Duvall: Biggest problem facing agriculture is lack of labor

Congress must reform the guestworker program to ensure there are enough workers on the farm to produce America's food, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group on Sunday. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Meatpackers hiring more guestworkers
Nearly twice as many meat-processing plants employ short-term foreign workers than in 2015, "a small but growing trend" in the industry, said an Investigate Midwest report. Seaboard Foods, one of the companies using H-2B guestworkers, said it pays the workers the same wage and provides the same benefits that it gives domestic employees, although the comparatively small number of guestworkers wear a hard hat with an identifying color.
Ads for seasonal workers go digital
For years, farmers and ranchers were required to advertise in newspapers for American workers before they were allowed to hire seasonal workers from other nations. Effective Oct. 21, employers can post job openings on a Labor Department site — SeasonalJobs.dol.gov — and dispense with printed advertisements.
For livestock groups, USMCA and year-round labor visas are top priorities

Will farmers feel a chill when Trump cools the U.S.-Cuba thaw?

Nearly two decades ago, Congress exempted food and agricultural goods from the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, opening the way for modest exports to the island. The 2000 law would be somewhat of a shield for those sales when President Trump realigns U.S. policy toward Havana, scheduled in Miami on Friday.
Agriculture may help end the Cuban trade embargo, says Obama
The United States and Cuba, adversaries since the 1960s, agreed to cooperate in improving food production and conserving natural resources as part of President Obama's visit to Havana.
Obama to Congress: Pass TPP, end Cuba embargo
The United States can show its leadership in the world and reap benefits for itself through cooperative action, President Obama said in his final State of the Union speech. During the hour-long address, he asked Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific free-trade agreement and to end the half-century trade embargo on Cuba.
Florida ag sees competitor where US ag sees Cuban market

While U.S. farm groups see Cuba as a natural, nearby market for exports, growers in Florida worry that Cuba will be a competitor in agriculture, says the Miami Herald. Janell Hendren of the Florida Farm Bureau told the Herald, "You can't lift the [trade] embargo without increasing imports from Cuba to the United States. And we are very concerned with imports." Agricultural economist William Messina at U-Florida says Cuba and Florida grow many of the same products - sugar, citrus, vegetables, tropical fruit and fish.
A note from Chuck

Half a century ago, in 1973, I entered the news business as a reporter for a small weekly paper in Missouri. And now, it’s time to leave the party. I will continue my reporting here at Ag Insider through the end of the current Congressional session, at which time Ag Insider will be put to bed one last time. The final edition will go out Monday, December 23.
Farm income declines in northern Plains, say ag bankers

The two-year decline in commodity prices drove down farm income in the northern Plains this summer, ag bankers said overwhelmingly in a survey by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, and they expect income to fall again this winter. Farmers have cut back on major purchases and loan demand is up, the bankers said.
U.S. crop production unlikely to suffer much from floods

Spring flooding in the northern Plains and western Corn Belt will have a marginal impact on corn and soybean plantings, according to a USDA survey of growers and initial tallies of flooded land. With normal weather and yields, there would be limited impact on production of the two most widely grown U.S. crops, thanks to the huge amount of cropland nationwide.
Crop tour points to lowest spring wheat yield since 2008
A three-day lightning tour of the spring wheat crop in the northern Plains points to the lowest average yield in nine years, “a sign of the intense drought conditions plaguing much of the western Dakotas this year,” said DTN. Crop scouts checked 496 fields and saw a “high number of abandoned fields in the western counties, many of which had been cut and baled for hay” because the wheat was not worth harvesting.
USDA opens more land to emergency forage in drought-hit northern Plains
Faced with prolonged and intensifying drought in the northern Plains, USDA opened a still-larger portion of the Conservation Reserve, ordinarily off-limits to farm work, to emergency haying and grazing. In its fourth announcement of permission for landowners to use the idled land for livestock forage, the USDA said haying and grazing would be permitted on wetlands and on buffer strips, often used to protect waterways from farm runoff, that are enrolled in the reserve.
Louisiana patient is first severe U.S. case of bird flu

A Louisiana resident was hospitalized with “severe illness” due to the bird flu virus, the most serious U.S. case since the viral disease appeared in wild birds in the South nearly three years ago, said the Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as bird flu outbreaks in dairy herds, previously limited to the Central Valley, were detected in Southern California.
USDA orders testing nationwide for bird flu virus in milk fresh from the cow

One mutation could make H5N1 a greater threat, researchers say
While there has been no sign of person-to-person spread of bird flu, researchers said on Thursday that a single mutation in the H5N1 avian influenza virus could enhance the virus’ ability to attach to human cells. That could potentially increase the possibility of transmission among humans, said the study, led by a team of scientists at the Scripps Research Institute.
Raw Farm recalls all unpasteurized whole milk and cream products
A Fresno dairy recalled all of its unpasteurized whole milk and cream products following “multiple bird flu detections in the company’s milk and dairy in the past week,” said the California Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the 32nd human case of bird flu in the state.
Ukraine grain exports to suffer as Russia blockades Black Sea

The United States will work with allies to find new ways to get Ukrainian grain onto the world market following Russia's decision to effectively blockade its ports again, said an administration spokesman on Monday. Nonetheless, exports from Ukraine, a leading supplier of wheat, corn, and sunflower oil, are sure to decline with the demise of the year-old Black Sea grain agreement, he said.
G7 farm ministers: Expand Ukraine grain exports via the Black Sea

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had a devastating impact on global food security, said Group of 7 agriculture ministers on Sunday in a communique that called for expansion of Ukrainian grain shipments via a the Black Sea Grain corridor that is exempt from attack.
Winter wheat crop weakens under cold and dry conditions
In the key wheat states of Kansas and Oklahoma, the winter wheat is in significantly poorer condition than it was in late November due to adverse weather in the past month, said Reuters, which compared current ratings with a Nov. 27 report.
House defeats Trump-backed government funding bill
One day after President-elect Donald Trump shot down a stopgap government funding bill, the House defeated a Trump-backed bill written by Republicans to keep the government running until March 14. The GOP bill included $31 billion to buffer the impact in rural America of natural disasters and lower farm income.
Trump and Vance oppose funding bill that includes farm aid
President-elect Donald Trump called for a “streamlined spending bill” that also increases the federal debt ceiling on Wednesday as a replacement for the three-month government funding bill that congressional leaders produced the preceding day. That bill included $10 billion to offset a decline in farm income and $21 billion in disaster relief for agriculture.
Analyst: Farm bill prospects nearly nonexistent this year

Except for the “lame duck long shot” of a post-election compromise, the slim chances that Congress will pass a new farm bill this year “have become nonexistent,” said farm policy expert Jonathan Coppess on Thursday. The primary reason is the “long-unspecified demand” by Republicans for higher crop subsidy spending without providing details, wrote Coppess, a USDA official during the Obama era, at the farmdoc daily blog.
Senate proposes higher funding than House for WIC and food aid

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a USDA-FDA funding bill on Thursday that would spend $1.6 billion more on WIC and international food aid than the version approved by House appropriators one day earlier. The greatest difference, $1.1 billion, was in funding for Food for Peace, the leading U.S. food aid program.
Obama bolsters his foreign-aid legacy with Global Food Security Act
President Obama signed the bipartisan Global Food Security Act of 2016 yesterday, steering $7 billion toward agricultural development and hunger-relief efforts around the world, and ensuring that both public and private operations would continue to work together to fund these efforts in Africa and other food-insecure regions.
Congress passes global food-security bill
The House gave final congressional approval, 359-53, to a bill that calls for a comprehensive U.S. strategy to reduce hunger and malnutrition in developing nations. President Obama praised passage of the bill, which makes permanent the Feed the Future program, an early initiative of his administration.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves food aid bill
Legislation intended to make U.S. food assistance programs more efficient was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill includes the first-ever authorization of the Feed the Future, an Obama administration initiative to improve local food production.
Senate confirms Smith as AID chief
The Senate confirmed Gayle Smith as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development on a 79-7 roll call, seven months after she was nominated by President Obama, said The Hill newspaper.
USDA reopens offices in farm country, as anxiety about nutrition programs rises
Potential BLM chief has fought the agency for years
Karen Budd-Fallen, a Wyoming-based lawyer with a history of representing ranchers against the Bureau of Land Management, has announced that she’s in the running to be the BLM’s next director. With a long career of protecting private-property rights, Budd-Fallen, “has challenged grazing regulations and endangered species protections, and in a landmark case attempted to sue individual BLM employees under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
Perdue unveils plan to reorganize USDA’s rural, farm and trade wings

Two weeks into the job, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue proposed today the first reorganization of USDA since 1994, a rapid start to President Trump's instructions to the cabinet to increase federal efficiency. The Perdue package creates a new position, undersecretary for trade; abolishes the undersecretary for rural development so Perdue would directly oversee economic development programs; and puts one undersecretary in charge of farm subsidies and land stewardship, responsibilities now split between two undersecretaries.
EPA and Interior overhaul scientific advisory boards to favor industry
In a move meant to stem government regulation, the EPA is cutting academic scientists from its scientific review board and replacing them with industry representatives, while the Interior Department prepares for a review of the scientists on its own advisory council.
Rep. Blumenauer’s ‘outsider’ farm bill comes in from the cold
An amalgam of budget hawks, environmentalists and food movement activists are scheduled to call for reform of U.S. food and ag policy today as Rep. Earl Blumenauer unveils legislation to challenge the farm bill being assembled by the House Agriculture Committee.
Pruitt says EPA will no longer settle with green groups behind doors
EPA chief Scott Pruitt says the agency will no longer settle lawsuits with environmental groups behind closed doors, arguing that the Obama administration regularly excluded industry and state governments from those conversations while pandering to green activists.
Utah Rep. Chaffetz won’t seek re-election
“I have long advocated public service should be for a limited time and not a lifetime or full career,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, about his decision to not run for re-election. “After more than 1,500 nights away from my home, it is time.”
Pacelle leaves Humane Society as donors question his leadership
Less than 24 hours after a vote of confidence from the board of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle resigned as its chief executive due to complaints of sexual harassment. "Major donors said they would withdraw or reconsider their support," said the blog Nonprofit Chronicles. "Two of Pacelle's accusers went public with their charges. Others surfaced."
Pacelle stays as Humane Society chief, one-fifth of board members quit
Seven of the 31 members of the board of the Humane Society of the United States resigned in protest of the decision to keep Wayne Pacelle as the group’s chief executive, said the Washington Post.
U.S. appeals court overturns dismissal of pork checkoff suit
The U.S. appeals court in Washington "is breathing new life into a previously dismissed lawsuit alleging pork checkoff funds were indirectly used to benefit the lobbying efforts of the National Pork Producers Council," said Agri-Pulse.