Record ag trade deficit on course to be halved in five years
The U.S. agricultural trade deficit, forecast at a record $30.5 billion this fiscal year, will narrow in the near term as exchange rates improve and trading partners gain economic strength, said the Agriculture Department in its 10-year agricultural baseline.
Look outside the farm bill to strengthen the safety net, says Vilsack
Farm-state lawmakers could break their deadlock over how to pay for the farm bill by looking elsewhere for money rather than fighting over existing accounts, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. Vilsack, who has repeatedly urged lawmakers to be creative about funding, said it might be possible to tap a $30 billion USDA reserve to support producers in specific instances.
Big crops and lower prices for U.S. farmers in 2024
American farmers will harvest monster corn and soybean crops this year, including the largest soybean crop ever, at 4.5 billion bushels, and the third corn crop in four years to top 15 billion bushels, projected the Agriculture Department on Thursday. Season-average prices for the crops would fall for the second year in a row from the spike in commodity markets created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
How tobacco growing ends in America
In FERN’s latest story, published with The New Republic, reporter Duncan Murrell makes the case for ending the growing of tobacco in the United States.
Vilsack and lawmakers spar over farm economy
During a sometimes prickly House hearing on Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged lawmakers to buckle down and write a farm bill that does not cut SNAP or climate funds. Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee said the Biden administration has overlooked the needs of the large-scale farmers who produce the bulk of U.S. crops and livestock.
EPA order allows sale and use of existing stocks of dicamba
Retailers are allowed to sell and farmers are allowed to use existing stocks of the weedkiller dicamba on this year’s soybean and cotton crops no later than July 30, said the EPA on Wednesday. A federal judge in Arizona overturned the EPA’s approval of three dicamba-containing herbicides last week, potentially disrupting the spring planting season.
Smallest number of U.S. farms since 1850, says ag census
The United States, one of the agricultural powers of the world, has the smallest number of farms — 1.9 million — since 1850, when there were only 31 states and four territories, said the USDA Census of Agriculture on Tuesday. Nearly four of every 10 farmers were over the age of 65 in 2022, when the data was collected, an abrupt surge from the 2017 census, when one in three farmers was retirement age.
Food inflation below 3 percent for third month in a row
The food price inflation rate edged lower, to 2.6 percent, in January, the third month in a row that food inflation was below 3 percent, said the Consumer Price Index report on Tuesday. The overall U.S. inflation rate was higher than expected at 3.1 percent.
We need a farm bill for farmworkers
In the latest piece in our series with Mother Jones, The Farm Bill Fight, Teresa Cotsirilos explains why the nation's most important agricultural law largely ignores farmworkers—and why that needs to change.
Crop insurance costs to leap by 29 percent, says CBO
The federally subsidized crop insurance program will cost an additional $27.7 billion over the coming decade, said the Congressional Budget Office in projections released on Monday. The government pays roughly 62 cents of each $1 in premiums, and sales of livestock and forage policies are exploding.
USDA launches Working Lands Climate Corps
The new Working Lands Climate Corps will train young adults for careers in climate-smart agriculture and conservation, said Agriculture deputy secretary Xochitl Torres Small on Monday. She announced the initiative at the National Association of Conservation Districts convention in San Diego, with the NACD, Americorps, and The Corps Network as partners.
The ‘four corners’ struggle to square the farm bill circle
House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson declared, "I am at the table" to write the new farm bill — with multibillion-dollar cuts already rejected by Democrats on the committee. "I hope my colleagues across the aisle join me," said Thompson, as farm bill leaders clashed over the direction of the moribund legislation.
India draws down wheat stockpile to fight food inflation
India's government-owned wheat stockpile was forecast to fall to its lowest level in 15 years as the result of the effort to squelch food inflation, said USDA analysts.
Stabenow says ‘the time to act is now’ on farm bill
Farm-state lawmakers should take advantage of an offer of billions of dollars in new resources and negotiate the new farm bill now, said Senate Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow. The Michigan Democrat called for action following a USDA forecast of a steep drop in farm income and a Congressional Budget Office forecast of lower SNAP costs for years to come.
Rice prices are up as India restricts exports
The global rice market is still feeling the impact of India’s decision last August to limit its rice exports in the name of battling high domestic food prices, said two IFPRI analysts. “Rice-importing countries in sub-Saharan Africa have felt the greatest impacts, scrambling to find alternative sources even as global rice prices have risen more than 20 percent since India imposed its restrictions,” they wrote in a blog.
‘We are in for a bumpy time’ with Prop 12, says Vilsack
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told state agriculture directors to fasten their Prop 12 seat belts on Wednesday because “we’re going to have to get to a point where ... chaos becomes really prevalent” in the meat market before there’s a decision on who regulates interstate trade. “We are in for a bumpy time,” he said.
While still above average, farm income is forecast to fall this year
U.S. farm income will tumble for the second year in a row from the record set in 2022, pulled down by lower commodity prices and rising production costs, forecast the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. Net farm income would fall 25 percent, to $116.1 billion, but still run 15 percent ahead of its 10-year average.
Farm-state Democrats prod House Republicans to compromise on farm bill
Right-wing extremists among House Republicans are seeking a one-sided farm bill when it is time for serious negotiations and compromise, said Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday. "Our bipartisanship is in need of a big lift," said Georgia Rep. David Scott, the senior Democrat on the committee.
As input prices fall, farmers’ concerns shift to commodity prices
For the past year, the top concern, by far, of U.S. farmers polled by Purdue University has been higher input costs. Now, it's a tie between lower commodity prices and higher input costs at 28 percent each, said the monthly Ag Economy Barometer on Tuesday.
The farm bill hall of shame
With the state of the next farm bill in crisis, FERN and Mother Jones launched a series of articles that analyze the nature of that crisis and explore the emerging issues that are changing the mandate of the nation’s most important agricultural legislation. In today’s piece, Claire Kelloway unpacks the ill-fated and sometimes shameful histories of the major debates that continue to shape today’s farm bill.