Production surges for biomass-based diesel fuel
The production of biomass-based diesel, a category that includes motor and aviation fuel, reached 4 billion gallons in 2023, a 1-billion-gallon gain from the previous year, said the Clean Fuels Alliance America on Monday. "The clean fuels industry achieved what EPA said could not be done – namely continued growth of advanced biodiesel, renewable diesel, SAF [sustainable aviation fuel], and heating oil from sustainably sourced feedstocks,” said Kurt Kovarik, vice president of the trade group
Duvall: Biggest problem facing agriculture is lack of labor
Congress must reform the guestworker program to ensure there are enough workers on the farm to produce America's food, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group on Sunday. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
EPA: Nutrient runoff is widespread waterway stressor
Four of every 10 miles of U.S. rivers and streams are in poor condition because of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, said the EPA in its latest National Rivers and Streams Assessment.
Ethanol is just inefficient solar energy. Time to bring the real thing to Iowa.
USDA pilot program will test remote grading of beef carcasses
The USDA is launching a pilot program that will grade cattle carcasses by using images submitted electronically by small meatpackers rather than sending an inspector to the plant, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce on Friday. The Remote Grading Pilot for Beef is intended to reduce costs for small packers while giving them an opportunity to increase the value of the meat they produce.
Stabenow open to reference price proposals, a farm bill obstacle
In a bid to break the farm bill deadlock, Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow said that she was “open to proposals” to increase so-called effective reference prices for all crops in the U.S. farm program but would not accept cuts in SNAP or climate funding. “If we’re going to get a farm bill done this spring to keep farmers farming, it’s time to get serious,” she said in a letter to all senators.
Interest rates rise faster than farmland values, says economist
For the first time since 2001, interest rates are rising faster than farmland values, creating a potential obstacle to land purchasers, said assistant economist Ty Kreitman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. “With interest costs now above average land value appreciation, farm operating profits will determine the magnitude of returns for financed land,” he said.
Red Sea attacks reverberate in food and ag trade
Rebel attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea are disrupting grain shipments from Europe, Ukraine, and Russia to customers in East Africa and Asia, with the potential to drive up food costs in import-dependent countries, said a think tank blog on Wednesday. “While this worst-case scenario for the Red Sea crisis is still unlikely, the current disruption is a reminder of the fragility of supply chains and the need for countries to be flexible in sourcing food when disruptions occur.”
Rural Iowa was important but not decisive for Trump, says analysis
Former president Donald Trump won 60 percent of the rural vote in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, well above his statewide total of 51 percent. But his victory Monday in the first-in-the-nation test of voter support for presidential candidates was built on the vote in towns, where most Iowans live, said a Daily Yonder analysis.
Little mixing of crops and solar panels in agrivoltaics, so far
The infant industry of agrivoltaics most often combines a large solar farm with pollinator-friendly vegetation rather than crop production, said USDA analysts. In the near term, the land might also be used for sheep pasturage or for high-value crops such as blueberries, but most farm equipment is too big to work around the panels.
Oldest U.S. senator, Grassley of Iowa, is hospitalized with infection
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the oldest serving senator, was in a Washington hospital for treatment of an infection, said his office on Tuesday. Grassley, 90, is a bulldog advocate of corn ethanol and a longtime proponent of stricter limits on farm subsidy payments.
U.S. crop prices head downhill after roller coaster climb
After soaring to sky-high levels following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, U.S. corn, soybean, and wheat prices are coming back to earth as supplies expand worldwide, said the Agriculture Department. The average price for corn this marketing year will be 27 percent lower, wheat 18 percent lower, and soybeans 10 percent lower than last season, said USDA analysts in a new look at global supply and demand.
Six-week government funding bill is proposed
The Senate was scheduled to take a procedural vote on Tuesday afternoon to keep the government running until early March, a six-week extension of the stop-gap funding bill now in place. If Congress fails to act, funding for the USDA and four other federal departments would expire on Friday.
Ethanol stands out in nationalized campaigning in Iowa
Republican presidential candidates pledged allegiance to corn ethanol ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses in a contest dominated by former president Donald Trump and his personality. There was little room for any farm policy debate in an effectively nationalized campaign.
As food inflation rate falls, consumer optimism rises
The U.S. food inflation rate, on the decline since August 2022, shrank to an annualized rate of 2.7 percent at the end of 2023, said the monthly Consumer Price Index report on Thursday. A Purdue survey said Americans’ expectations of food inflation are the lowest in two years, suggesting consumers are more optimistic about prices this year.
As inflation falls, ‘backwards pressure’ on food prices, analyst says
Compared to food price inflation of 11 percent in 2022, grocery price increases will be virtually nonexistent this year, said a Wells Fargo analyst Wednesday during a panel discussion on the 2024 outlook for the food and ag sector. A Rabobank analyst said that softer commodity prices would take the steam out of the hot farmland market.
Iowa eyes tougher enforcement of land ownership rules
Pointing at China, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds asked state lawmakers for stronger enforcement of laws that limit foreign ownership of farmland. “Let’s make sure that American soil remains in American hands,” she said during an annual address to the legislature.
Summer EBT to provide $2.5 billion in grocery assistance
Roughly seven of every 10 school-age children will be included in the new Summer EBT program, which is expected to disburse $2.5 billion in its first year of operation, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday.
Lower commodity prices point to belt-tightening for corn and soy growers
Corn and soybean growers will operate in "a much tighter margin environment" this year than in recent years because of lower market prices for the crops, said two University of Illinois agricultural economists on Tuesday. They cited fertilizer and land rents as potential areas for cost cutting.
After warmest year, world likely to cross 1.5 degree C climate-change threshold
The world in 2023 recorded its warmest calendar year since the start of the industrial era, with an average surface temperature that was 1.48 degrees C higher than preindustrial times, said the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service on Tuesday. Very soon, the world will see a 12-month period that exceeds the 1.5 degree threshold, where sustained high temperatures heighten the risk of climate-related catastrophes.