Tentative hope for a native New York salmon run
An effort is underway in upstate New York to bring back a native run of landlocked salmon, according to FERN’s latest story, with Adirondack Life magazine. The story, by Paul Greenberg, focuses on the work of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife specialist to stock the Boquet River in New York with salmon that will then spawn and migrate into Lake Champlain, which straddles the border of New York and Vermont.
House Democrats want farm bill with stronger stewardship, no SNAP cuts
In a letter to the “big four” farm bill negotiators, 107 House Democrats called for stronger conservation programs in the final version of the bill and said they opposed provisions that would weaken pesticide regulation, interfere with state regulation of agricultural trade, or fundamentally alter the food stamp program.
Farmers to cool on soybeans, switch back to corn as No. 1 crop
Stung by a trade war with China, ordinarily the purchaser of one-third of the U.S. soybean crop, farmers will switch decisively to corn in 2019, reinstating it as the most widely grown crop in the country, according to a Farm Futures survey of growers.
Senate confirms USDA and CFTC nominees
On Tuesday, the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee announced that three of President Trump’s nominees have received Senate approval to begin work at the USDA and the CFTC.
Trump’s farmer bailout: half now, the rest later … maybe
President Trump's promise to protect U.S. agriculture from retaliatory tariffs by China and other countries will be paid on the installment plan — half this fall and the rest in December, or early 2018 if assistance is still needed, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday. The USDA announced $6.2 billion in outlays that will begin in September, with soybean growers in line for $3.6 billion of it.
Bilateral is good, trilateral is better in NAFTA talks, say farm groups
President Trump dangled the possibility of terminating NAFTA, which generates one-third of U.S. food and ag trade, at the same time he announced a tentative trade agreement with Mexico on Monday. Farm groups said NAFTA should stay in effect until a new agreement linking North America's three economic giants is in place.
Climate change puts more than a billion people at risk of iron deficiency
Rising levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will reduce the amount of nutrients in staple crops such as rice and wheat, say researchers at Harvard's public health school. As a consequence, more than 1 billion women and children would lose a large amount of their dietary iron intake and be at larger risk of anemia and other diseases.
Two sides of Washington: Trump bailout and China tariffs
The Trump administration will hear hours of testimony about its proposed 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products on Monday, overlapping with the expected USDA announcement of up to $12 billion in aid for U.S. agriculture to offset the impact of Chinese tariffs on farm exports. Soybean growers are likely to get the largest share of the spending since the oilseed is the largest ag export to China.
Vegetable prices rise but food inflation stays dormant
Thanks to declines in food prices in 2016 and 2017, grocery store prices will stand at a lower overall level at the end of this year than they were at the end of 2015, said the monthly Food Price Outlook. For the second month in a row, USDA raised its forecast of price increases for fresh vegetables but forecast a scant 0.5 percent rise in food prices for the year.
The global flood of grain begins to drain away
Trump tariff bailout may be sunlight ahead of storm clouds over farm sector
Crop and livestock producers are likely to learn on Monday how the Trump administration will allocate up to $12 billion in aid to offset the impact of retaliatory Chinese tariffs on the U.S. farm sector, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Industry proposal: USDA and FDA should share oversight of ‘cell-based’ meat
The U.S. meat industry and nascent competitor Memphis Meats agreed on a standard name — “cell-based meat and poultry” — for food produced from lab-cultured animal cells on Thursday and proposed joint FDA and USDA regulation of cell-based meat.
Senators warn ‘anti-environment’ riders may sink farm bill
If farm bill negotiators allow “anti-environment policy riders” into the bill’s final version, they can expect protracted debate and possible defeat of the panoramic legislation, said 38 Democratic senators on Thursday.
What’s red and white and not delicious all over?
This year, after more than half a century as America’s favorite, the Red Delicious apple will be surpassed by the Gala as the No. 1 apple grown in the United States, said the trade group USApple on Thursday.
U.S. judge allows lawsuit against USDA withdrawal of organic livestock rule
The USDA spent a decade writing livestock welfare rules for organic farms before, in a regulatory U-turn, it decided last December that it lacked the power to implement those rules. The decision sparked a lawsuit by the organic community. Now a federal judge in San Francisco has rejected the government’s attempt to quash the suit.
WWF finds enormous rate of food waste in produce
In a study on food waste in the United States, the World Wildlife Fund found that on a specific set of farms in four states, 40 percent of tomatoes, 39 percent of peaches, 56 percent of romaine lettuce, and 2 percent of processing potatoes were left in the field rather than harvested.
Will soybean growers get the lion’s share of Trump tariff payments?
Soybeans are the largest U.S. farm export to China, and growers of the oilseed may be in line for huge federal payments, worth an average of $85 an acre, to offset the impact of retaliatory Chinese tariffs. Corn growers, meanwhile, might not get enough per acre to buy a cup of coffee at many restaurants.
Report on organic dairy highlights consolidation, industrialization
A new report from the Cornucopia Institute updates the group’s earlier research on the continuing industrialization of the organic dairy industry. The report includes a consumer scorecard that ranks commercially available dairy products on such metrics as whether the cows have access to pasture, what they’re fed, and whether they’re raised on industrial farms.
Farm bill negotiators, set to meet Sept. 5, aim for speedy resolution
Almost as soon as Congress reconvenes after the Labor Day weekend, the nearly six dozen farm bill negotiators will hold their first public meeting, announced the leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committees.
Districts of House farm bill conferees draw over $9 billion in food and farm aid
A new analysis of USDA data by the Daily Yonder found that the districts of the 47 members of the House of Representatives who are serving on the farm bill conference committee receive over $9 billion in food and farm aid through nutrition programs and farm payments. The conferees will work to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the farm bill over the coming weeks.