ADM proposes carbon dioxide pipeline, third in Iowa
Agribusiness giant ADM said on Tuesday it would reduce its carbon footprint by building a 350-mile pipeline to transport carbon dioxide for injection in central Illinois from its ethanol plants in eastern Iowa. It was the third carbon dioxide pipeline proposed for Iowa, the No. 1 corn and ethanol producing state.
High global wheat prices through 2023 — IFPRI analysts
There are no overnight replacements for Ukraine and Russia in global wheat production, said five IFPRI analysts on Monday. "Even under the most optimistic assumptions, global wheat prices will remain high throughout 2022 and the trend is likely to persist through 2023, given limits on expanding production."
Novel partnership to bolster organic dairy in Northeast
To help organic dairy farms survive in the Northeast, a first-of-its-kind partnership is asking consumers to pledge to buy dairy products from 35 brands that agreed to expand their purchases of milk from the farms. The Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership was a response to decisions by processors to pull out of the region, said Gary Hirshberg, a co-founder of Stonyfield, on Wednesday.
With eye on Ukraine, G7 ag ministers warn nations to avoid food hoarding and profiteering
To mitigate the impact of war in Ukraine on global food supplies, the G7's agriculture ministers called on all nations to keep their trade channels open and to guard against unjustified limits on exports. "We will not tolerate artificially inflated prices that could diminish the availability of food and agricultural products," said the ministers in a statement after a special meeting convened via the internet.
School food directors propose free meals for all students
Congress should revise child nutrition programs so that all students are eligible for free meals at school, said the School Nutrition Association in a position paper released on Tuesday. The group, which speaks on behalf of school food directors, also called for higher reimbursement rates for each lunch and breakfast served.
Food prices rise at fastest pace in 41 years
The food inflation rate is up for the ninth month in a row and now matches the U.S. inflation rate of 7.9 percent a year, with double-digit increases in the price of meat, milk, and fresh fruit, said the government on Thursday. Prices for groceries rose even faster, 8.6 percent, than the overall food index, which includes food sold at restaurants, fast-food outlets, and company cafeterias.
Farmers, hit by supply chain delays, expect higher input costs
Supply-chain disruptions "haunt the nation's agricultural sector," with four of every 10 large-scale farmers and ranchers reporting difficulties in buying inputs ranging from fertilizer to farm equipment parts, according to a Purdue University survey released on Tuesday. Operators also increasingly expect to pay dearly for the goods.
$250 million in USDA grants to boost fertilizer output
The Agriculture Department will launch a $250-million-dollar grant program this summer to support "independent, innovative and sustainable" fertilizer production at home and to reduce reliance on imports. The USDA also said it would launch a public inquiry into concentration in the seed and agricultural input, fertilizer and retail markets.
Second bird flu outbreak in Missouri in two days
Just one day after officials reported bird flu on a turkey farm in Missouri’s Jasper County, they confirmed another outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a poultry farm in neighboring Lawrence County. The discovery increased the toll of “high path” bird flu among U.S. domestic flocks since Feb. 8 to 3.04 million birds, almost all of them chickens or turkeys.
Deere to market fully autonomous tractor for farm tillage
The world's largest farm equipment maker, Deere and Co., said on Tuesday it will begin sales later this year of a "fully autonomous tractor that's ready for large-scale production," but limited for the moment to tillage. "The machine combines Deere's 8R tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system, and new advanced technologies," said Deere, which unveiled the autonomous tractor at a consumer technology show in Las Vegas.
Bird flu found in Illinois and Kansas
"High path" bird flu was identified in backyard flocks in central Illinois and eastern Kansas, said a USDA agency on Saturday. The outbreak in Franklin County, Kansas, about 55 miles southwest of Kansas City, was the farthest west that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been confirmed in a domestic flock this year.
‘You have a partner in the White House,’ Biden tells farmers
In a video message to a sector that overwhelmingly voted against him, President Biden told farmers on Monday, "you have a partner in the White House" who is pursuing agricultural prosperity and fair prices in the marketplace. Biden, who has assailed meatpackers for high profits during the pandemic, pointed to a proposed $1 billion to expand slaughter capacity and efforts to keep ag exports moving despite port congestion.
Conservation tillage is dominant U.S. practice
Over a 10-year period, conservation tillage became the most popular tillage practice on U.S. cropland, said a USDA agency on Thursday. The Natural Resources Conservation Service said the practice, which leaves crop residue on at least 30 percent of the soil surface to reduce erosion, had been adopted on 53.4 million acres by the mid-2010s.
India agrees to allow imports of U.S. pork
After years of U.S. prodding, India has agreed to allow imports of U.S. pork and pork products, said the Biden administration on Monday. Despite being the second-most populous nation on earth, India imports small amounts of pork at present, but U.S. farm groups believe there is great potential for sales.
As the climate changes, new efforts arise to diversify what’s grown in the Corn Belt
A growing number of farmers, researchers and nonprofits are working to transform the Midwestern corn and soybean belt into a more diverse cropping region, including a new USDA-funded project at Purdue University designed to study how to help growers diversify their farms. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Supreme Court rejects bid for year-round E15 sales
The Supreme Court, without comment, refused to hear an ethanol industry appeal to reinstate year-round sales of E15, gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol. A federal appeals court ruled last July that the EPA, acting at the direction of then-President Trump, exceeded its authority in approving summertime sales of E15 in 2019.
Free school meals will end with the school year, lawmakers decide
Pandemic-fighting waivers that allow schools to serve meals for free to all students will expire on June 30, House and Senate appropriators agreed on Wednesday, despite a campaign to continue universal free meals in the upcoming 2022-23 school year. An anti-hunger advocate said that millions of children will “face a hunger cliff when they lose access to summer and school meals.”
U.S. will vigorously enforce fair-play laws in meatpacking, says Biden
President Biden announced a four-point plan for increased competition in the meat industry on Monday, including "across the board" enforcement of antitrust laws and support of legislation to inject transparency into cattle pricing. During a virtual meeting with farmers and ranchers, Biden said meatpacking, dominated by a handful of big processors, was a textbook example of the perils of corporate consolidation.
War to cut Ukraine and Russia wheat exports by 12 percent
The Russian invasion of Ukraine will slash wheat exports from the countries by a combined 12 percent, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday in an initial assessment of the short-term impact of the war. Nations from Europe to Asia and Africa will import somewhat less wheat in coming months in the face of higher prices and reduced supplies from the Black Sea region, it said.
Bird flu again hits Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri
Some 3 million birds, almost all of them chickens and turkeys, have died in outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza since the first confirmation of the disease in domestic flocks on Feb. 8, said a USDA agency on Wednesday. The latest outbreaks involved 442,000 chickens and turkeys on farms in Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri.