The Trump administration wants to remove gray wolves from the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), reigniting a legal and political debate that has lasted for decades.

Normally, the cattle and beef production discussion in the February report would reflect cattle inventory data from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Cattle report in this month’s report. However, due to the government shutdown, the Cattle report was not to be released until Feb. 28.

There was an almost 50-50 response to Progressive Cattleman’s most recent online poll, “Has your operation ever been affected by a natural disaster (flood, fire, hurricane, etc.)?”

The interagency battle between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration over cell-cultured meats grew somewhat clearer on Thursday.

The Jan. 1, 2019, inventory of all cattle and calves in the U.S. grew to 94.76 million, head, up 0.5 percent from one year ago. This puts the number of cattle in the country just slightly higher than 2009 levels after dropping to a low of 88.53 million head in 2014, with an increase of 6.23 million head in the last five years.

Only a few Progressive Cattleman readers’ operations were affected by the government shutdown earlier this year.

Motif Ingredients, a Boston-based food company, launched on Feb. 26 with $90 million in Series A financing to provide next-generation alternative proteins and other ingredients to global food companies.

President Donald Trump announced last week that he would be postponing the next round of duties on Chinese goods scheduled to go into effect March 1, thanks to a round of “productive” trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials that has been taking place throughout the last month.