EU won’t discuss agriculture in trade talks with U.S.
Leaders of EU countries agreed to open trade talks with the United States on Monday with the goal of eliminating tariffs on industrial goods but said that agricultural products would not be part of the negotiations.
Central figure in Iowa nutrient runoff case, Bill Stowe, dies of cancer
Bill Stowe, a central figure in the 2015 lawsuit by the Des Moines Water Works that tried to hold drainage districts in three northwest Iowa counties responsible for nutrient runoff from farms, died of cancer on Sunday at age 60. He retired as general manager of the utility on April 2 because of the illness, said the Des Moines Register.
In a break, disaster relief bills could pay farmers’ crop insurance premiums
When Congress passes disaster bills, the government commonly compensates growers for loss of crops and livestock with the proviso they buy crop insurance in the future so they are protected against catastrophic damage. Companion bills filed by Democrats in the House and Senate would go a step farther by giving farmers the money to pay for the policies — a "terrible" expansion of the federally subsidized program, says a small-farm advocate.
On average, U.S. farmers are aging, but a quarter of them are newcomers
One-third of America’s 3.4 million farmers are over the age of 65, and nearly a million more of them are within a decade of that milestone, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, released by the USDA on Thursday. For decades, the aging U.S. farmer has been a cause for concern, expressed in this question: Who will feed America in the future? [No paywall]
Beef packing merger threatens last competitive cash cattle market in U.S.
Last month, the nation’s fourth-largest beef packer, National Beef, announced plans to take over Sysco-owned Iowa Premium, a regional packer focused on processing Black Angus steers for the Upper Midwest. National Beef is majority-owned by the Brazilian firm Marfrig. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Roberts sees route for reauthorizing child nutrition this year
After warning against saddling small schools with big-city regulations, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts said on Wednesday that Congress could act swiftly on the overdue renewal of child nutrition programs. The programs, headlined by school lunch and WIC, cost $30 billion a year.
The farm industry is pushing for tighter right-to-farm laws across the country. What does that mean for farm neighbors?
Every state has a “right-to-farm” law on the books to protect farmers from being sued by their neighbors for the routine smells and sounds created by farming operations. But this year, the agriculture industry has been pushing in several states to amend those laws so that they will effectively prevent neighbors from suing farms at all — even massive industrial livestock operations.
World Pork Expo is canceled due to ‘extreme caution’ over hog disease
The World Pork Expo, which draws an international crowd annually to the largest hog-producing state in America, will not be held this June as a precaution against the spread of African swine fever, said its sponsor, the National Pork Producers Council, on Wednesday.
House ag leader backs one-time aid for flooded grain
Report links farm manure to algae blooms in Lake Erie
A spike in the number of large-scale animal farms and resulting manure production in the Maumee watershed is contributing to algae blooms in Lake Erie, a new report finds. The authors write that over half of the manure contributing to water pollution comes from farms that don't require permits or regulatory oversight.
U.S. cotton use lowest in 120 years or more
U.S. farm products likely targets as Canada refreshes tariff list
Canada could soon propose retaliatory tariffs on "a significant number of agricultural products," including U.S. wine, pork, apples and ethanol, as part of its campaign for removal of American tariffs on steel and aluminum, said ambassador David MacNaughton on Monday. The food and ag products would be part of a "refreshed" list of tariffs that originally took effect last July 1.
Hemp won’t grow like a weed on U.S. farms, says Northey
For all the buzz about recently legalized industrial hemp, Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey expects a slow shift to the crop. "It will be a long time before it is a third crop in a lot of places," he told the North American Agricultural Journalists on Monday. "I think we have a lot to learn in growing the crop yet."
FAPRI joins USDA in seeing higher farm income this year
Higher grain and soybean prices will increase U.S. net farm income modestly this year, said a University of Missouri think tank on Monday. The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute projected a $5.5 billion increase in net farm income, a broad measure of profits, compared to 2018, in line with a USDA estimate of a $6.3 billion increase.
Proposed rule would ease standards for retailers that accept SNAP
The Department of Agriculture issued a proposed rule Friday that would ease the standards for how many and what types of products food retailers must stock in order to accept SNAP benefits at their stores. An Obama-era rule had expanded the amount of healthy foods that retailers had to stock in order to participate in the program.
Big Ag says Sen. Warren’s proposals ‘miss the mark’
After a week in which Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who's running for president, was in the spotlight for her call to check the power of big agribusiness and "level the playing field for America's family farmers," Big Ag began to hit back, insisting her ideas are out of touch with reality.
Trump, dropping Mexico threat, says ‘very close’ to China deal
U.S. and Chinese negotiators may be within four weeks of resolving the Sino-U.S. trade war, said President Trump on Thursday. Trump said the nations are working on a comprehensive agreement. “And whether it’s our farmers or our technology people, all of them will be really happy.”
Pence hears grumbles about tariffs as he promotes the new NAFTA
Vice President Mike Pence told Indiana farmers on Thursday that the Trump administration is “absolutely determined to see the USMCA completed and ratified by the U.S. Congress this spring.” During his visit, the vice president heard complaints about tariffs on agricultural products from “numerous” crop and hog farmers.
In Oregon, a failed mega-dairy spurs call for CAFO moratorium
SNAP defenders blast USDA time-limit proposal
The administration is motivated by conservative ideology, not facts, with its proposal to toughen the 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, said the chair of a House Agriculture subcommittee on Wednesday, vowing “to do everything I can to stop this rule.”