Ag Policy
Net cash farm income, which tracks producers’ cash flow, is forecast by USDA at $134.7B for 2021. That number is up $6.4B from February’s forecast and would be an increase of 21.5% from 2020’s $110.9B.
Hurricane Ida, and possible aid to producers, was a big topic of the Farm Journal Farm Country Update with Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday. Vilsack highlighted when additional aid may be on the way.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join Clinton Griffiths for a virtual live town-hall Sept. 2 at 2 p.m. CDT. Farmers and ranchers will ask about the most pressing issues and opportunities they face.
The future of USDA’s CFAP is unclear with biofuels groups and pork producers are questioning when and if they’ll get paid. As USDA continues to divvy out relief funds for agriculture, reports show funds are running low.
USDA is out with its new ag export forecast for both this year and next, and it’s showing exports could hit $173.5 billion in 2021, $4 billion more than 2020, due to higher livestock, poultry and dairy exports.
China’s pork production is expected to decline 14% in 2022, while pork imports are expected to climb 5.1 MT with consumer demand exceeding domestic production, according to a USDA attaché report released last week.
Canada has joined Mexico in seeking formal consultation with the United States over the interpretation of content rules for automobiles set out in the North American trade pact, Mexico and Canada said on Friday.
The United States said it is seeking to avoid disruptions to pork exports if the territories of Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands detect the fatal pig disease African swine fever.
USDA announced updates to CFAP 2, with the biggest revisions occurring for contract producers of livestock and specialty crops. The deadline is now October 12 to sign up or make modifications to existing applications.
Prop 12 specified that by Jan. 1, pork sold in California will have to meet higher standards of animal welfare. Hog producers in the Midwest especially are concerned, with one CEO predicting pork price increases of 50%.
The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday, and transportation could receive more than half the new funding slated in the bill, but the plan is expected to hit a major roadblock in the House.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack joined AgriTalk host Chip Flory on Tuesday to celebrate what he described as an important first step in the process of improving infrastructure in rural America and across the country.
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst is backing a measure to strip out California’s Prop 12. Her goal is to ensure pork producers from across the country, including her home state, can continue selling pork in the U.S.
The number of dogs being imported into the U.S. for resale from countries affected by ASF is growing. Combine that with an increasing risk of foreign animal disease spread, and it’s a formula for potential disaster.
Livestock producers need more time to make required changes to their operations in order to comply with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ proposed Regulations Implementing the Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals.
The dollar lurched lower on Monday, back towards the one-month lows hit last week when it became clear the Fed was in no hurry to tighten policy.
EPA announced it’s creating a durable definition of WOTUS by reverting back to the pre-Obama era rule as a framework. EPA is encouraging farmers and ranchers to weigh in during a series of public meetings in August.
The Senate cleared a key procedural vote on a bipartisan infrastructure deal Wednesday, which could set Biden’s infrastructure focus into action. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called it “a very big moment.”
A Senate hearing on Capitol Hill this week focused on “beefing up the supply chain,” but it was the prices paid to producers also in focus, as Senators pressed on everything from price discovery to transparency.
Competition in the meat sector was a focus on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The same day of the House Ag Committee’s hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee put the meatpacking industry in the hot seat with calls for change.
New WHIP+ legislation made its way out of the House Agriculture Committee Tuesday. The $8.5B bill expands not only the type of weather events and resulted losses covered, but also the level of drought needed to qualify.
U.S. and Chinese officials met face-to-face for high-level talks, and the meeting had a tense tone as the countries remain at odds over issues from cyber security to human rights.
Democratic lawmakers are renewing the effort to end what they call “factory farming,” while livestock groups like NCBA call the legislation a jumbled mess.
Twelve groups representing farmers and companies who make a majority of America’s meat, poultry, dairy and animal feed and ingredients, unveiled the Protein PACT for the People, Animals, and Climate of Tomorrow
Pork processors were nixed in their bid to stay a lower court’s decision that killed part of a USDA rule that let plants operate without line-speed limits, reports Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer.
In order for gene editing in agricultural animals to “unleash enormous gains in productivity,” a remodeling of the federal landscape is imperative, experts conclude.
USDA announced Tuesday “Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program,” or PLIP, to help compensate livestock and poultry producers who were forced to depopulate their herds due to processing issues during the pandemic.
After President Biden signed a sweeping Executive Order late last week, NCBA and other livestock groups praised the President’s focus on meat, poultry. However, not every ag group is on board with the President’s plan.
USDA Secretary Vilsack is expected to announce $500 million in new funds to expand meat processing capacity during a trip Friday to Council Bluffs, Iowa, according to Jim Wiesemeyer.
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says after a year of climbing global food costs, the global food price index saw a decline, yet prices are still up nearly 34% from a year ago.