The chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) stated, upon reconvening the Agricultural Advisory Committee, that the commission would pursue a “deregulation” agenda to ease the burden on agricultural financial intermediaries. He criticized the federal agencies’ past practice of imposing layer upon layer of regulation on financial intermediaries serving the agricultural sector, which has led to increased costs for market participants and a decline in the number of futures commission merchants. The chairman emphasized that the CFTC’s responsibility is to ensure farmers can effectively use the markets to hedge risks, rather than to overregulate or drive the industry overseas. This initiative aims to identify rules that are no longer applicable, remove barriers to productivity, and promote greater transparency in the commodities markets.