Illinois agriculture director out after six months on the job
Phil Nelson, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau for a decade, is on his way out as state agriculture director after six months on the job. Gov. Bruce Rauner's office announced that Nelson resigned with no explanation of the departure, said the Springfield State Journal-Register.
Hog inventory rebounds from deadly epidemic
U.S. farms hold 68.4 million head of hogs, up 4 percent from a year ago when the sector began to recover from the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus that killed millions of piglets and drove pork prices to record highs, said the USDA in a quarterly report.
Sharply lower poultry, fish and dairy prices calm food inflation
Grocery store prices for food will rise by a lower-than-average 2 percent this year, held down by large supplies of broiler chickens and dairy products, according to a government forecast. The monthly Food Price Outlook said fish and seafood prices would rise at half their usual rate, also constraining food inflation. Poultry, seafood and dairy account for nearly 11 cents of every food dollar. Americans spend 59 cents of their food dollar for "food at home" - groceries - and 41 cents on carry-out and sit-down meals.
Debt burden rises as farmers seek more short-term loans
"Weaker farm income and depressed crop prices have forced operators to burn through working capital and increase their usage of operating loan lines," says the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
Ag, energy, defense are familiar to likely new House speaker
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a fifth-term lawmaker and the favorite to become the next speaker of the House, represents the southern San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada. Agriculture, energy and defense are the three major industries of this slice of California's Central Valley, says a description by McCarthy's office of his district.
Four federal departments to cooperate against rural child poverty
The Obama administration named 10 communities from Machias, Maine, to Blanding, Utah, as demonstration sites for a cooperative effort by four federal departments to reduce child poverty in rural America.
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With today's issue, FERN's Ag Insider has its own website, available here, and will also continue as an electronic newsletter, published from Monday through Friday.
Retail beef price up 15%, pork up 12% since last summer
Beef prices are up 15 percent from a year ago and pork prices are up nearly 12 percent due to short supplies, said the Agriculture Department in a look at food inflation. Some relief is expected in the remaining months of the year, so USDA forecasts the average beef price this year to be 9 percent higher than last year. Pork would be 8 percent higher.
Post Holdings buys major cage-free egg producer
Post Holdings Inc., of Saint Louis, hit hard by bird flu in the Midwest earlier this year, is buying Willamette Egg Farms, "one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading egg producers and a leader in the industry’s adoption of cage-free hen housing," said Capital Press.
Thin line of defense against wheat diseases
Only a few wheat scientists around the world are focused on developing wheat strains that can resist three fungal diseases - known as stem, leaf and stripe rust - that are capable of causing huge crop losses, says a University of Minnesota professor.
Dairy farmers, worried by TPP, protest outside Canada debate
Dairy farmers from Quebec brought two cows and their vocal opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc to the broadcast debate in Montreal of leaders of Canada's five major political parties, said CBC News.
China buys one-eighth of U.S. soybean crop
Ahead of today’s meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Obama, Chinese trade groups signed contracts to buy more than 484 million bushels of U.S. soybeans, a deal worth $5.3 billion, said the U.S. Soybean Export Council.
Monsanto sees its future in ‘big data’
Rebuffed in an attempt to buy rival Syngenta, Monsanto executives "are seeking to re-position the company as a business built on data science and services, as well as its traditional chemicals, seeds and genetic traits operations," says Reuters after interviewing chief technology officer Robert Fraley.
World grain stockpile heads for 29-year high
Global inventories of wheat and soybeans will stand at record highs at the end of the current marketing year, swollen by huge crops, said the International Grains Council in its monthly Grain Market Report.
Pope calls for ‘courageous actions’ against climate change
In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis said the United States must play an important role in mitigating climate change.
Land-rental rates are falling, but remain high
It took years for land-rental rates to rise during the agricultural boom, and now they are coming down much slower than commodity prices, which peaked in 2012, writes economist Gary Schnitkey of U-Illinois.
Los Angeles County mulls tax breaks for gardens
The board of supervisors in Los Angeles County took the first step toward implementing a state law that allows local governments to designate urban agriculture incentive zones, with lower taxes for owners of small plots who promise to grow food on them for five years, reports the Los Angeles Times.
First withdrawal from ‘doomsday’ seed vault
The global seed bank built into an Arctic mountainside has approved the first withdrawal from its vaults, to help a research agency displaced by civil war in Syria, says Reuters.
Supreme Court may get Chesapeake Bay ‘pollution diet’ case
Agriculture and homebuilder groups "appear headed for the U.S. Supreme Court" in their opposition to the EPA’s "pollution diet" for the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America, says the Newport News (Va) Daily Press.
Everybody wants a bit of the USDA healthy-snack program
The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program is a tiny part of USDA's child-nutrition portfolio, yet plenty of groups want their products approved for the trays of healthy snacks given for free to schoolchildren in the poorest neighborhoods, says Politico.