoing. The committee’s ranking member, Senator Debbie Stabenow, is demanding a mandatory labeling agreement. The biggest sticking point appears now how the label will be presented to the consumer. The Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, which previously opposed a mandatory label, now says a smart label directing consumers to more information would be acceptable, but on-package GMO labeling would not be acceptable. The coalition represents 43 national farm groups and countless state organizations.