• Efforts to eliminate subsidies for commodities that drive up the cost of food, specifically subsidies for ethanol. General energy policy, including the cost of energy. Commodity prices, generally, conservation, recycling and sustainability policy.

Duration: July 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012

General Issues: Agriculture, Energy/Nuclear, Food Industry (Safety, Labeling, etc.), Commodities (Big Ticket)

Spending: about $40,000 (But it's complicated. Here's why.)

It can be tricky to figure out how much an organization spent on a particular lobbying engagement. The law only requires lobbyists to report the amount they were paid for federal lobbying each quarter rounded to the nearest $10,000—and if it's less than $3,000 in a given quarter (or less than $13,000 for organizations with in-house lobbyists), they don't have to disclose it at all. Plus, some organizations include spending that doesn’t belong in the report—for instance, money spent lobbying state governments or other legal work.

Agencies lobbied since 2011: House of Representatives, U.S. Senate