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Today’s quick hits, April 19, 2024
$1 billion in food aid: The Biden administration will use $1 billion from a USDA reserve to buy, ship, and distribute U.S.-grown foods for emergency assistance to 18 nations in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. (USDA) BLM to offer conservation leases: A rule released Thursday by the Bureau of …
Senators tell administration to ‘play offense’ on trade
The Biden administration is sitting on its hands when it ought to be knocking down trade barriers and negotiating new trade pacts for U.S. food and ag exports, said a bipartisan chorus of senators on Wednesday. Since President Biden took office in 2021, the administration has not initiated formal talks for a new free trade agreement anywhere, said members of the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing on the U.S. trade agenda.
Swampbuster rule is unconstitutional, says Iowa lawsuit
The Agriculture Department violates the Constitution by barring farmers from its support programs if they plant crops on wetlands, said an Iowa lawsuit that challenges the four-decade-old Swampbuster rule. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which won a Supreme Court decision last May that narrowed federal protection of wetlands, is one of three conservative law firms representing the plaintiff, CTM Holdings LLC.
Today’s quick hits, April 18, 2024
CHS to buy elevators: Farmer-owned CHS said it plans to buy eight grain elevators in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota from grain processor Cargill with the goal of “efficiently connecting our owners to the global marketplace.” (CHS Inc.) Healthy food partnerships: The …
Farm bill vote in committee before Memorial Day, says House Ag chairman
After repeated delays, House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson said on Tuesday that his committee, "without a doubt, will mark up a farm bill before Memorial Day." Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee plan to release a farm bill framework soon after the House panel acts, but Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat, cautioned, "We haven't set an exact timeline" to move the bill.
In food and beverage exports, EU points to heritage and quality
The European Union is running a four-year promotion of its food and beverage exports to the United States at the same time sales are nearly stagnant. The USDA says EU imports will grow by 1 percent in fiscal 2024, to $33.9 billion.
Today’s quick hits, April 17, 2024
Restore surveys, says AFBF: The largest U.S. farm group, the American Farm Bureau Federation, asked the USDA to reverse its decision — due to funding shortages — to terminate county-level estimates of crops and livestock, a semi-annual Cattle inventory report, and a cotton yield survey. (AFBF) …
House Republicans embrace ‘pretty radical’ farm bill ideas — Vilsack
Most of the Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee — 21 of 29 — support "pretty radical" farm bill proposals at a time when only a bipartisan bill is sure of enactment, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. "It just underscores the difficulty of getting to a farm bill" when control of Congress is almost evenly divided, he said.
India uses wheat stockpile to fight inflation
India is drawing down its government-held wheat reserves more rapidly than expected as it tries to control inflation, said the monthly Wheat Outlook on Monday. USDA analysts lowered by 2.1 million metric tons their estimate of India's wheat supply at the end of this marketing year.
Today’s quick hits, April 16, 2024
‘Stay tuned’ for E15: EPA agriculture adviser Rod Snyder told reporters to stay tuned when asked whether an EPA announcement allowing summertime sale of E15 was imminent. (North American Agricultural Journalists) Launch specialty crop caucus: Four U.S. representatives — Democrats …
USDA: Test for bird flu before interstate transport of cattle
Michigan officials said the H5N1 bird flu virus has infected three additional dairy herds in the state, just as the USDA recommended farmers test their herds for the virus before moving cattle between states. The tests "should both give us more ... information and should mitigate further state-to-state spread between herds," said the USDA's animal health agency.
Rivals trim soy oil’s lead among biomass-based diesel feedstocks
With the explosion in production of renewable diesel, yellow grease and corn oil are cutting into soybean oil's position as the dominant feedstock for biomass-based diesel fuel, said three agricultural economists.
Today’s quick hits, April 15, 2024
Far right courts farmers: Far-right politicians in Europe are making common cause with protesting farmers, hoping to broaden their appeal by promising an overhaul of EU agricultural policies. (Washington Post) ‘Don’t cut interest rates’: The Federal Reserve should be patient …
Drought imperils production of corn, a vital food, in southern Africa
Hot and dry weather has reduced corn yields throughout southern Africa, “threatening food security for millions of households depending on this key staple for a significant share of calories consumed on a daily basis,” said the IFPRI think tank. In South Africa, the region’s major corn grower, the harvest could fall by 18 percent from the previous crop, said the USDA on Thursday.
Food insecurity twice as high in U.S. military as among civilians
A quarter of the U.S. military experienced food insecurity in recent years, more than twice the civilian rate of 10 percent, said a USDA report on Thursday. Rates were highest among active-duty personnel under the age of 25 who were members of a minority group and whose spouses were unemployed.
Today’s quick hits, April 12, 2024
HPAI in South Dakota cattle: USDA scientists confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza in a dairy herd in South Dakota, the first time the virus has been detected in the state. Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas also have infected herds. (News.SD.gov) FRAC …
Brazil, an agricultural giant, could expand cropland by 35 percent, say analysts
Already a major soybean, corn, and cotton grower, Brazil could expand its crop area by 35 percent through the conversion of overgrazed and overgrown pastureland, according to a research agency that is part of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. Besides the potential addition of 70 million acres of cropland, Brazil could increase production by devoting more land to second-crop corn, said a team of U.S. university economists.
HPAI found in dairy cows in seventh state
The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in a dairy herd in North Carolina, said state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler on Wednesday, making it the seventh state in a little over two weeks to report infected cattle. “We have spent years developing ways to handle HPAI in poultry, but this is new, and we are working with our state and federal partners to develop protocols to handle this situation,” he said.