Pioneer, a “crown jewel,” affected by DuPont tussle
Fast-growing Pioneer, one of the largest U.S. seed companies, could face "long-term repercussions" from a proposal by a New York investor to break up corporate parent DuPont, reports the Des Moines Register.
Large array of groups oppose food and farm cuts
Some 392 groups, ranging from bankers and equipment makers to farmers and antihunger activists, asked the Senate and House Budget committees to forgo any cuts in Agriculture Department programs.
USDA extends enrollment for green payments by two weeks
Farmers and ranchers have two additional weeks to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program, which pays producers for practicing conservation on working lands. The deadline for applications initially was set for Friday but now will be March 13, says the Natural Resources Conservation Service. An official announcement will be made this morning.
“Bad” foods outpace good as diets change worldwide
Consumption of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables improved worldwide over the two decades ending in 2010, but "intake of unhealthy foods including processed meat and sweetened drinks" rose more rapidly, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Global Health.
Sugarcane aphid, voracious sorghum pest, heads northward
"It sounds like the plot of a cheesy 1950s sci-fi movie," says Delta Farm Press in a story about the rapid spread of the sugarcane aphid, which can cause huge losses in sorghum yields.
Merrigan succeeds Hirshberg at AGree farm-policy project
Former deputy agriculture secretary Kathleen Merrigan will become a co-chair of the AGree farm-policy initiative, succeeding Gary Hirshberg, founder of the organic food company Stonyfield Farm. Hirshberg is a leader in the campaign to label GMO foods. As a Senate staff worker, Merrigan had a key role in legislation creating the national organic program in 1990 and in implementing it nearly a decade later at the USDA. She was deputy secretary from 2009-13.
Farm equipment purchases slump, land prices weak-Bankers
Agricultural bankers in 10 states in the Midwest and Plains expect a 15-percent decline in farm equipment sales this year, says a survey by Creighton University, in Omaha.
“More resilient” agriculture vital to future food supply-FAO
Around the globe, "food systems need to be more sustainable, inclusive and resilient," says the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. In a speech in Paris, Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said...
Soybean inventory to balloon, corn stocks to contract a bit
The second mammoth soybean crop in two years will swell U.S. supply to its largest size in nine years, says the Agriculture Department in updated projections for this year's crops. The soybean stockpile, forecast for 385 million bushels when this year's crop is mature, is expected to grow by 12 percent, to 430 million bushels, by Sept. 1, 2016, despite record soybean exports, says the USDA. On the final day of its annual Outlook Forum, it projected...
Doubts about White House proposal for single food agency
Three weeks after the White House proposed a central agency for food safety, the proposal "is already running into opposition from some food safety experts, consumer groups and the inspectors who would be most affected.
The school cafeteria, a place to chill out
San Francisco is remodeling its public school cafeterias to make them more attractive to students, according to stories in The Atlantic and on KGO-TV. The idea is to ensure students eat a nourishing meal.
Organic farming grows worldwide, says federation
The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements claims that 2 million of the world's 1.5 billion farmers produce organic goods and 80 percent of them are in developing countries, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor.
Diet panel – Eat more fruit, veggies, dairy and less meat
The new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans should encourage people to eat more fruit, vegetables, dairy and whole grains and less sugar and refined grains, says a panel of experts advising the government. In its report, the panel says half of Americans have preventable, chronic diseases and two-thirds are overweight or obese. The persistent and high level of diet-related disease "raise the urgency for immediate attention and bold action," says the panel.
U.S., EU have significant disagreements on trade pact
The United States and European Union have serious disagreements still to resolve in negotiations for a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement, say the agriculture ministers from each side of the ocean.
China is top US ag export customer, although purchases dip
China "is expected to remain the largest destination for U.S. agricultural products for the fifth consecutive year" even though its purchases will drop by $2 billion, to $23.6 billion, this year, said the USDA's chief economist Robert Johansson at the Outlook Forum. China buys nearly one-fifth of U.S. farm exports. Canada is the No. 2 market at $21.8 billion, and Mexico is third at $18.7 billion, followed by Japan and Europe.
U.S. tally of farms dips by nearly 1 percent, to 2.084 million
The government estimates there are 2.084 million farms in the country, down nearly 1 percent from last year due to a drop in the number of the very smallest farms, those with less than $10,000 in annual sales.
USDA projects third mammoth corn crop in a row
U.S. farmers will grow their second-largest soybean crop ever this year, and the third-largest corn crop, according to the USDA's revised projections of spring planting. In the opening day of its Outlook Forum, the department projected corn plantings of 89 million acres and soybeans at 83.5 million acres. That's 1 million more acres of corn than was projected in December and 500,000 fewer acres of soybeans. It would put soybean plantings just below the record 83.7 million acres of 2014.
Coming soon – grocery prices you can see through
The Internet age, in which information wants to be free, soon will affect grocery shopping, says industry consultant John Hauptman of Willard Bishop. He puts price transparency at the top of three future trends for food retailers. It is inevitable, he said during a panel discussion at USDA's Outlook Forum, that grocers will post more and more of their prices on the Internet, allowing customers to browse electronically for the best deals and for store managers to monitor a competitor's prices.
In erosive Palouse, wheat growers look for soil-holding crops
Karl Kupers was an early convert to no-till wheat in the arid and erodible Palouse region of the U.S. Northwest, where wheat is dominant, says a reader-funded story on Flux.
USDA data-fest highlights early crop projections
The USDA's annual Outlook Forum traditionally generates headlines with its projections of U.S. crop production seven months before harvest, a challenging exercise considering the many factors that could intervene. A late-winter surge in commodity prices could sway planting decisions, a cold and rainy spring can force last-minute changes among crops, and a summer drought can destroy crop prospects.