Food index highest in six years: Vegetable oil prices soared “a stunning 14.5 percent” in one month because of reduced palm oil supplies, lifting the FAO Food Price Index, a composite of prices for six types of commodities, to its highest level since December 2014. (UN Food and Agriculture Organization)
Deadline extended for seafood aid: Fishermen and other producers have until Jan. 15 to apply for payments of up to $250,000 from the Seafood Trade Relief Program, a one-month extension from the original deadline of Dec. 14. (USDA)
Food inflation at 3.6 percent in OECD: Food prices are 3.6 percent higher than a year ago in the three dozen industrialized nations that make up the OECD. In the United States, the food inflation rate was 4 percent. (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
‘One-in-four’ rule goes nationwide: Under the terms of a crop insurance rule that will go into effect nationally in 2021, farmers who want to qualify for prevented planting coverage must have planted, insured, and harvested the acreage in at least one of the previous four years, said the USDA. (Risk Management Agency)
A plan for indoor farming in Appalachia: Startup company AppHarvest, touting the twin benefits of local food production and job creation, is hoping to bring large-scale indoor agricultural production to Appalachia. (Daily Yonder)