A livestock “mini-boom” could last for several years
Livestock producers can anticipate strong returns in coming years in a "mini-boom" that could last for several years, says Purdue economist Chris Hurt in a university news release.
Low market prices could mean $6-$8 billion in corn subsidies
Two agricultural economists say corn subsidies could cost $6 to $8 billion for this year's record-large corn crop, says Reuters. The estimates are based on the projected U.S. average price of $3.50 a bushel for the crop, the price guarantees of the farm bill and...
Beef supplies to stay tight while cattle herd is rebuilt
Beef will be in tight supply through 2015 and into 2016 but consumers may get a break from record prices with an increased volume of chicken, turkey and pork, said economist Chris Hurt of Purdue.
Hefty subsidy needed for adoption of cover crops
Only 5 percent of U.S. cropland is planted to cover crops amid debate over their financial benefits to farmers. Congress may need to offer a "sizable" subsidy to growers if it wants large-scale adoption of the farming practice, said two university economists.
USDA allows more leeway on cover crops
Four months after it announced a temporary rule change, the USDA said on Wednesday that it would alter crop insurance rules permanently so farmers can hay, graze, or chop cover crops at any time and still be eligible for a full prevented planting payment.
Cover crops grow in popularity, but still a niche
Extolled as a defense against erosion and nutrient loss during fallow seasons, cover crops are being planted on a larger portion of U.S. cropland than before, said USDA economists. Plantings expanded 50 percent in a five-year period, but still only 5 percent of cropland is sown with them—and incentive payments are an important factor in adoption of the practice.
Climate change could accelerate soil erosion
U.S. cropland could lose two inches of soil nationwide by 2035 if climate change delivers its expected droughts and floods, said the Union of Concerned Scientists on Thursday. In a report, the group recommended such steps as crop insurance discounts for farmers who adopt practices that reduce erosion and improve soil health.
In praise of ‘prairie strips’ for reducing runoff
Planting thin strips of native grasses and flowers at the edges of cropland delivers a broad range of conservation benefits— from reducing soil loss and runoff to attracting pollinators — according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Time to bust the meat trust
Grocery inflation expected to be at its lowest since 2019
Grocery prices will rise a modest 1.2 percent this year and 1.1 percent in 2025, the smallest increases since 2019 but modestly higher than previously forecast, said USDA economists. Beef prices were expected to rise 5.6 percent this year, faster than its usual annual increase, but slow down in the new year.
Commodity price boom is fading away, says FAPRI
The season-average prices for most U.S. agricultural commodities are on a decline that could persist into 2026, said a report from the FAPRI think tank at the University of Missouri. Global economic growth has slowed after a heady recovery from the pandemic in 2021, and world grain production is up this year, creating more competition for U.S. crops.
As U.S. cattle herd shrinks, meatpackers ‘are scrambling’
Drought and high feed costs have driven ranchers to send cattle to slaughter instead of keeping them for breeding, Reuters reports, shrinking the U.S. beef herd to its smallest size since 1962. As a result, meatpackers are paying considerably more for the cows they turn into meat, which cuts into their profits.
Beef and pork prices retreat while grocery prices climb
Grocery prices will rise 7.8 percent this year, three times the usual pace for food inflation albeit slower than in 2022, said USDA economists in the monthly Food Price Outlook.
Despite its hopes, China will remain a food importer, analysts say
President Xi Jinping has made food security a national priority since becoming China's leader a decade ago, with a multi-prong drive for self-sufficiency in food. It is "an improbable, if not impossible, goal," say analysts from the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a brief.
Reports: As digital grocery market expands, questions of access, fairness, and affordability loom
The rapid rise of food delivery and online grocery shopping, particularly among SNAP recipients, is both transforming the food system and raising new questions about how to measure and improve access to food and food security, according to two new reports from the Brookings Institution.
Drones are the ‘Wild West’ of aviation regulation
Regulations for use of drone aircraft "are significantly lagging the pace of innovation," says a Brookings Institution blog post. The writers point to reports of misuse of drones, from smuggling drugs to interfering with firefighters, and say that "we are living in the proverbial wild West."
Survey finds strong support for immigration reform
Only 7 percent of Americans believe the U.S. immigration system is "generally working," says a survey by the Brookings Institution and the Public Religion Research Institute.
Critics say House farm bill would pay out every year for Southern crops
Crop supports would be set so high in the farm bill written by House Republicans that cotton, peanut, and rice growers, and probably wheat and sorghum farmers too, "would receive a payment every year," said an environmental group on Tuesday. Farm groups called for Agriculture Committee passage of the bill later this week despite questions about the financial underpinnings of the five-year legislation.
Farm-state GOP senators call for higher crop insurance subsidies
Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee proposed a $4 billion injection into the crop insurance program so that the government would pay a larger share of the premiums on policies offering the highest levels of coverage. "We need more farm in the farm bill to get it passed," said Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, the lead sponsor, on Tuesday.
Fungicides are leading culprit in new Dirty Dozen report
Four of the five most frequently detected chemicals on fruit and vegetables in the Environmental Working Group's annual Dirty Dozen list are fungicides linked to endocrine disruption and reproductive system damage in humans.
USDA approves climate funds for unproven practices, say EWG
The USDA has inflated its spending total for climate mitigation by including practices that are not proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon in the soil, said the Environmental Working Group on Wednesday. The USDA said EWG's conclusions were "fundamentally flawed, speculative, and rest on incorrect assumptions."
Food prices are not going to decrease, says analyst
Despite the attention the cost of food is getting in the presidential campaign, “food prices are not going to decrease,” said Aaron Smith, a University of California professor of agricultural and resource economics, in a blog on Thursday. “In a healthy economy, the prices of individual products go up and down, but the general price level only goes up.”
Survey: One in four Americans seeks a healthier diet
One in four Americans entered 2024 with a goal of changing their diet to improve their health or lose weight, according to a survey by Purdue University. “We see that the majority of consumers plan to limit processed foods in their diets, while fewer plan to follow more alternative diets such as vegetarian and vegan,” the survey said.
Report: Governments must ‘drastically improve’ efforts to reduce emissions in food, land-use systems
As the first week of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) winds down, a new analysis of emissions-reduction pledges finds that those countries that have contributed the most to climate change have committed to do far too little to reduce emissions from the food system and leverage the carbon sequestration potential of landscapes. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Global glut of palm oil adds to India’s health woes
Rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related diseases have soared in India and other developing countries in recent years, coinciding with a flood of cheap palm oil that is used in everything from processed snacks and fast food to traditional foods like samosas and poori, according to the latest story from FERN, published with The Nation. <strong>No paywall</strong>
Multinational food companies dive into developing countries
Four reasons to check out FERN’s SXSW panel on Big Food
Next week, FERN is headed to Austin, where I’m moderating two panels at SXSW! One of them — The Future of Big Food: What’s at Stake? — will take on big questions about where Big Food companies are headed. As eaters increasingly want transparency about ingredients, healthier options, and more sustainable packaging, where does that leave manufacturers? And will new labeling regulations shift the grocery environment? <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
FDA on ‘fast track’ to assess labeling of non-dairy milks
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it is moving ahead on modernizing its standards of identity for plant-based dairy alternatives, like soy and almond milks.
FDA plans to update definition of “milk”
Dairy farmers lament that the supermarket dairy case is packed with soy milk and almond milk as well as milk from cows. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the agency will update its definition of milk over the next year. "An almond doesn't lactate, I will confess," said Gottlieb at a Politico showcase.
Is non-dairy milk about to be mainstream?
Market research company Mintel says sales of non-dairy milk grew 9 percent in 2015, while dairy milk sales fell 7 percent, the food industry news site Food Dive says. "The non-dairy segment started out as an alternative category catering to those with food allergies but it has since evolved beyond a trend."
Bipartisan group in Congress takes aim at plant-based milk
With sales of cow milk flat or falling and those of plant-based "milk" soaring, a bipartisan group of 34 House member sent a letter to the FDA, urging it to "more aggressively police the improper use of dairy terms, which are used on the labels of many products that have no real dairy ingredients," reports Feedstuffs.
Loan guarantees for ‘middle of the supply chain’
The USDA will create a $100 million loan-guarantee program to expand processing capacity in the meat industry and improve the infrastructure of the food chain, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. The program is "focused on the middle of the supply chain," he said, such as mobile processing units, new cold storage equipment and formation of cooperatives to gather, process and market farm goods.
Farmers’ markets survived 2020, but the Delta variant poses new challenges
Many vendors who sell at farmers' markets saw a huge boost in sales last year, even as markets themselves struggled with the higher overhead costs of pandemic safety measures. This season, the growing threat of the Delta variant looms over a market experience that was nearly back to normal, say market managers and advocates.
Bipartisan coalition of House members urge inclusion of local agriculture program in farm bill
A bipartisan coalition of 43 members of the House urged farm bill conferees to include the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) in the final version of the farm bill. In a letter sent Tuesday, the members expressed support for permanent mandatory funding for LAMP, a provision included in the Senate version of the bill.
AquaBounty, developer of GMO salmon, to cease fish farming operations
AquaBounty Technologies, which in 2015 became the first company to gain FDA approval of a GMO animal for human consumption, a salmon, said that after months of retrenchment, it would shut down its fish farming operations. Environmental groups had challenged the FDA decision in court for years and won promises from major grocers and food service companies not to stock the AquAdvantage salmon.
EPA, FDA, and USDA will overhaul biotech regulations
The three federal agencies that share jurisdiction over genetically engineered plants and animals said on Wednesday that they would update and streamline biotechnology regulations in five areas, including modified food animals. The United States is a worldwide leader in agricultural biotechnology.
USDA allows more time to discuss regulation of GE animals
The USDA announced an additional 60 days for public comment on a proposal that originated in the final weeks of the Trump administration to put USDA, rather than FDA, in charge of regulating livestock and poultry created through genetic engineering.
FDA must study what happens if GMO salmon escape, says judge
A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the FDA on Thursday to take a new and stronger look at the potential consequences on native salmon if AquaBounty's fast-growing GMO salmon escaped from fish farms and established itself in the wild.
Using CRISPR to create a ‘boys only’ cattle herd
One of the best-known scientists in the GMO world, Alison Van Eenennaam, “aims to create a bull that will father only male offspring” through a bit of gene editing with CRISPR, said MIT Technology Review.
Ag chemicals in tap water – “that’s just the way it is”
When state officials said many rivers and streams around Edgerton in southwestern Minnesota were unsafe for swimming and fishing because of agricultural run-off, it wasn't news in the local paper.
Egg prices plateau, but how long to rebuild hen flocks?
Grade A Large eggs are selling for an average $1.46 a dozen at grocery stores, little changed from the $1.49 a dozen a week ago but below the $1.54 seen a year ago, says the USDA's weekly egg report.
Moran, overseer of USDA funds, has $1.4 mln for campaign
Kansas Republican Jerry Moran, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, has $1.4 million in cash in his campaign fund, said Roll Call.
On America’s grocery list – more fresh food, less processed
Grocery shoppers are spending less time, and money, in the center aisles of the supermarket, where the processed foods dwell and more time in the dairy case, meat counter and produce bins, says the Minneapolis Star Tribune.