Coronavirus damage tops $3.4 billion, says ethanol industry
Gasoline consumption fell precipitously in the spring due to stay-at-home orders and the economic slowdown, cutting ethanol industry revenue by more than $3.4 billion, said the Renewable Fuels Association on Wednesday. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Beef fuels biggest increase in grocery prices in nearly a decade
Zoetis petitions to make foot-and-mouth vaccine in U.S.
China makes its largest ever purchase of U.S. corn
Pandemic could increase world hunger by one fifth — UN report
The coronavirus pandemic will accelerate the five-year-old rise in world hunger and could add as many as 132 million people this year to the global tally of the hungry, an increase of 19 percent, said five UN agencies in a report on Monday. The pandemic is disrupting the food supply chain while sweeping lockdowns to control the virus are cutting off people from work, said the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
U.S. meat production rebounds from coronavirus slowdowns
There will be more red meat and poultry for Americans to eat this year than seemed likely when the coronavirus hit meat plants in April and May, said the USDA. In its monthly WASDE report, the USDA raised its estimate of meat production by 3 billion pounds, so that per-capita consumption would average 223.8 pounds this year, up by 3.6 pounds from the June forecast.
USDA hasn’t helped small farmers in pandemic, lawmakers say
The USDA has ignored small diversified farms in its $16 billion coronavirus relief program despite specific instructions from Congress to help them, said two U.S. lawmakers on Monday. Wheat growers said they deserved broader coverage, including payments on this year's crop. The USDA has disbursed $5.9 billion since payments began in early June, with $2.6 billion going to cattle producers.
As China buys U.S. corn, Trump has ‘many other things in mind’ than trade talks
President Trump declared Sino-U.S. relations "severely damaged" and said he has "many other things in mind" beyond following up on the interim agreement that de-escalated the trade war between the world's two largest economies. Trump spoke dismissively of new negotiations with China on Friday, hours after exporters reported the largest sale of U.S. corn to China in 26 years.
Rural advantages in coronavirus recovery
The coronavirus "dealt an economically devastating hand to nearly the whole country," but job losses were smaller and shutdowns were shorter in rural America, said rural lender CoBank in a quarterly report. "Economic recovery may now favor rural communities for the first time in many years."<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
In pandemic, one in five children are not getting enough to eat, says report
An unprecedented number of U.S. children — 13.9 million — are experiencing food insecurity and did not have sufficient food in late June due to the coronavirus pandemic, said an analysis from the Hamilton Project on Thursday. "This level of need merits a substantial and immediate public investment," said Lauren Bauer, a fellow at the Hamilton Project and author of the analysis. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Apples and potatoes will get coronavirus aid for lost sales
In a series of adjustments to its $16-billion coronavirus relief program, the USDA said on Thursday that apple, potato, and blueberry growers would now qualify for federal payments for sales lost to the pandemic. More than one-third of the money in the program has already been paid in cash to farmers and ranchers. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
FDA may gain power to order drug recalls
The House Appropriations Committee voted on Thursday to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to order the recall of unsafe prescription and over-the-counter drugs rather than having to ask manufacturers to recall the products voluntarily. The language was added to the $153-billion USDA-FDA funding bill for fiscal 2021, which was approved by voice vote and now goes to the House floor for debate.
USDA accepts 1.2 million acres into grasslands program
The USDA accepted nearly 2 out of every 3 acres that were offered this spring for enrollment into the Conservation Reserve grasslands initiative, 1.2 million acres in all, said the Farm Service Agency on Thursday.
Bayer abandons key provision in glyphosate settlement plan
Two weeks after agreeing to pay up to $9.6 billion to resolve thousands of cancer lawsuits against glyphosate, seed and ag-chemical giant Bayer is still looking for a way to handle future litigation against the weedkiller. A proposal to appoint a panel of experts to decide if glyphosate is carcinogenic — a pivotal question for cases filed in coming years — died on Wednesday following criticism from the federal judge handling the lawsuits.
CDC updates Covid-19 numbers at meat plants but uses weeks-old data
As of May 31, more than 16,000 meat and poultry processing workers in 23 states had contracted Covid-19, and 86 had died of the disease, said a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday. Nearly 90 percent of the affected workers were identified as Hispanic, Black, or Asian. According to more up-to-date data, however, the numbers for infected and deceased workers are actually much higher. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
AFBF chief is first U.S. farm group leader with coronavirus
Zippy Duvall, president of the largest U.S. farm group, is quarantining at his Georgia farm while recuperating from the coronavirus, said the American Farm Bureau Federation on Wednesday. Duvall is the first leader of a U.S. farm group known to have the virus. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Farmers’ sentiment rebounds from low, but worries persist
Large American farms are more confident of weathering the coronarvirus pandemic but nearly two-thirds of them say Congress should provide more assistance beyond the $16 billion already earmarked for agriculture, said Purdue University on Tuesday. Some 27 percent of producers surveyed for Purdue's monthly Ag Economy Barometer said they were "very worried" about the impact of the virus on their farm's profitability. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>
Organic industry backs immigration reform, covid-19 protection for farmworkers
The Organic Trade Association on Tuesday called for congressional action on two tracks to help farmworkers. The group seeks passage of an immigration reform law that would give legal status to undocumented farmworkers, and assistance in providing protective equipment to reduce the risk of infection by the coronavirus.
Coronavirus slowed U.S. exports of beef and pork in May
Beef exports were the smallest in 10 years during May and pork exports were the lowest in seven months, "due in part to interruptions in slaughter and processing," said the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Chief executive Dan Halstrom said the global economic slowdown and stay-at-home orders in some Western Hemisphere nations also were factors. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>
As Covid-19 cases spike, an unprecedented alliance races to protect California farmworkers
An outbreak of the novel coronavirus among farmworkers in California's Salinas Valley spawned a coalition of former adversaries that is racing to safeguard both the workers and the farms where they work, as Liza Gross reports in FERN's latest story, published with Univision.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>