Once a year, the leaders of ag committees in the state legislature get together to talk. What they discuss will be the issues states will likely wrestle with in the coming year.

Does a company that develops a new genetically modified seed have to conduct a full environmental review before it can put that product on the market? The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday that it would hear an appeal by Monsanto of a ruling that barred the company from selling a new alfalfa seed until it conducted an environmental study. 

The background: In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that it did not have to conduct a formal environmental review of a new, Roundup Ready alfalfa seed produced by Monsanto. A conventional seed company, Geerston Seed Farms, and environmental groups sued the US. Department of Agriculture in 2006 to force the agency to conduct an environmental review of the seed before it granted approval. The company said USDA should review how the seed might affect nearby fields. A federal judge agreed with Geerston and that ruling was upheld by a U.S. appeals court in California. The USDA proceeded with its environmental review and on December 18th began a 60 day comment period on a draft environmental impact statement on the alfalfa seed.

Monsanto asked the Supreme Court to review the appeals court ruling. The U.S. Department of Justice opposed Monsanto's request, but the Supreme Court said it would hear the case. It will hear arguments in April. Justice Stephen Breyer will not take part in this case, since his brother, a federal judge in California, issued the first decision in this case.

Will the Department of Justice charge Monsanto with violating antitrust laws in its seed business? On Friday, Monsanto's chief rival urged the Obama Administration to go ahead. Pioneer Hi-Bred Friday called Monsanto an "overwhelming monopoly"  and that it "encouraged the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Justice to examine the current state of ag biotech competition and take appropriate action to restore a competitive environment," the Des Moines Register reported. 

DuPont, which owns Pioneer Hi-Bred, is Monsanto's chief rival. Pioneer said Monsanto controls 98 percent of the soybean biotech seed trade and 78% of the corn market. Monsanto, meanwhile, wrote in its comments to the DOJ that farmers can buy seed from more than 20 companies and that "traits are only a part of the total value of the seed, which is why there is substantial competition and variation in price even among seeds that contain the same trait combination."

Monsanto's technology creates soybean and corn crops that are resistant to Roundup herbicide. Pioneer licenses that technology — and has agreed to pay $725 million in fees to Monsanto through 2015 — but Monsanto has sued Pioneer over that company's plans to combine the Roundup Ready trait with traits developed by Pioneer.

The Future Farmers of America intend to "float a higher profile at Tournament of Roses parade," says a headline in USA Today. Why the heck not. As the paper reminds us, former President Jimmy Carter, Jim Davis (creator of the cartoon character Garfield), Willie Nelson (What would Willie do?), athlete Bo Jackson, Eagle Don Henley and platinum singer Taylor Swift (above) were all FFA members. If you got it, flaunt it.

"But the FFA is largely unknown on the East and West Coasts, especially in urban areas, even though it has chapters in such big cities as New York and a growing presence among big city charter schools," writes Doug Stranglin. So the FFA decided it needed to up its image by putting together its first Rose Parade float.

The float will be sponsored by RFD-TV. RFD's founder, Patrick Gottsch says the goal is to "connect and educate the urban world about the positive aspects of rural America." Oh, and by the way, there are no records to show that Ashton Kutcher was an FFA member, no matter what Wikipedia says.