livestock prices
White House next stop for ag reauthorization bill
In less than four minutes, the House debated and passed bills to reauthorize for five years the export grain inspection program and require meatpackers to report the purchase price of cattle, hogs and sheep. Statutory authority for both expires on Wednesday. The Senate approved the reauthorizations last week in a single bill, so now that bill goes to the White House.
House sends export inspection, livestock price bills to Senate
In less than half an hour, the House passed on voice votes bills to reauthorize the Grain Standards Act and the mandatory livestock price reporting program, each with significant modifications to prevent disruption of service. The bills now go to the Senate. The Grain Standards bill would require the USDA to step in immediately if there is an interruption of inspection of grain at export terminals, either by dispatching federal inspectors or inspectors from state agencies empowered to conduct the work.
Smaller tractors make big waves in equipment sales
Livestock producers are buying a lot of tractors these days, the result of high cattle and hog prices, while sales falter for the big tractors and self-propelled combines used by grain farmers, says AgWeb.
Farm-gate prices fall as harvest nears
Corn, soybean and wheat prices fell during August amid forecasts of a record fall harvest, said the monthly Agricultural Prices report.
Farm sector stronger than expected in a down year
Record livestock prices and bumper crops are blunting greatly a downturn in the farm economy, said the Agriculture Department in its semiannual Farm Sector Income forecast. USDA says net cash farm income, a measure of the ability to pay bills, will drop by 6 percent this year instead of the 22 percent plunge forecast in February.
Feeder livestock borrowing up 50 percent in Fed survey
Agricultural banks say loan volume for feeder livestock rose by 50 percent in the second quarter of this year after rising by 13 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve in its Agricultural Finance Databook.
Farm income jumps 14 percent to record high
High commodity prices, due in part to warfare in Ukraine, will propel U.S. net farm income to a record $160.5 billion this year, despite a steep climb in expenses, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. Farm income, a gauge of profitability, would be 14 percent higher than last year.