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supply chain

Biden signs ocean shipping reforms into law

Ocean carriers will be barred from unreasonably refusing to load U.S. cargo, a practice that blossomed during pandemic-related port congestion, under a bill signed into law by President Biden on Thursday.

Senate passes ocean shipping reform bill

On a voice vote, the Senate passed a shipping reform bill on Thursday that would make it harder for ocean carriers to unreasonably refuse to load U.S. goods ready for shipment at ports.

California ag exports down by $2.1 billion due to ‘Containergeddon’

The cargo pileup at West Coast ports may have had a greater impact on farm exports from California than the Sino-U.S. trade war did, said three economists on Wednesday. They estimated losses of $2.1 billion in foreign sales during a five-month period because of port congestion, comparing that to economic losses of about $500 million for California agriculture during the first year of the trade war.

Food a factor in highest inflation rate in three decades

With the U.S. inflation rate at 6.2 percent — the highest it's been since 1990 — President Biden said the government was on the alert for price gouging as it worked to remove bottlenecks in the supply chain. Inflation has been on the rise since February, and soaring food prices, often led by meat, are an important factor.

Empty shelves will soon be ‘a thing of the past,’ says grocery supply expert

As the novel coronavirus spreads, many people have stocked up on pantry items and paper products in anticipation of hunkering down at home for an extended period, creating temporary shortages of certain products. To better understand the grocery supply chain and how stores are stocked, FERN turned to Dr. Ananth Iyer, a professor of supply chain management at Purdue University and director of the university's Global Supply Chain Management Initiative. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>

FDA: Coronavirus disrupts supply chain for U.S. animal drugs

Six firms are seeing disruptions in the supply chain because of Covid-19 that could lead to shortages of animal drugs for the U.S. market, said the FDA in an update. Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said USDA animal scientists are "looking for any kind of possibility, even vaccines, that may help" against the viral disease.

Nestle, Coca-Cola and Smithfield top water sustainability list

On average, food companies improved their management of water by 10 percent compared to 2015, according to the report Feeding Ourselves Thirsty, published by the nonprofit investor coalition Ceres.