Land reserve loses allure: With Conservation Reserve contracts expiring on 4 million acres this fall, landowners have re-enrolled 52-56 percent of the land, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, suggesting high commodity prices were luring land back into crops. “It’s a pretty significant number of acres that won’t be in the program,” he told reporters. (FERN’s Ag Insider)
Three challenge Chairman Scott: Georgia Rep. David Scott, the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, faces three challengers in the Democratic primary election in May in his suburban Atlanta district. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Biden taps Logan for FCA: President Biden nominated lawyer and investment adviser Vincent Logan, a member of the Osage Nation, to serve on the board of the Farm Credit Administration, the regulator of the farm credit system. (White House)
Cow pies sell like hot cakes: Farmers looking for alternatives to high-priced chemical fertilizers are creating a booming market for manure, the original fertilizer, and now, according to an industry consultant, “absolutely a hot commodity.” (Reuters)
Brown, Harris are safe: New congressional maps put Democratic Rep. Shontel Brown of Ohio, a House Agriculture Committee member, and Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, a member of the Appropriations subcommittee in charge of USDA and FDA spending, in safe districts for re-election. (Sabato’s Crystal Ball)