Bigger global corn crop this year, says IGC
World grain supplies will rise marginally in 2023/24, buoyed by larger corn harvests in the United States, the EU, and Argentina, said the International Grains Council on Thursday. The council’s monthly Grain Market Report said corn production would rise 4.5 percent, to reach 1.202 billion tonnes worldwide.
U.S. farm exports rise 14 percent to record high
Boosted by large increases in most sales categories, U.S. farm exports mushroomed to a record $196.4 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to newly released Commerce Department data.
UN: Global food prices are lowest in 30 months
Led by “much weaker” vegetable oil, dairy, and grain prices, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s index of global food prices fell to its lowest level since May 2016. The price of vegetable oil dropped to a 12-year low.
Climate change puts more than a billion people at risk of iron deficiency
Rising levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will reduce the amount of nutrients in staple crops such as rice and wheat, say researchers at Harvard's public health school. As a consequence, more than 1 billion women and children would lose a large amount of their dietary iron intake and be at larger risk of anemia and other diseases.
Reports of three new human cases of bird flu include California child
Arizona health officials said two workers employed at poultry farms have recovered from mild cases of bird flu while the public health agency in Marin County, north of San Francisco, said it was investigating a possible bird flu infection of a child. If confirmed by the CDC, the U.S. total for bird flu infections would rise to 61 people in eight states this year.
U.S. tally of bird flu infections in people rises to 44
Three additional dairy farmworkers in California contracted bird flu, raising the state total to 20 cases and the U.S. tally to 44 people since March, said the Centers for Disease Control on Monday. "To date, person-to-person spread of H5 bird flu has not been identified in the United States" and the risk to the general public remained low, said the agency.
Poultry workers treated for avian flu infections in Washington State
Four workers tested positive for the avian flu virus after culling chickens at an egg farm in southeastern Washington state — the first human cases reported in the Pacific Northwest. The diagnoses potentially raise the U.S. total to 31 since late March, though "the number of cases under investigation may change" as more people are tested, said the state Department of Health.
Stabenow: Farmers need hurricane aid
Hurricane Helene struck the U.S. Southeast as crops were maturing for harvest and growers will need emergency assistance, said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on Monday. Poultry barns and processing plants along with field crops were damaged from Florida to North Carolina and Tennessee, according to early reports.
Third year of farm income decline is on the horizon
Lower market prices for many crops and for poultry will pull down farmer income in 2025, bringing the third year in a row of declining net farm income, said the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) on Monday. Net farm income, a gauge of profitability, would fall by 6 percent in 2025 and rebound modestly in 2026, said the University of Missouri think tank.
To avert food shortage, U.S. and allies will boost food aid and grow more
Global food shortages are a real possibility as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden told reporters while meeting with allies in Brussels on Thursday. Western leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, joined Biden in saying they would step up their hunger-relief programs and encourage their farmers to grow more food.
Europe to till fallow land to offset food shortages from war in Ukraine
Responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission approved a $550 million aid package for its farmers on Wednesday and said they could grow food and feed crops on fallowed land without losing any of their so-called greening payments.
Bayer in talks with BASF about its vegetable seeds business
German ag and healthcare giant Bayer said it is “in exclusive talks with BASF on the sale of its entire vegetable seeds business” as a way of gaining European approval for its takeover of Monsanto.
European Commission retreats on 10-year license for glyphosate
France, an EU ag giant, will vote against 10-year glyphosate license
France is open to phasing out use of the weedkiller glyphosate within its borders and will vote against a proposed 10-year EU license for the weedkiller, said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. Reuters reported that Philippe asked the agriculture and environment ministries to propose by the end of this year "a plan to move away from glyphosate in light of current research and available alternatives for farmers."
‘Precision nutrition’ to combat diet-related diseases, says Vilsack
The USDA said it would accelerate research into diet-related diseases on Monday as part of President Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years. "Precision nutrition," to fine-tune individual diets for health, will be one of the areas of study, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Voluntary FDA guidelines would cut salt intake by 12 percent
With Americans consuming 50 percent more salt than recommended, the FDA issued voluntary guidelines on Wednesday that would reduce sodium content in packaged and restaurant food, the major source of salt in the diet. The FDA said guidelines might "become one of the most significant public health nutrition interventions in a generation."
True cost of food? $2.1 trillion more than the grocery bill.
Study: Ag’s ammonia emissions rose 78 percent over last 40 years
Agricultural intensification and a lack of regulations drove a 78-percent increase in the farm sector’s ammonia emissions between 1980 and 2018, according to a paper published by The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
Report: Fertilizer responsible for more than 20 percent of total agricultural emissions
As the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) gets underway in Glasgow, a new report finds that synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought, outpacing even the commercial aviation industry. The report, from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Greenpeace and GRAIN, urges a swift transition toward more sustainable food production in order to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
U.S. fertilizer makers harmed by imports, says trade agency
There is a "reasonable indication" that domestic fertilizer manufacturers are being hurt by the alleged dumping of imported fertilizer in the United States, the U.S. International Trade Commission declared in a unanimous vote. As a result of the ITC vote, the Commerce Department will continue its investigation of imports of urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) from Russia and from Trinidad and Tobago.
Agriculture a key source of nitrous oxide emissions
Farmers around the world are using ever-larger amounts of nitrogen fertilizers to improve yields and harvest more food. But the synthetic fertilizers, along with manure produced by livestock and used as a natural fertilizer, are the "dominant driver" in rising levels of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere, said a paper published Wednesday in Nature.
Who will reap the benefits of Mexico’s ‘miraculous’ nitrogen-fixing maize?
Last summer, researchers from Mars Inc. and UC Davis announced the "discovery" of a variety of corn grown in Oaxaca that fixes its own nitrogen through mucus-covered aerial roots. Their study, in the journal PLOS Biology, touched off a debate—in Mexico and beyond—about the effectiveness of global policies designed to safeguard the genetic resources of indigenous communities, according to FERN's latest story, published with Yale Environment 360.
In downward cycle, Ag’s impact felt on Main Street
Main Street businesses in the Plains are feeling the pinch of lower commodity prices while producers throughout the Farm Belt are watching their pennies, said quarterly reports from three regional Federal Reserve banks.
First yearly decline in Midwest farmland value since 1986
"Good" farmland declined in value by 3 percent in the central Corn Belt during 2014, "marking the first yearly decline since 1986," said the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, based on a survey of bankers. The largest decline was 7 percent in Iowa. "Half of the respondents expected farmland values to fall during the January through March period of 2015," said the Chicago Fed in its quarterly Ag Letter. Only 1 percent of lenders "remained hopeful that farmland values would rise in the areas surrounding their respective banks."
Ranchland value rising, cropland is steady or declining
Cropland values are steady or starting to erode while ranch and pasture land is rising in value, say agricultural bankers in the Midwest and central Plains.
Main Street begins to feel the pinch of lower farm income
Farmers and ranchers are tightening their purse strings and spending less in town, say farm bankers across the Farm Belt. With farm income down due to sharply lower commodity prices, cutbacks are expected to continue into the fall at a minimum.
Two MacArthur grants spotlight interplay of trees and climate
The MacArthur Foundation awarded “genius” grants this year to A. Park Williams, a hydroclimatologist who is developing a wildfire forecasting model after studying climate change and tree mortality, and Lucy Hutyra, an environmental ecologist whose studies show that conserving urban forest fragments helps mitigate local impacts of climate change.
Corn and soy growers take a step back from cover crops, says Purdue survey
Fewer of America's large-scale corn and soybean farmers are planting cover crops this year than last, and nobody says they're doing it to lock carbon in the soil, said a Purdue University survey on Tuesday. Cover crops, long promoted as a way to improve soil health, have more recently been promoted as an agricultural practice that mitigates climate change and could be a new source of income.
Climate mitigation gets $3 billion boost at USDA
More than $3 billion in USDA cost-sharing funds will be available to producers and foresters for climate mitigation projects in the fiscal year that begins this Sunday, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday.
Incentive payments help farmers start with cover crops, says report
Nine out of 10 farmers say they definitely or probably will stick with cover crops after the expiration of financial incentives to add the crops to their operations, said a report based on a survey of 795 farmers nationwide. Half of the participants in the National Cover Crop Survey said they had received some sort of payment for cover crops in 2022.
Climate, broadband among farm bill goals of New Democrat Coalition
The new farm bill should encourage rural economic development by making high-speed internet widely available and build on historic investments in carbon sequestration, said a group of center-left House Democrats.
Senate bill would double funding for two ag export programs
A bipartisan group of four senators, including two members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, proposed doubling funding over the next five years for two USDA programs that promote U.S. farm exports. The senators acted as Congress prepares to write the 2018 farm bill, which usually includes export programs.
Lawmakers propose a doubling of funds for export promotion
Six U.S. representatives proposed to double, over a five-year period, the funding for two USDA programs that share costs with the private sector in developing overseas markets for American foods. The statutory funding levels for the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development program (FMD) have not been increased in more than a decade, said lead sponsors Dan Newhouse and Chellie Pingree.
Groups get $200 million to build markets for U.S. ag exports
The Agriculture Department awarded $200 million through two programs to help 70 agricultural organizations build overseas markets for U.S. farm exports, which generate 20 cents of each $1 in net cash farm income. Most of the money, $173.5 million, will flow through the cost-sharing Market Access Program (MAP).
U.S. market-development programs have big impact overseas
Two USDA programs that share the cost of developing markets overseas for U.S. farm exports have a return on investment of 28 to 1, says a study by Informa Economics and released by U.S. Wheat Associates. The study said the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program boosted farm export revenue by $8.2 billion annually from 1977-2014.
USDA assesses vaccine to protect cattle from bird flu virus
The Agriculture Department said its research agency “has begun to assess the potential to develop an effective vaccine” against the H5N1 bird flu virus in cattle, although it warned that it is too early to say how long the process would take. The virus has so far infected 29 dairy herds in eight states, though there have been no detections in commercial beef herds since the disease was identified in cattle in late March.
Researchers identify potential remedy for citrus greening disease
Since it was confirmed in Florida 25 years ago, citrus greening disease has slashed citrus production in the state by 75 percent and infected trees in Louisiana, Texas, and California. USDA researchers said on Thursday they have found a potential remedy that boosts a citrus tree’s natural resistance to disease, including citrus greening.
USDA vaccine candidate is effective against African swine fever
In an achievement the USDA described as a major step for science and agriculture, scientists at the Agricultural Research Service have developed a vaccine candidate that protects hogs from the deadly African swine fever.
GOP hoots ‘elitist’ as Democrats question USDA’s plan to relocate researchers
Hoping to dissuade Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, farm-state Democrats in Congress asked for a cost-benefit analysis that would justify moving two USDA research agencies out of Washington. Two senior Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee ridiculed the opposition to the relocation as elitism and knee-jerk obstructionism of President Trump.
Groups ask USDA for stronger rules on scientific integrity
Rise in commodity prices slows decline in farm income, say bankers
Agricultural lenders expect farm income, which weakened in the spring, to continue to decline this summer, although a recent rally in corn, soybean, and wheat prices will act as a stabilizer, said Federal Reserve banks in Kansas City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis on Thursday.
Ag lender Rabobank joins UNEP in $1-billion sustainable-agriculture initiative
In conjunction with World Food Day, agricultural lender Rabobank announced a global program, "Kickstart Food," to encourage sustainable food production, beginning with a $1-billion "facility" for land restoration and forest protection. The facility was launched in partnership with the UN Environment Program.
Dip in farm lending as sector copes with lower income
Ag bankers are charging higher interest rates and allowing longer repayment periods because of persistently lower farm income, says the Ag Finance Databook published by the Federal Reserve. The quarterly publication says farm loan volume was down 7 percent during the first six months of this year compared to January-June 2016.