Farmers lean toward more corn and wheat, less soy in 2018
After setting back-to-back records for soybean plantings, U.S. farmers indicated in a survey that they will plant more wheat and corn while cutting back on soybeans in 2018, said Farm Futures. Soybeans nearly matched corn, the most widely grown crop in the nation, in acreage this year with farmers believing the oilseed would be more profitable than corn.
U.S. ag exports rebound from slump, tie for third-largest ever
U.S. farm exports will total $139.8 billion this fiscal year, the third-highest tally ever and ending a slump in sales that begin in 2014 following the collapse of the commodity boom, estimated the USDA in a quarterly report. In its first forecast for fiscal 2018, the USDA pegged exports at $139 billion.
Harvey could put a dent in U.S. cotton output
Based on conditions at the start of August, the USDA forecast the largest U.S. cotton crop in 11 years, 20.6 million bales, but the estimate "is far from a certainty" after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, the largest cotton-growing state, says an American Farm Bureau Federation analysis. "Severe flooding related to Hurricane Harvey is likely to have impacted major cotton producing regions."
Activists seek to make all hens in California cage-free
Animal welfare activists, led by the Humane Society of the United States, have filed papers in California to introduce an initiative that would make all eggs cage-free in the state by 2022.
Americans less accepting of GMO food than GMO meds
Two Purdue researchers say Americans are far more skeptical of genetically engineered crops and livestock than a GMO solution to a health risk, such as the mosquito-spread Zika virus. A survey of 964 people found that 78 percent would support release of GMO mosquitoes to stop Zika while 44 percent would accept GMO livestock, 49 percent would accept GMO crops and 48 percent would accept GMO produce.
Inspector general to review Pruitt’s frequent trips to Oklahoma
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt spent 43 days out of a 92-day stretch from March to May in Oklahoma or traveling between his home state and Washington, according to a group of former EPA officials. "Based on congressional requests and a hotline complaint," the EPA inspector general's office said it will investigate Pruitt's frequent trips, reported the Oklahoman.
Dietary guidelines need an update, says study that questions fat, carb advice
A major global study of 135,000 people in 18 countries around the world says moderate consumption of fat, fruits and vegetables and avoidance of high carbohydrate intake is associated with a lower risk of death – results that are contrary to popular belief about fat. "Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings," say the researchers in the study published in the journal The Lancet.
Warmer ocean will mean smaller fish, says study
Fish species could shrink in size by as much as 30 percent thanks to climate change, says a study in the journal Global Change Biology. “Fish, as cold-blooded animals, cannot regulate their own body temperatures. When ocean waters become warmer, a fish’s metabolism accelerates, and it needs more oxygen to sustain its body functions,” says Nexus Media.
GAO says ‘significant savings’ possible in crop insurance costs
The government could pare as much as $464 million annually from the cost of running the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance system if it set more stringent terms with insurers, said a congressional watchdog agency. The recommendations hit different areas than the White House has targeted, or that lawmakers are expected to pursue in writing the 2018 farm bill.
New York City waits while FDA aims for menu labeling next year
FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the agency "will provide additional, practical guidance" to food retailers by the end of the year so they will be ready to comply with menu-labeling rules when they take effect, which is now scheduled for May 2018. The FDA announced it was going forward with the May 2018 target at the same time New York City agreed in court not to enforce its own labeling law until next May.
Lawsuit calls for USDA to release study on QR codes and GMO food labeling
The anti-GMO group Center for Food Safety filed suit against the USDA to force release of a study on the impact of using digital disclosures such as QR codes to identify foods made with GMO ingredients. "In the United States, there has never been a food labeling requirement met by QR codes," says the center, which prefers a written label on food packages.
Using a plastic bag in Kenya could land you in prison
Kenya has passed the strictest plastic bag ban in the world, punishing anyone who sells or uses plastic bags with four years in prison or a $40,000 fine. Proponents of the law say that marine animals often end up strangled by or ingesting plastic. “If we continue like this, by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish,” said Habib El-Habr, an expert on ocean trash working with Kenya’s UN environment program.
A quarter of Texas beef cows are in area hit by Harvey
Texas is easily the largest cattle state in the country, with 12.3 million head, or nearly one of every seven head in the U.S. inventory of 93.6 million cattle. The 54 Texas counties declared a disaster area due to damage by Hurricane Harvey hold 1.2 million beef cows, the animals that are the foundation of the cattle industry, says livestock economist David Anderson of Texas A&M.
Amid a global glut, the Wheat Belt considers its alternatives
U.S. wheat plantings are the smallest in nearly a decade because of low market prices and large stockpiles worldwide, so growers in traditional wheat states are experimenting with alternative crops, says The Associated Press. They are dabbling in "crops that might be less iconic but are suddenly in demand, such as chickpeas and lentils, used in hummus and healthy snacks."
Study: Many U.S. lakes are keeping up with pollution, if not exactly getting cleaner
Lake pollution has largely remained unchanged since 1990, despite expanding agriculture, urban development and climate change, says a study of 3,000 lakes in the Midwest and eastern states. Seven percent of the lakes in the study saw increases in phosphorus — a common component of farm runoff that’s implicated in toxic green-algae blooms. Nine percent of those lakes saw improvements.
Trump says it again about NAFTA: ‘may have to terminate’
Mexico and Canada are being "very difficult" in negotiations for the new NAFTA, President Trump said with the second round of talks to begin on Friday, adding in a tweet, "may have to terminate?" It was the second time since talks started that Trump has said the United States might abandon the 1994 free trade agreement among the three largest countries, and neighbors, on the continent.
Rain and flooding from Harvey likely to disrupt wheat exports
Flooding from tropical storm Harvey, the most powerful storm to strike the United States as a hurricane in more than a decade, will disrupt wheat shipments from the ports of Houston and Corpus Christi, says Ben Scholz of the Texas Wheat Producers Board. Scholz told Bloomberg that most of the Texas wheat crop was not affected by Harvey but exports could suffer.
Amazon’s Whole Foods buyout won’t necessarily lower your grocery bill
Grocery shoppers to see lower beef prices for second year in a row
The mid-summer count of the U.S. cattle inventory was the largest in nine years, which means more beef production and lower beef prices in the supermarket for the second year in a row. "Lower beef prices are most likely adding pressure to lower pork prices," say USDA economists in the monthly Food Price Outlook.