On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit sided with the Environmental Protection Agency and affirmed the district court's ruling that the Chesapeake Bay TMDL is lawful under the Clean Water Act. In a 60-page opinion, the Third Circuit panel found that the statutory term "total maximum daily load" is ambiguous and that EPA reasonably interpreted that term to include not only a total allowable pollutant load, but also "allocations" of the total among point and nonpoint sources, timelines for states to put measures in place to achieve those source allocations and requirements that states provide "reasonable assurance" that those source limits will be achieved.

The panel rejected arguments by AFBF and other agricultural and home builder associations that the Bay TMDL (and EPA's interpretation of the statute) exceeds EPA's Clean Water Act authority and intrudes upon the states' primary authority over land use and water resources. In so doing, the panel repeatedly emphasized the act's goal of improving water quality, as well as EPA's role within the cooperative federalism framework. AFBF is continuing to analyze the decision.

Sir Fazel Hasan Abed has been awarded the 2015 World Food Prize for his work to alleviate poverty in 11 countries around the world. Sir Fazel is the founder and chairperson of BRAC (formerly known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), which has worked to address the relationship between hunger and poverty. The organization noted that "BRAC's agricultural and development innovations have improved food security for millions and contributed to a significant decline in poverty levels through direct impacts to farmers and small communities across the globe."