Ag Policy
President Biden’s USDA FY 2023 budget proposal focuses on climate, conservation and research with $3.8 billion discretionary spending increase for USDA with climate, conservation and clean energy the major focal points.
Four U.S. Senators announced they have introduced a revised Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act and will push for a hearing on the bill by the Senate Agriculture Committee in the coming weeks.
Lawmakers introduce a bill to send an energy rebate any month the national average gas price exceeds $4 per gallon for the remainder of 2022.
USDA now expects food price inflation in 2022 to be from 4.5% to 5.5%, compared with 2021, based on the all-food Consumer Price Index. No category shows a potential decline.
Under Secy. Moffitt says her objective is to ensure producers have access to USDA dollars: “We see there’s a need for qualified technical expertise to capture the projects for producers and MPPTA will address that.”
Precedent-setting mandates are coming at ag from all angles, undermining freedom of farmers. These regulations aren’t based on science. They aren’t based on experience. Many argue they aren’t based on a shred of truth.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance is partnering the USDA to bring the Port of Seattle a 49-acre pop-up site that will accept both dry and refrigerated agricultural products for temporary storage.
Even with Russia removed from the global fertilizer market, it still doesn’t create worst-case scenario. StoneX Group says China could make the situation worse, as China and Russia account for 40% of global phosphate.
The Right to Repair movement in agriculture is a popular cause with farmers, for various good and questionable reasons. As multiple states create Right to Repair rules, it looks like we may be watching the wrong battle.
The pilot program marks a win for the U.S. cattle industry as it equips producers with the market data they need to make informed business decisions and work to capture more value for producing the highest quality beef.
Soft Red Winter (SRW) futures hit an all-time high Friday, as consecutive limit up trading days meant wheat prices topped a previous high set in 2008.
With the U.S. on the back end of COVID-19 and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine unraveling, USTR Katherine Tai says her office is currently focused on three themes: resilience, sustainability and competition.
As the Ukraine crisis continues to grab the world’s attention, President Biden’s State of the Union address declared the U.S. is in a better place than it was a year ago, while agriculture was left largely unmentioned.
Expect Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to dominate the State of the Union address tonight. As for issues affecting agriculture, there may be few details offered, says USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Congress returns Monday, but to a very different situation due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is expected to be one of the key issues President Biden talks about during his State of the Union address.
China will buy 40,000 tonnes of pork for its central state reserves this week, in the first round of such stockpiling this year, China Merchandise Reserve Management Center said on Monday.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis sent wheat prices skyrocketing 50 cents higher, with corn up 30 cents at one point Thursday. Crude oil also soared above $100 per barrel, hitting the highest level since 2014.
The top 10 export markets all saw gains in 2021, with six of the 10 (China, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, the Philippines and Colombia) setting new records.
A federal judge on Friday blocked for now the Biden administration from restoring Obama-era values for calculating the cost of climate change in the government’s permitting, investment and regulatory decisions.
NCBA member and rancher Kim Brackett testified before the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture on the cattle industry’s leadership in sustainability.
Wiesemeyer says “you don’t spend some $300 million on these [soybean crushing] plants without a solid foundation of a market in the future.”
NCBA submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of over 1,600 cattle producers from 44 states calling for a definition of “Waters of the United States” that works for the cattle industry.
The Meat Institute called for the U.S. Senate to pass a bipartisan bill to address unreasonable ocean carrier practices that are undermining competitiveness of American exporters including the meat and poultry industry.
Rep. Garamendi says the USDA partnership with the Port of Oakland “isn’t going to solve the problem” because shippers deliver product to the U.S. and leave ports with empty containers.
On Monday the People’s Bank of China also announced a 0.1 percentage point cut to two of its key policy rates. It acted after GDP grew by more than 8% in 2021, but slowed down in the fourth quarter.
The Biden Administration is deploying money and resources to ramp up clean energy projects across rural America. The White House says the plan taps federal lands to install wind, solar and geothermal energy projects.
The report found nitrogen accounts for more than 50% of fertilizer costs for a corn producer at $117 per acre.
AFBF President Zippy Duvall told members this week he will continue to press for policy that progresses agriculture, citing AFBF’s work on changes to the White House’s “America the Beautiful” plan as an example.
AFBF’s in-person annual convention focused on everything from H-2A workers, drought, supply chain chaos and policy changes like the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack addressed the group Monday.
The Biden Administration unveiled a new, four-pronged action plan to aid independent meat processors, strengthen the Packers & Stockyards Act, and issue new “Product of USA” labeling rules.