Reviewing the Importance of International Year of Plant Health

Feb 09, 2021

The United Nations declared 2020 and 2021 the International Years of Plant Health. This initiative promotes the value of our precious plant resources and the need to safeguard them against destructive invasive pests. The February 7th Sustainable, Secure Food Blog highlights how the United States Department of Agriculture's Plant Protection and Quarantine Program plays a key role in the fight against pests.

According to blogger Osama El-Lissy, “protecting plants helps the U.N. to meet many of its sustainable development goals. These include reducing hunger, poverty, and threats to the environment. Today, our life-sustaining plants face an ever-growing threat: invasive pests.”

USDA’s Plant Protection and Quarantine Program partners with state departments of agriculture and many other organizations in the U.S. and around the world. The program actively seeks to prevent pests and diseases. Some of these activities include inspecting produce and plants, certifying foreign facilities that produce a large-volume of U.S.-bound commodities, and collaborating with countries to establish science-based plant health standards.

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Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

“Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard”

The Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, or advanced biofuels. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and later expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This webinar provides an overview of the legal authority and structure for the RFS program and explain how it works, including the program’s system of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and categories of renewable fuels. Additionally, this webinar addresses EPA annual volume requirement rulemaking and associated recent legal issues.