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Food directors oppose block grants for school meals

With Congress settling into its election year agenda, the School Nutrition Association, speaking for school food directors, says lawmakers should oppose any effort to convert funding for school food programs into block grants.

Ending five-year decline, world food prices climb 8.2 percent in 2017

World food prices are on the rise for the first time since 2011, according to the Food Price Index of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Bustos recipe for Democratic success in the Midwest: Bread-and-butter issues

A report co-authored by Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois says that “national Democrats must acknowledge and stay focused on the bread-and-butter challenges facing hardworking families” to gain the rural and working-class support vital to winning elections in the Midwest.

Glut of white corn, used in tortillas, sends prices lower

With commodity prices in a trough since 2013, U.S. farmers have tried to bolster their income by diversifying their crops, such as planting white corn, the variety used in corn chips and tortillas. That decision is now coming back to bite them because overproduction is driving down the price of white corn.

‘Trump bump’ melts as farmer optimism wanes

Farmers are increasingly pessimistic about financial conditions in coming months, with Purdue’s Ag Economy Barometer dropping by nearly 18 percent since last January.

Study: GE crops not driving herbicide-resistant weeds, but still cause for concern

In a new study, published in the December 2017 issue of the journal Weed Science, University of Wyoming weed scientist Andrew Kniss finds that GE corn does not produce increased herbicide resistance in weeds relative to non-GE crops, but that soybean and cotton plantings do — but only to a limited extent. (No paywall)

Financing pours into ag-tech start-ups

The research firm CB Insights says investors put more than $700 million into agricultural-technology companies in 2017, far more than the combined $565 million of the two preceding years, said the Financial Times.

Bill calls for USDA to report on which stewardship programs work best

The USDA spends several billion dollars a year on voluntary land stewardship programs. With the 2018 farm bill on the horizon, two members of the House Agriculture Committee have unveiled legislation that would require the USDA to evaluate and report on the impact of the soil and water projects it bankrolls.

Outlook for U.S. farm income: Stable but ‘at much lower levels’

After a three-year plunge, U.S. farm income is stabilizing “at much lower levels than in previous years,” said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, warning that “growing inventories and trade uncertainty remain the key risks to the outlook.”

Grain companies say tax law gives edge to cooperatives

Privately owned grain companies, from the giants of the grain trade to local merchandisers, “fear their grain supply will dry up” because of a provision in the newly enacted tax law, said Reuters.

Using CRISPR to create a ‘boys only’ cattle herd

One of the best-known scientists in the GMO world, Alison Van Eenennaam, “aims to create a bull that will father only male offspring” through a bit of gene editing with CRISPR, said MIT Technology Review.

Fischer and Smith named to Senate Agriculture Committee

With the 2018 farm bill on the horizon, Senate leaders have re-jiggered membership of the Senate Agriculture Committee, adding Republican Deb Fischer of Nebraska and newly appointed Democrat Tina Smith of Minnesota to the panel.

Report: Biodiesel driving deforestation and host of other problems at home and abroad

An investigation by activist groups Mighty Earth and ActionAid USA challenges the notion of biodiesel as the environmentally responsible fuel of the future. Burned: Deception, Deforestation and America’s Biodiesel Policy claims that growing demand for biodiesel in the U.S. contributes to a host of problems, from deforestation in Argentina and Indonesia to algae blooms in Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone.

Big dairy ‘co-op’ illustrates what’s wrong with modern agricultural co-ops

Dairy Farmers of America, the 20-year-old product of the largest merger in dairy cooperative history, has become a vertically integrated “corporation” that enjoys the legal benefits of a cooperative while increasingly serving its own bottom line rather than its member farmers, says Washington Monthly.

Extreme weather raises cry for crop insurance

The recent spell of extremely cold weather in the Midwest’s wheat-producing states reaffirms “the need for a 2018 farm bill and strong federal crop insurance program,” declared the High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal.

California’s farm guestworker program continues to grow

Growers and contractors in California recruited 14,252 foreign guestworkers last year, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Labor. The figure was up 28 percent from the previous year.

USDA proposes rule to modernize food-safety systems at egg facilities

Under a new rule proposed by the USDA’s Food Safety & Inspection Service, facilities that process egg products will have to develop and implement “hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) systems” in an effort to modernize safety processes in the egg industry.

In a change of tone, Trump backs crop insurance program

Speaking to a friendly farm crowd, President Trump, who proposed a 36 percent cut in long-term funding for crop insurance last May, said he will work with Congress for a 2018 farm bill “that delivers for all of you and I support a bill that includes crop insurance.” Trump responded to the standing ovation for crop insurance by adding, "I guess you like it."

Rural task force report highlights Internet, GMOs, and a better H-2A visa

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue released a task force report, commissioned by President Trump on the day that Perdue took office, that makes 100 recommendations to improve rural prosperity, including universal access to high-speed internet, a smoother-functioning H-2A guestworker program and a federal initiative "to increase acceptance of biotech products and open and maintain markets for U.S. farmers abroad."

A Farm Bureau encore for Trump? ‘I’ll be back.’

As President Trump observed, "a hundred is so much cooler," so he feels the attraction of speaking to the largest U.S. farm group on its Centennial next year, in New Orleans. "Next year, I'll come back. All right? We'll come back."