Flood

USDA to Provide $1 Billion to Flood and Wildfire-Impacted Livestock Producers

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 15:28:20 GMT

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced Sept. 12 eligible livestock producers will receive disaster recovery assistance through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW) to help offset increased supplemental feed costs due to a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire in calendar years 2023 and 2024. The program is expected to provide approximately $1 billion in recovery benefits.

Sign-up begins on Monday, Sept. 15. Livestock producers have until Oct. 31 to apply for assistance.

“We are providing continued support for livestock producers whose livelihoods and way of life have been disrupted by catastrophic floods, wildfires, and poor forage conditions in 2023 and 2024. Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA is standing shoulder to shoulder with America’s farmers and ranchers, delivering the resources they need to stay in business, feed their families, and keep our food supply strong,” Rollins says. “This announcement builds on the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) and the historic levels of assistance we have rolled out over the last few months, once again proving that this administration is working as quickly as possible to get help out the door and into the hands of livestock and dairy producers. USDA will continue to put farmers first and ensure they have the relief they need to weather storms and build for the future.”

Qualifying Disaster Events

To streamline program delivery, FSA has determined eligible counties with qualifying floods and qualifying wildfires in 2023 and 2024. For losses in these counties, livestock producers are not required to submit supporting documentation for floods or wildfires. A list of approved counties is available at fsa.usda.gov/elrp .

USDA explains for losses in counties not listed as eligible, livestock producers can apply for ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW but must provide supporting documentation to demonstrate that a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire occurred in the county where the livestock were physically located or would have been physically located if not for the disaster event. FSA county committees will determine if the disaster event meets program requirements.

Livestock and Producer Eligibility

For ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW, FSA is using covered livestock criteria similar to the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) which includes weaned beef cattle, dairy cattle, beefalo, buffalo, bison, alpacas, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, ostriches, reindeer and sheep.

Wildfire assistance is available on non-federally managed land to participants who did not receive assistance through LFP or the ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire program delivered to producers in July of this year.

Payment Calculation

Eligible producers can receive up to 60% of one month of calculated feed costs for a qualifying wildfire or three months for a qualifying flood using the same monthly feed cost calculation that is used for LFP.

ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire and ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW have a combined payment limit of $125,000 for each program year. Producers who already received the maximum payment amount from ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire will not be eligible to receive an additional payment under ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW. Eligible producers may submit form FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs, to be considered for an increased payment limit of $250,000.

Supplemental Disaster Assistance Timeline

The press release says USDA is fully committed to expediting remaining disaster assistance provided by the American Relief Act, 2025. On May 7, USDA launched its 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked. The page is updated regularly and accessible through fsa.usda.gov . Contact your local FSA county office for more information.

When Farmers Can Expect the Next Round of American Relief Act Payments

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 13:51:11 GMT

USDA is currently in the trenches of issuing the nearly $31 billion in total disaster and emergency relief aid to farmers and ranchers in four stages. That money was appropriated by Congress as part of the American Relief Act, which was passed in December of 2024. In an exclusive interview with Farm Journal on Monday, USDA Deputy Undersecretary Brooke Appleton said the next round of disaster aid payments could be coming the first full week of July.

USDA began issuing the $1 billion in emergency livestock relief program payments last week, which is the latest in a series of disaster and emergency relief. Appleton told Farm Journal that instead of holding the money and issuing it all at once, USDA decided to issue the payments in four phases, as USDA wanted to get assistance out to producers as quickly as possible.

“We had ECAP (Emergency Commodity Assistance Program) , we now have the Emergency Livestock Relief Program, we’re going to have supplemental disaster relief, and then we’re going to have another emergency livestock relief program to cover the flood losses that we saw in ‘23 and ’24,” Appleton said. “So, we’re kind of doing it in stages, it should stream out all through the summer really, and so I’m hoping that that kind of can relieve some of that financial stress.”

Appleton said USDA has issued $7.7 billion out of the appropriated $10 billion in direct payments under ECAP so far, which was the first stage of payments. Sign-ups for that program began in March. USDA initially issued 85% of a producer’s projected payment, with the remaining 15% expected after sign-ups close on Aug. 15.

Just last week, USDA announced the details surrounding $1 billion in Emergency Livestock Relief Program payments , which is the second phase of the American Relief Act. Those payments are being dispersed now, and it covers grazing losses due to eligible drought or wildfire events that happened in 2023 and 2024. That round of the program doesn’t require producers to sign up, as USDA is using existing information. Since the program was announced on May 29, USDA says it’s dispersed more than $641 million in payments to livestock producers who suffered grazing losses during that time.

“FSA is leveraging existing livestock forage disaster program data to streamline these payments and calculations to expedite that relief. So this was unlike most of our programs, farmers and ranchers didn’t have to go into the office to sign up,” Appleton said. “We already have the information. So those emergency relief payments were automatically issued to producers who had already had their data into their FSA office. And those payments started going out in earnest last week, so May 30.”

The next round of American Relief Act disaster aid payments is the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, which is the larger amount appropriated by Congress. Appleton told Farm Journal details surrounding those payments are being prepared now, and USDA expects to issue those payments next month. The amount of money that will go out during the next round isn’t known at this time, as a USDA official says the agency is still “working diligently to balance the needs with the available funding.”

“The larger supplemental disaster program that is part of that is making its way through the process right now at USDA and other government agencies,” Appleton said. “The timeline for that, we’re targeting to sign up farmers by the first full week in July, so maybe the week of July 7. That will be literally every crop production loss that has happened for ‘23 and ’24, and that’s just additional disaster assistance that was legislated by Congress.”

Once those payments are released, USDA’s final phase of the American Relief Act will be another emergency livestock relief program, but this covers flood losses producers saw in 2023 and 2024.

Appleton says that’s been the most difficult program to outline and detail, as USDA has never administered a disaster program for livestock that covered losses due to flooding.

“We’ve never had a disaster program for livestock that triggered on flooding, so that piece of it is going to take us a little bit longer,” she said. “And that’s something that’s another piece of this larger disaster package. It’s going to roll out later this summer, but as these programs are ready to go and ready to roll out, we’re focused on doing it as soon as we can, rather than holding them all and doing it all at once. We want to make sure as soon is the assistance is ready to go, we are getting it out and we’re getting it to the folks who need it.”

Congress earmarked $2 billion for livestock losses due to droughts, wildfires and floods. The first livestock disaster aid announced last week totaled $1 billion, which means another $1 billion should be dispersed through the livestock disaster payments that cover losses due to flooding.

USDA says it is fully committed to expediting remaining disaster assistance provided by the American Relief Act 2025. On May 7, it launched its 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked.

Rollins Says USDA Will Announce Application Process for $21 Billion in Disaster Aid Within Days

Wed, 07 May 2025 18:44:02 GMT

In her first hearing on Capitol Hill since the confirmation process earlier this year, Secretary Brooke Rollins faced the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, fielding questions on everything from USDA’s bold budget cuts and frozen funding to the fate of the nearly $21 billion in disaster aid.

Rollins fiercely defended the cuts, continuing to argue that it is a way to make USDA more effective and more efficient. She also told the committee that farmers will be able to sign up for the disaster aid by the end of May.

Congress approved the disaster aid on Dec. 21, 2024. While the $10 billion in Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) was passed the same day, it was separate and came with a clear deadline on when USDA had to disperse those funds. In the hearing this week, Rollins admitted the disaster aid program has been more complicated to roll out.

“That one’s a little more complicated than the ECAP, the disaster or the emergency relief payments, but we’re really close and within a matter of days or weeks, certainly by the end of this month, that money will begin moving,” Rollins said on Tuesday.

The nearly $21 billion in disaster aid targets agricultural losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024, which includes:

Droughts
Hurricanes
Floods
Wildfires
And other extreme weather events.

Of those funds, $2 billion is earmarked for livestock losses attributed to droughts wildfires and floods. There is also an allocation of $220 million that will be distributed through block grants to smaller agricultural states with limited farm income and acreage.

“We are within days of announcing the application process,” Rollins said. “Of course, that’s a little more complicated because we don’t have the specifics, and it isn’t, as [Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.] mentioned, in North Dakota, 15,794 of your farmers and ranchers have received money through that first tranche, through the first $10 billion, the emergency aid. On the weather-related programs, that application opens in the next week or two. And we will be moving very, very quickly.”

.@SecRollins testifies before Congress: "When farmers prosper, rural America prospers." pic.twitter.com/rXwV12JPDD
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 6, 2025

According to Pro Farmer, the disaster aid is intended to cover losses in revenue, production quality, and infrastructure for crops, livestock and timber. And most of the aid is expected to be administered through USDA’s Emergency Relief Program (ERP), which has been used for similar disaster relief in previous years. However, USDA has indicated the new program will be more farmer-friendly than the Biden administration’s implementation of the last ag disaster funds.

Rollins says the rollout of the disaster aid funds is “a long time coming,” bacause it is related to disasters that happened as long as two years ago.

“And so ensuring that we get that out as quickly as we possibly can with the team that we have in place,” Rollins said. “I’m really proud of, I believe, how efficiently and how quickly the team moved out that first tranche. And I believe that you’ll see the same sort of efficiency and effectiveness with the second tranche, so it’s within the coming weeks.”

Rollins Fiercely Defends Cuts at USDA

Also in the hearing, Rollins defended recent budget and DOGE cuts, saying her team is eliminating what she called wasteful DEI spending, fraud and abuse in all USDA programs. She argued the plan is to rebuild USDA to put farmers first.

Rollins also discussed some frozen funds at the agency and when a review of them will be completed.

“We are working around the clock, going line by line, we’re down to the final 5 billion out of, I believe, almost 20 billion of frozen funds, but $5 billion is a lot of money,” Rollins said. “And when you think about that in terms of grant or contract and moving that out quickly, we’re very helpful to keep moving through that very, very quickly and have that done very soon.”

Rollins was also asked about the 15,000 USDA employees who have taken buyout offers from the federal government . Reports show that accounts for nearly USDA’s total workforece, and impacts farmer-facing agencies such as Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency.

“The 15,000 number, it is less than 15% of our total workforce,” Rollins said. “I realize that’s still a very, very big number. But I think it’s important to realize in the context that every year USDA, through attrition loses between 8,000 and 10,000 employees. So, it’s a massive government agency, but they’re refilled. Well, and that’s what we are looking to refill. The front liners, that’s I was talking about right now. So whether it’s FSA, APHIS, the Wildland Firefighters, those are through a memorandum I just signed, we are actively looking and recruiting to fill those positions that are integral to the efforts and the key front line.”

Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., followed up and asked, “So, you let people go, and you’re looking for new people to fill the positions that they had experienced in?”

“We’re having those discussions right now,” Rollins said. “We are working with all of you around the country, in your states. We believe our firefighters are operationally ready for wildfire season. Our FSA offices, we are making things more efficient, but bringing on new people that could potentially be a game changer in those offices.”

The workforce reduction is part of the federal government’s current Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), which is the voluntary program that allows eligible federal employees to resign in advance while continuing to receive pay and benefits until Sept. 30.

Rollins then clarified and explained the 15,000 USDA employees who accepted the buyouts, weren’t employees who were fired, they were resignations.

“None of those people were fired,” she added. “So, if they want to come back, and if they were in a key position, then we would love to have that conversation.”

Rollins said the latest round of DRPs, which happened in April, USDA didn’t accept some of the resignations, specifically if those employees were in what Rollins called “key positions,” which includes APHIS, FSA, etc.

“We are very intentionally approaching this,” she said. “Have we done it perfectly? No. Any type of whole scale change, and big effort to basically realign an entire government agency is difficult. And we know that, and we know it hasn’t been perfect, but we’re working every day to solve for a lot of this, and I think we’re making a lot of really good progress.”

USDA Spends $400 Million a Day on Food Assistance Programs

The other hot button topic during the hearing was food assistance. The secretary pointed out USDA spends more than $400 million a day on food assistance programs and said ending COVID-era funding programs doesn’t mean defunding food assistance.

You can listen to her pointed comments in the video below.

USDA alone spends $400+ MILLION each day on food assistance programs.

Ending COVID-era funding programs doesn’t defund food assistance. It ensures we’re good stewards of taxpayer dollars. pic.twitter.com/3lT7Fu6or9
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) May 6, 2025

A Warming Trend Is On The Way For Early March

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 22:13:21 GMT

If early March weather rolls out the way some ag industry experts are predicting, farmers might be tempted to break out their shorts and sunscreen.

“It’s going to be warm, very warm for most of March,” Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Services said on the latest Moving Iron podcast, with Host Casey Seymore.

Above average temperatures for much of the U.S. are in the forecast for March 2-6, 2025.

(NOAA)

What’s at play currently, Hackett said, is a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event that could take temperatures a notch higher than usual during the next few weeks.

Hackett said the polar stratosphere is in the middle stages of developing what he called “one of the top five strongest sudden stratospheric warming events” he’s ever seen going into early March.

“The stratosphere, which normally is super cold, gets displaced and you get this extreme warming above the North Pole. When that happens, then the entire stratosphere gets unstable and starts to lose its cohesiveness,” explained Hackett, whose interest in the weather is fueled by what it can mean to grain markets.

His hope, in fact, is that the weather in early March could be a positive catalyst for grain markets. “It could offer a tremendous cash selling opportunity not only for the old crop but maybe even for the new crop that’s coming along,” Hackett said.

Maybe A Short-Lived Weather Pattern?
But don’t expect higher temperatures to persist beyond the next few weeks. There will likely be colder conditions coming in right behind them by late March to early April, according to Ag Meteorologist Drew Lerner, founder and owner of World Weather, Inc.

Lerner told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory earlier this week he believes two things will come out of the current weather pattern and then go through spring.

First, Lerner believes the moisture availability in the upper Midwest and parts of the western Corn Belt will continue to be lighter than normal, which will encourage farmers to plant.

Second, he believes the risk of late-season frost and freeze across corn and soybean country will be much higher in 2025 than it has been in recent past years.

“We may see a period like right now, where we warm up nicely, and crops will take advantage of that and really get going aggressively. Then, we could turn around and bring a cold wave in and knock those crops down,” Lerner told Flory. “That’s one of my biggest concerns for spring, besides the dryness we already mentioned in the western Corn Belt.

Conditions in the West, Southwest and portions of the Midwest are going to continue to be dry, as March gets underway.

(Eric Snodgrass, U.S. Meterologist)

“I do think, though, with that aside, we will see aggressive planting this spring in the western and central parts of the Midwest, because I don’t think we’re going to have so much moisture around that we can’t be that way,” Lerner added.

Beware Of Frost And Freeze
Hackett’s prediction for April weather coincides with Lerner’s concerns. Going back to his prediction for a sudden stratospheric warming in early March, Hackett said that what often follows an SSW about 45 days later is a cooling off trend.

“You have the potential for some very cold, wintry type of weather that can easily bring in a hard freeze. That should create a considerable amount of unfavorable planting season, either delayed planting or planting that gets done and gets frozen over and replanting winter wheat that gets frost as it comes out of dormancy,” Hackett said.

Ken Ferrie recalls farmers in western Illinois were planting early soybeans by March 21 in 2024. He encouraged farmers who want to plant early to exercise some caution.

“An important consideration is whether you have crop insurance,” said Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

For farmers in the Eastern Corn Belt, Lerner said he doesn’t believe they will be able to plant as quickly as their western brethren because of excess moisture the region has received through the Ohio Valley and is likely to continue to get this spring.

Expect Temperatures To ‘Bounce Around’
As for temperatures, Lerner believes they will average close to normal but will bounce around this spring. “So we’ll be warm, and then we’ll get cold, and we’ll go back into warm again,” he said.

Flory asked Lerner whether he would put some odds on the potential for drought conditions this summer.

“I’d say that we probably have a 25% to 30% chance that we could have a more serious dryness problem in the West. But I am being conservative with that, possibly. I really want to see what happens over these next three to four weeks,” Lerner said.

“There’s no meteorologist out there that I know of that’s ever predicted a bad drought in the summer this far in advance, and I’m not going to be the first one,” Lerner added. “I’ll leave that up for somebody else.”

You can hear Lerner’s conversation with Chip Flory here:

'Stay Tuned, We'll Be Right Back With Your Forecast'

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 15:02:27 GMT

What if you could know the timing of significant weather events for your area during the next six months with 91% accuracy?

Now you can, according to Gary Lezak, a former meteorologist with KSHB-TV in Kansas City turned weather entrepreneur.

Lezak’s business, Weather 20/20, provides weather-based data analytics on a global basis to its customers, who range from farmers to retailers to general consumers.

Eighty Years In The Making
Lezak learned in the mid-1980s that a weather cycle exists, an insight he attributes to Jerome Namais, who first addressed the concept in the 1940s. Namais, a renowned American meteorologist, was Chief of the United States Weather Bureau’s Extended Forecast Section in Washington, D.C. from 1941 to 1971.

“What it’s all about is the weather pattern above us – the river of air that goes across North America through the westerly belt, across to Europe, Asia, and then back around across the Pacific. That jet stream flow, that river of air above us, has an order to it,” Lezak told Andrew McCrea, host of the Farming The Countryside podcast, during a recent conversation.

For the next 20 years Lezak continued to study the weather cycling concept, refining what he learned as he went along.

By the early 2000s, Lezak was blogging about what he had learned, eventually calling the concept he developed the Lezak Recurring Cycle (LRC). He founded Weather 20/20 in 2008.

“The LRC is all about the cycle,” Lezak says. “After many years of practicing it, 20 to 30 years of using it, we are able to predict when and where and a little bit of the what,” with regard to weather, he told McCrea.

The core tenet of the LRC is that a unique weather pattern establishes itself every year. It starts to set up in early October, with develpment continuing through early January. By then, Lezak says the pattern can be identified and predictions of every day’s weather around the world can be produced.

Based on the LRC, Lezak says he can predict with a 91% accuracy level when and where there will be major weather events – from snowstorms to hurricanes to droughts – for the next seven to eight months in the U.S.

“That (timing) is the sweet spot of the LRC and fits agriculture perfectly,” Lezak says.

He adds that Mother Nature still creates weather disruptions he can’t predict 9% of the time, based on influences such as El Nino, La Nina and the Arctic Oscillation.

Lezak’s take on the accuracy of weather forecasts differs from what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports, though an apples-to-apples comparison is not available.

The NOAA says a seven-day forecast can accurately predict the weather about 80 percent of the time and a five-day forecast can accurately predict the weather approximately 90 percent of the time. However, a 10-day—or longer—forecast is only right about half the time.

Agriculture Takes Notice
As Lezak was honing the development of the LRC in the early 2000s, fellow meteorologist, Dean Wysocki, then based in Nebraska, learned of it and reached out to Lezak for more details.

Wysocki started using the information he learned during his broadcasts, noting that Nebraska farmers were hungry for more accurate weather insights and predictions.

“I’ll tell you what, it’s a game changer. That’s the easiest way to put it,” says Wysocki, who joined Lezak on the podcast.

Wysocki, now based in Fargo, N.D., got LRC certified and began telling farmers in the Dakotas and Minnesota about its benefits.

“It’s a major piece of long-term weather forecasting, and the accuracy on it has just been amazing,” Wysocki says. “We’ve signed up between about 50 to 100 in our ag community and we’ve got nothing but positive feedback. Is it 100% correct? No, nothing is, but it’s a great tool to have on your tool belt.”

The Weather Outlook Ahead
During the conversation with McCrea, Lezak and Wysocki shared some of their weather predictions for late winter and early spring 2025, based on information the LRC has provided. Here are three of their predictions:

1. Lezak says a La Nina, which is the cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean, has a grip currently on parts of the western and upper Corn Belt areas, but he expects that to ease up.

“That grip that it has tends to shift precipitation patterns to the eastern Corn Belt. That’s not good for Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota,” Lezak says. “It shifts precipitation patterns to the East, but that grip we think is going to be let loose by March.”

2. Wysocki says he foresees a wetter spring, in March and April, for most of the Dakotas.

“We’ll get our moisture that we need in March and more than likely into the first part of April, and that should be good for planting season,” he says. “I’m still concerned about the western Dakotas into areas of Montana and Wyoming, worried that they’ll remain dry.”

3. With regard to drought, Lezak encourages farmers to keep an eye on the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, as he says droughts are constantly either shrinking or expanding.

“It appears that over the last year or so that areas of drought, as we look at the entire nation, have begun to decrease,” he says. “This one has been shrinking for weeks, and that is a good sign. The likelihood of that trend continuing is high.”

Wysocki and Lezak offered additional weather insights during their conversation with McCrea. You can hear more of those specifics on the podcast, available here:

Your next read: With More Arctic Air Set to Blast the U.S., Why This Winter Could Be Remembered for Its Extremes

Drone Rescue as Farmers Find Helene Victims and Deliver Supplies

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 13:27:20 GMT

In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastating impact on the western regions of North Carolina, an unexpected group of heroes emerged. American farmers were among the first to respond, arriving on scene with drones in tow.

Seventy miles east of Asheville, in Hickory, N.C., Russell Hedrick and his father cleared fallen trees on their operation, working to open roads and access their rows. Compelled to do more beyond their land, they repurposed their agricultural drones for disaster relief.

By Sept. 30, their team had mobilized. Hedrick loaded his drone trailer with pallets of water and food, heading towards Asheville to assist stranded individuals. His efforts quickly expanded to cover both the Asheville and Marion areas, with a supply drop-off point established in Marion.

Technology Meets Compassion

Using a DJI T40 drone, Hedrick delivered a chain of drone relief. Additionally, he flew a DJI Mavic 3M drone at night, using thermal imagery to pinpoint survivors for emergency services.

“These weren’t just any farmers,” says Cody Jarvis. “They came from North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, and Wisconsin, stepping away from their crops to offer their assistance and equipment free of charge.

(Photo by Soil Regen)

The use of drone technology was a game-changer. As Cody Jarvis, a friend of Hedrick who joined the relief efforts, describes, “I got to experience a whole new level of helping others with the innovative technology of drones. Drones flown by some of America’s best farmers.”

“These weren’t just any farmers,” Jarvis continues. “They came from North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, and Wisconsin, stepping away from their crops to offer their assistance and equipment free of charge. Using thermal imaging, they located stranded individuals, delivered supplies to inaccessible areas, and helped family members reconnect with their loved ones.”

Relief

The relief efforts caught the attention of the wider community. Soil Regen partnered with Green America and the Soil Climate Initiative to create a fund: DRONES TO THE RESCUE - HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF . Within days, $13,000 was raised, with all proceeds going towards purchasing supplies for hurricane victims.

Support was widespread. Three hundred miles west in Tennessee, Bryan Petersen of Whitaker farms loaded 4 pallets of water and bought $1000 worth of beef jerky to contribute to the effort. Jeremy Slack from Ohio connected with his church community to coordinate the donation and delivery of 4 semi-loads of water and blankets to Hedrick’s barn for distribution.

As the days progressed, the team’s efforts intensified. They pushed further west, encountering mud slides and destroyed houses. The damage, as Hedrick describes, was “pretty sobering.”

Despite the challenges, the team’s spirit was strong. Hedrick shares a lighthearted moment: “My bright spot was at a farm where the lady came to the other side of the river and asked if the drones had cameras because she remembered to put her teeth in and bra on. We laughed pretty good at that one.”

Critical Needs

As of Oct. 3, the team had transitioned from McDowell to Fairview in Buncombe County, pushing into more desolate areas. They put out a call for side-by-sides to help navigate the difficult terrain. Bottled water, canned food, baby formula, and diapers were among the most needed items.

For more information, see the following from Soil Regen : “We have created a tax deductible donation link for those who wish to contribute to the effort. 100% of proceeds will be used to purchase supplies, such as fuel, water and food, for the victims. To donate, click here .”

Now Is the Time to Pay Attention to the Weather Forecast: Severe Snowstorm Forecasted to Dump Multiple Feet of Snow

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 21:08:28 GMT

As the calendar flipped to the new year, Mother Nature unleashed the potential for back-to-back blasts of winter weather. From the possibility of blizzard conditions early next week, to flooding in the southeast, the impact on agriculture could be two-fold: a possible cure for drought conditions in parts of the Plains and South, but stressful for livestock.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says the forecast is pointing to a very active weather winter pattern in January, which is a hallmark of El Niño.

“There’s no question about it. As I always say, you can’t blame an individual or a single storm and El Niño, but you start looking at the overall patterns, and there’s absolutely no question that when you start seeing a pattern setting up like this, a storm pipeline from the Pacific coming across the Southwest and into the Midwest or east, that is El Niño,” Rippey says.

Eric Snodgrass is a well-known ag meteorologist who’s also watching the change in potential winter weather this month. He says El Niño reached its peak at the end of December.

“It has plateaued. And what that typically means is we tend to have what we call a back-half weighted winter, which means December is usually pretty mild, not a whole lot to talk about, but once we get going into this new year, that jet stream is really going to start to become quite a bit more active,” Snodgrass says.

Active Jet Stream Set to Bring Multiple Winter Storms

The active jet stream is exactly what the U.S. is now seeing, with multiple storms lined up for the start of the year. Rippey says it’s an active storm track that starts in the South, eventually ending up along the East Coast.

“The storm that’s coming out late this week, it’s going to be a decent storm system - a decent winter storm. But it’s going to pale in comparison to the blockbuster storm that we see coming for early next week,” he says.

High Plains with current storm 53% covered in shallow layer of snow. Feet of snow on the way? pic.twitter.com/fAZzWeHurr
— Allen Motew (@QTweather) January 5, 2024

Snowfall reports from the National Weather Service (NWS) Albuquerque, New Mexico station shows impressive snowfall already falling in the Rocky Mountains. As of midday Friday, January 5, NWS reports 10 to 18 inch snowfall totals in the southern Rockies before it made its way across Kansas.

Eye-Popping Snowfall Totals Possible

However, Rippey says this first snow system isn’t the headline. Early to mid-week next week, a different significant storm will emerge from the Southwest and Four Corners region, which could bring monstrous snowfall totals.

“That storm will be going across the Central and Southern Plains Monday and reach the lower Great Lakes region by Wednesday,” Rippey says. “That system really has the potential to create a wide degree of disarray across the country.”

(Farm Journal)

The storm early next week will pack a punch with high winds, but it will also bring much needed drought relief. NOAA is warning of weather impacts that will span from Coast to Coast. They report heavy snow is likely in the higher elevation with blizzard conditions possible. The high winds are expected to hit much of the Central and Eastern U.S., with some winds exceeding 50 MPH.

“Some of them can be big snow makers through parts of the Midwest and some of them are putting down some heavy rains across the South,” Snodgrass says. “And the big picture here is that our U.S. Drought Monitor, which still shows about 50% to 55% of the land area in some form of drought, about one-third of it in the drought categories, that could really change a lot in the coming weeks.”

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Winter arrives finally. 10 days from now mountains, West, Plains, North BURIED! pic.twitter.com/EbPLLFlB74
— Allen Motew (@QTweather) January 5, 2024

The winter storm is forecasted to bring heavy snow, which could provide relief for winter wheat country.

“We’ve already chipped away at the drought across the Great Plains,” Rippey says. “If you look at USDA’s winter wheat condition, we saw improvement from the end of November to the end of December. Kansas winter wheat jumped from 32% good to excellent at the end of November to 43% in December. Oklahoma saw a big jump from 53% to 67% good to excellent. So more moisture, more snow - that’ll be good news for winter wheat.

(Farm Journal)

While the storm system will bring much needed relief, it could also pose problems for livestock producers.

“As the storm crosses the southern Great Plains and moves into the Midwest, we’re going to have a big wind-driven snow event. So certainly, some livestock stress. And then for the Southeast, those folks where it’s not a drought situation, they could be dealing with flooding and flash flooding, as well as our first significant severe weather outbreak of the season early next week,” Rippey says.

Euro model... 😳❄️🌨️ pic.twitter.com/PqZKmP7G0W
— Darin D. Fessler ✝️ (@DDFalpha) January 5, 2024

Much Need Moisture in Areas

As the south braces for impacts of the forecasted storms, Snodgrass says that moisture is desperately needed.

“The South has been, in my opinion, on the wildest ride with moisture in the last 24 months compared to any other place on the planet at this point,” he says.

And as this El Niño pattern takes hold, Snodgrass thinks cotton country could final see some relief this winter.

“I think the best chance for recovery and moisture is going to be across the South, pockets of the Mid-South, the Southeast and in the East Coast,” Snodgrass says. “That track from Texas to South Carolina to Maine, I like it. That area is going to be getting some good moisture.”

It’s not just snow that producers will need to brace for, but temperatures are forecast to plunge with a possible Artic blast. Weather models are pointing to extremely cold and extreme Arctic air also moving in.

Still watching historic climate emergency risk from Arctic blast 📉❄️🌡️

Overnight weather model [ECMWF HRES 00Z] still shows historic Arctic blast into the Pacific Northwest and Western U.S. in 6-7 days.

Extremely cold w/potential for snowfall along California coast including… pic.twitter.com/PsNLPAccdj
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) January 5, 2024

The Duration of El Niño

Snodgrass says the question is how long until El Niño fades, and the impact it could have on the spring.

“If El Niño peaks right now and begins to fade throughout the rest of winter and into spring, I’ve looked at every event since 1960, and most times when that happens, we tend to do okay in the Midwest the following year in terms of precipitation. That’s not a guarantee, but you look at historically, we tend to go out of ridge riding storms, which are often the types of storms that save crops,” he says.

That scenario, however, spells trouble for key growing areas of the South this spring and summer.

“The only way you can get a ridge riding storm system, though, is to put heat and drought across the South. That’s the Cotton Belt that could be impacted negatively by that,” Snodgrass says. “That’s all speculative. But that’s all you got this time of years to base it off of those bigger picture things.”

Areas of the Country Could Still Be Dry This Spring

With the active storms to start the year, there are still pockets of the country that need much more moisture to replenish dry soils before spring.

“I’m worried about the Northern Plains,” Snodgrass says. “I’m worried about the Canadian Prairie on drought. I’m worried about the lack of snowfall we’ve had so far in parts of the upper Midwest. We need to be piling a whole lot more snow there.”

The debate of just how long El Niño will last is heating up. There’s even talk of La Nina making a return this year. There’s no certainty either way, but for now, Snodgrass says a strong shot of winter weather isn’t a bad thing.

“I’ll just tell you this, the nastiest winters we’ve ever had, have almost always given us fantastic springs and summers,” he says. “So, I hate to say it, but I’m wishing for just a terrible second half of winter so that I can talk to you next spring summer and say, ‘Hey wasn’t that terrible? But now look what we got out of it.’”

Related News:

What impact did El Nino have on the weather in 2023?

Farmer Nightmare: Government Floods Family Twice, Kills Herd and Refuses to Pay Damages

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:42:01 GMT

We break, you pay?

In a repeat nightmare, the government twice flooded Richie Devillier’s 900-acre farm and home under several feet of water, killed his cattle, ran his family through emotional hell—and insisted he foot the entire bill.

When a new highway flood wall trapped Devillier’s land within a figurative bathtub and erased several generations’ worth of toil in 2017 and 2019, state officials washed their hands of the Texas farmer and refused to pay damages. In 2020, Devillier sued for compensation under the Fifth Amendment, but was told he had no legal grounds to seek compensation from the state. Undaunted, Devillier is petitioning the Supreme Court.

The case is a stunner. No one in the courts or bureaucracy calls Devillier a liar or contests the basic facts of his claims. Instead, the state, backed by the Fifth Circuit, says citizens cannot seek compensation under the Fifth Amendment unless specifically allowed to do so by Congress—in direct defiance of decades of Supreme Court precedent.

The clock is running: Devillier’s operation will flood again when the next catastrophic deluge falls and his land will turn back into water world, directly attributable to the state’s action. “The government is goliath,” he says. “The government officials are untouchable, almost, but we’re about to touch them with the Bill of Rights.”

(Farm Journal)

“I want people to listen and learn about my story,” he adds. “It’s not about me because it doesn’t matter what state you live in. They can come for your land next.”

Bay of Hell

In 2017, weary to the bone after days spent in a surreal fight to keep the last scraps of his operation afloat, Richie Devillier walked through the foul debris of his sludge-filled farm home, and entered the master bedroom, only to encounter a site suited to fiction. Standing on his bed, a whitetail doe stared out a window at water to the horizon.

(Farm Journal)

Triggered by rising water, the bizarre deer incident captures the catastrophic absurdity of Devillier’s misfortune, but is sharply contrasted by recorded family history. Since 1920, the Devillier clan has farmed their high-ground land in southeast Texas’ Chambers County, outside Winnie, roughly 60 miles east of Houston. Across 100 years of rice cultivation and cattle production, there have been no floods on the Devillier property—until now.

Devillier, 59, is the fourth generation to work the land, growing bluestem hay and raising Hereford cattle sired by Brahman bulls. Alongside his wife, Wendy, Devillier also raises horses on a small scale, and his son, McCain, 22, will one day steer the family operation.

(Farm Journal)

Dotted with isolated knobs, Devillier’s 900 acres of pancake-flat ground rubs against I-10, an east-west federal highway connecting Houston and Beaumont. Beginning in the 1990s, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) updated I-10. The section adjacent to Devillier’s property was completed in the early 2000s. The renovation raised I-10 18” and erected a 32”-high concrete barrier in the median, ensuring the eastbound lanes remained navigable during floods. Translated: TxDOT built a dam in the middle of the highway and Deviller’s land is on the receptacle side.

(Citing ongoing litigation, TxDOT declined all Farm Journal questions related to the Devillier case.)

“When TxDOT got finished with the highway project, I didn’t think the drainage would be sufficient when things got bad, but they were supposed to be experts,” Devillier says. “Before their project, the freeway bridged over the bayous. Instead, they boxed in the bayous with square box culverts. I knew the barrier dam, combined with insufficient drainage, was not going to work.”

(Farm Journal)

“I grew up here and worked beside my grandfather, father, cousins, and family, and we’d been through monsoonal rains and weather events of every kind, but we’d never seen anything but normal drainage,” Devillier continues. “There were no floods and no flood history.”

“No TxDOT representative or government official ever came and warned me that when we got major water, my land and my neighbor’s land would turn into a bay,” he adds. “I wish they had.”

Never to Return

On Aug. 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and its rains drowned a 20-mile stretch from Winnie to the Trinity River for 2 to 3 miles north of I-10. Devillier’s farm, along with the property of his neighbors, was swallowed, courtesy of the I-10 concrete barrier dam.

“Hurricanes and terrible storms are part of life here,” he describes, “but this flood was something different because the water had nowhere to go thanks to the highway barrier.”

(Farm Journal)

Devillier’s farmland went under 3’-6’ of water and his house filled with approximately 23” of water, but more pressing than his own dire circumstance, Devillier rushed a half-mile to his octogenarian parent’s home, rescuing Richard and Barbara from 3’ of water. Richard, born on the Devillier family farm, gathered a handful of mementos and exited the house and property for the final time of his life. He would never again set foot on the land of his legacy and birthplace.

Richard, along with Barbara, flew to Oregon to stay with a daughter and wait out the flood and rebuilding process. Worn and wiped out, Richard suffered a heart attack and died in Oregon, 2,000 miles distant from Winnie. Two years later, Barbara also passed away in Oregon.

Richard and Barbara returned to Chambers County—in an urn. “My dad’s heart couldn’t handle seeing our farm disappear,” Devillier says. “And none of it had to happen.”

The Sacrifice

Devillier floundered under total flood devastation. Overlooking his farm, the highway barrier dam was a line of demarcation—the edge of a vast wall of water. Days into the flood, standing at the concrete barrier on the dry, south side of I-10 and looking north, Devillier soaked in the reality of havoc stretching for miles.

(Farm Journal)

“It was incomprehensible,” he recalls. “I’d never seen or imagined anything like what was before me. We could drive down I-10 on lanes with no standing water, yet the concrete barrier had waves lapping over from water that covered my farm. You could stick your hand over the barrier into an ocean of water.”

Devillier’s family called a county judge, desperate for permission to pierce the highway dam and relieve the pressure off his acreage. “We begged him to let us knock down a portion of the barrier, but he wouldn’t make the call. Nobody wanted liability. We also knew if we knocked a hole in the dam, every person downstream would sue us.”

“The TxDOT engineers straight out said, ‘If we don’t have the barrier, then we can’t get our emergency vehicles back and forth.’ It was plainly evident: Myself and my neighbors were the sacrifice,” Devillier adds.

Water covered Devillier’s farmland over a week, either ruining his equipment and possessions or carrying them to parts unknown. One thousand hay bales bobbed in the wake, alongside the carcasses of bloated cows and horses floating across the property. His cattle, the centerpiece of the operation, fared the worst, congregating atop tiny knobs in relative shallows. Motoring in a Jon boat, Devillier and McCain tried in vain to save stranded livestock.

(Farm Journal)

“There were cattle hung up in barns and calves with their heads just above water, covered in fire ants. There were cattle standing in our garage and around the house. There were cows congregating on berms, and lost calves, and cows off by themselves. It was ghastly to watch them suffer.”

The cattle were living dead—shellshocked on their hooves. “Grabbing a cow in 4’ water from a 16’ aluminum boat powered by a 40-horsepower outboard and towing it to safety doesn’t work,” Devillier describes. “The cow is an anchor.”

Devillier watched his herd die. “After days in water, the cows slip their hair. They bloat and their skin sloughs off. It’s heartbreaking and sickening to watch. It’s a feeling of helplessness to see your cattle in such a state and to know the value of your real estate—what you’ve worked your entire life for—is crumbling.”

(Farm Journal)

After four days, the water around Devillier’s house (built on the property’s highest elevation) began receding. He entered his home to find a doe in the master bedroom. “The deer had pushed a door screen out, walked in, and found a high spot on the bed. We coaxed her out and she splayed across the floor, saw daylight coming through the door, and took off. It was just one more surreal detail in a scene I can’t adequately describe.”

The “scene” across Devillier’s home and farm was apocalyptic, his acres littered with dead cattle, lumber, personal effects, and flotsam of every stripe. For days, loading carcasses and trash with a tractor onto a gooseneck trailer, he steadily hauled everything 10 miles away and deposited the goods at the county dump—a lifetime of personal memories and rotting flesh into the same hole.

Bit by bit, step by step, despite no flood insurance, Devillier regained his bearings, rebuilding his home and agriculture operation—without a dime from the state.

Two years later—it happened again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Lump It or Leave It

Roughly 24 months after enduring the worst losses of his life, Devillier’s land again flooded at a catastrophic level courtesy of the highway barrier—his farm submerged and his house filled with 23” of water.

Tropical Storm Imelda put Devillier’s land under water for roughly seven days in September 2019. For the second time, his operation was devastated.

“Once again, this was no natural flood,” he emphasizes. “The government made me their retention pond.”

No apologies, explanation, or compensation from the state. Lump it or leave it.

(Farm Journal)

“Words can never express the strain on my wife and family,” Devillier says. “The first flood was numbing and took me out mentally, but the second flood spurred me to clarity. I knew my task. I had to solve this for my family and neighbors. We’ve been terribly wronged. After Harvey, the state said we experienced a once-in-a-thousand-years-flood. No sir. They never get to say that again. It’s going to happen over and over. Why? They built a dam.”

“I couldn’t sue the state for being incompetent, but they’re not allowed to take my property without paying. So says the Fifth Amendment.”

Backed by local legal representation, Devillier and his neighbors sued for damages in Texas court, supported by state and federal law. However, Texas state attorneys threw a curveball and removed the case to federal court, where the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the case, claiming Congress has passed no laws allowing private citizens to sue states for takings of property.

Despite the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of “just compensation” embedded in the Constitution and decades of Supreme Court precedent affirming that guarantee, the federal court erased Devillier’s claim.

Enter the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national public-interest law firm and legal advocacy group. In 2023, IJ petitioned the Supreme Court to hear Devillier’s case.

(Farm Journal)

“Insanity,” says IJ attorney Robert McNamara. “You know it’s a crazy ruling when a court says state governments can build what they want and do to their citizens what was done to Richie Devillier. This is part of a growing refusal by courts to enforce the Constitution at all. The whole point of federal court is to protect your federal rights, but incredibly, they are often the place where the government runs to get those rights extinguished.”

Taking of private property without just compensation is an increasing concern in the U.S., McNamara insists. “Most of these cases don’t make national news, but if the state doesn’t feel like paying—it doesn’t, and often there is no accountability. That’s why Richie Devillier’s case is so important to every American. It’s a chance for the Supreme Court to step in and say, ‘No. Just compensation means just compensation.’ It’s not hard to understand or complicated: Pay people for what you take.”

Steadfast

Deviller is forced to reckon with time. Whether tomorrow, next year, or the following decade, floodwaters again will rise to the highway barrier’s lip and swallow his land.

“That’s what a dam with woefully inadequate drainage does,” he says.

The Supreme Court will reconvene in fall 2023: Devillier’s petition is on the docket, awaiting consideration.

“The public is shocked when they find out what the state was willing to do to its citizens and then pretend they are not responsible,” McNamara says. “What the state has put the Devillier family through is horrifying and their experience runs counter to the freedoms that define America.”

“Rest assured,” McNamara concludes, “if it floods again in 2023, the government will be certain the only thing Richie Devillier is entitled to is a pat on the head and no compensation.”

Devillier is steadfast.

(Farm Journal)

“We’ve been so blessed by the help of family, friends, and strangers, and we’ve got extreme confidence in our local attorneys and the Institute for Justice,” he emphasizes. “A lot of people in our area gave up, sold out, and left, but I won’t. These 900 acres are my life, the same ground worked for generations by my family in good faith that if we obeyed the law, our government would treat us accordingly. I won’t walk away and I’ll fight for every American.”

“They did this to me and they will come for you eventually,” Devillier adds. “If we can’t sue for the wrongs done by the state to our personal property, what is the point of having a Fifth Amendment or constitutional rights?”

For more from Chris Bennett (cbennett@farmjournal.com 662-592-1106) see:

Priceless Pistol Found After Decades Lost in Farmhouse Attic

Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

Tractorcade: How an Epic Convoy and Legendary Farmer Army Shook Washington, D.C.

Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

Young Farmer uses YouTube and Video Games to Buy $1.8M Land

While America Slept, China Stole the Farm

Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years

The Arrowhead whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland

Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

US Farming Loses the King of Combines

Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

Rat Hunting with the Dogs of War, Farming’s Greatest Show on Legs

Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Flash Flooding Hits Texas Panhandle, Several Feedyards Now Face Massive Cleanup and Cattle Losses

Tue, 30 May 2023 18:18:41 GMT

From drought to now major flooding, historic rainfall fell in the Texas Panhandle over the weekend and prompted flooding. Hereford, Texas, is an area that was hit especially hard by the historic rains, with feedyards flooded and cattle trapped. Now, work is underway to pump a massive amount of water out.

According to the National Weather Service in Amarillo, the Hereford, Texas, area unofficially received 8 inches of rain in the past month. The heaviest rainfall event came Friday morning, with some volunteer observers showing 2.45 inches of rain fell in just 40 minutes.

@NWSAmarillo US Highway 385 is now being overtopped in the south side of Hereford. Water has come up approximately 5 feet in the last 30 min. Taken 9:20am pic.twitter.com/Gb1wCh49sT
— Brady Kendrick (@BradyKendrick24) May 27, 2023

According to John Robinson, senior vice president of membership and communications for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the water simply had nowhere to go, which prompted the flooding around Hereford. With such a quick rainfall event, there also wasn’t any advance notice that would have allowed residents to prepare.

“It’s flat topography down there. Once those creek beds that have been really dry for years fill up, there’s no place for that water to go. So that water spills over into low-lying areas adjacent to those creek beds. And it’s really caused a problem around the Hereford-Amarillo area down in the panhandle of Texas,” says Robinson.

The flooding impacted residential areas, and from an agricultural perspective, Hereford is also a major cattle production area and home to several feedyards.

“It’s one of the largest cattle feeding areas in the United States, so there are definitely widespread impacts,” says Robinson. “There’s probably going to be some production losses, some performance losses in terms of rate of gain, things like that.”

FLOODING IN HEREFORD continues. All of this water is headed to Buffalo lake and if/when it is full, the rest will head towards Palo Duro Canyon. Here is some video from @DowningMitchell #txwx #flooding #heavyrain @ABC7Amarillo @StormSearch7 @natwxdesk @NWSAmarillo pic.twitter.com/oLXi3x1AHU
— Corbin Voges WX (@CorbinVogesWX) May 27, 2023

Robinson points out while the short-term impact is painful for any feedyard dealing with the flooding, he says it shouldn’t create a big impact on cattle supply longer-term.

“It’s mostly going to work its way out here in the next few days,” he says. “There shouldn’t be supply chain increases, there shouldn’t be significant price increases. Who knows what else might happen in the meantime, but the impacts are going to be relatively short-lived for the vast majority of these areas.”

Major flooding in Hereford, TX following the overnight storm. Houses, cars, and semi-trucks under water as authorities work to divert citizens from the area. @ABC7Amarillo @StormSearch7 pic.twitter.com/GzY48iKqK7
— Mitchell Downing (@DowningMitchell) May 27, 2023

Some rumored estimates over the holiday weekend claimed 25,000 head of cattle died in the flooding, but NCBA says its representatives are in constant conversation with several producers in the area, and those estimates are way too high. NCBA says everyone is still trying to get a handle on losses, but it’s a fraction of the 25,000 number being thrown around.

Robinson says feedyards around Hereford are getting creative in pumping water out and cattle to dry ground.

“On one yard in particular, they brought in some dewatering pumps from oil drilling sites, maybe as far away as New Mexico. They’re pumping that water out, in some cases, over a mile to get it off of the feedyard so they can dry things out, get cattle to a safe, dry place to bed down,” he says.

Most of the water has receded in the Hereford area, but Robinson says there will be a lot of clean-up work that follows.

“While they’re trying to get all this other work done, they’re getting fences repaired, VDR pens repaired and dried. And it’s a lot of work. But there’s a committed crew of folks down there doing it, and not just from the agriculture industry, but from oil and gas and others as well,” says Robinson.

More precipitation could be on the way. Forecasts point to more severe weather—and heavy rains—which could cause further flooding.

How the $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Spending Package Might Impact Your Operation

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 17:19:29 GMT

Text of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package was released early Tuesday morning. The Senate will vote first and intends to pass the measure before Thursday, leaving the House no time to demand changes before the Christmas holiday.

Here are the details that might impact your farm:

Disaster Relief

• $250 million in aid to rice producers and $100 million to cotton merchandisers to make up for losses related to the pandemic or supply chain disruptions. USDA previously provided $80 million in aid to textile mills and other cotton users. For rice, USDA would determine payment rates based on yield history and acreage.

• $40.6 billion for drought, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire, natural disasters and other matters — $3.7 billion in disaster aid for farmers to cover 2022 crop and livestock losses.

Food Aid

• Funds two programs that provide foreign food aid. These include the Food for Peace Program (PL 480), which is funded at $1.8 billion, and the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program, which is funded at $248 million, for an increase of $11 million over fiscal year 2022.

• Summer Meals Program Modernization: Updates the summer food service program to permanently allow states to provide non-congregate meals and summer electronic benefit (EBT) options nationwide to eligible children in addition to meals provided at congregate feeding sites. Non-congregate meals, such as grab-and-go or home delivery, would be provided in rural areas to eligible children, and summer EBT benefits would be capped at $40 per child per month. This provision is fully offset and based largely on the Hunger-Free Summer for Kids Act, which Boozman authored and introduced earlier this Congress.

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) EBT Skimming Regulations and Reimbursement: Requires USDA to coordinate with relevant agencies and stakeholders to investigate reports of stolen SNAP benefits through card skimming, cloning and other similar fraudulent methods. This provision aims to identify the extent of the problem, develop methods to prevent fraud and improve security measures, and provide replacement of benefits stolen through these fraudulent actions.

Conservation

• Cracks down on “conservation easements,” which allow tax breaks when land is dedicated for conservation purposes. The IRS has identified the transactions as a method for avoiding taxes. The conservation easement provision was expected to raise between $6 billion and $7 billion.

• SUSTAINS Act: Enacts a House bill that allows corporations and other private entities to contribute funding for conservation projects and authorizes USDA to match up to 75% in matching the donations.

Inputs

• Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA 5) Reauthorization: Reauthorizes pesticide registration and review process user-fee programs administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and increases registration and maintenance fees to support a more predictable regulatory process, create additional process improvements, and provide resources for safety, training, bilingual labeling, and other services to advance the safe and effective use of pesticides.

• Pesticide Registration Review Deadline Extension: Extends deadline for EPA to complete registration review decisions for all pesticide products registered as of October 1, 2007. EPA is facing a significant backlog of pesticide registrations due to a variety of factors over the past several years, which raises potential implications for continued access to numerous crop protection tools. The agency will be allowed to continue its registration review work through October 1, 2026, as a result of this extension.

Climate

• Growing Climate Solutions Act: Incorporates updated language from the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which directs USDA to establish a program to register entities that provide technical assistance and verification for farmers, ranchers and foresters who participate in voluntary carbon markets with the goal of providing information and confidence to producers.

Farm Business

• $1.92 billion for farm programs, which is $55 million above the fiscal year 2022 enacted level. This includes $61 million to resolve ownership and succession of farmland issues, also known as heirs’ property issues. This funding will continue support for various farm, conservation, and emergency loan programs, and help American farmers and ranchers. It will also meet estimates of demand for farm loan programs.

• Funding for specialty crops and remarks on crop insurance/A&O. Some $25 million is being made available for specialty crop equitable relief and report language directing USDA to use its legal authority to index all A&O (crop insurance program) for inflation and provide equitable relief for specialty crops going forward.

Livestock

• Livestock Mandatory Reporting Extension (LMR) Extension: Extends livestock mandatory reporting requirements until September 30, 2023. LMR requires meat packers and importers to report the prices they pay for cattle, hogs, and sheep purchased for slaughter and prices received for meats derived from such species to USDA who then publishes daily, weekly, and monthly public reports detailing these transactions.

Markets

• Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Whistleblower Program Extension: Enables CFTC to continue payment of salaries, customer education initiatives and non-awards expenses related to the whistleblower program to ensure it can continue to function even when awards obligated to whistleblowers exceed the program fund’s balance at the time of distribution.

Some ag sector items that did NOT make the omnibus package:

Nothing for the proposed farmworker labor reforms from Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and others. The bill also left out legislation to reform cattle markets or appoint a special investigator at USDA to investigate possible anti-competitive behavior in the meatpacking sector.

We’ll be updating this article as more details become available.

More on policy :

Water Resources Bill Reauthorized with a Component that Will Impact Producers
European Union Clinches a Deal on a Carbon Border Tax
U.S.'s “Candid” GMO Corn Conversation With Mexico Results In Changes To Looming Trade Dispute
Senate Clears Annual Defense Policy, Pushing $858 Billion to Military

Water Resources Bill Reauthorized with a Component that Will Impact Producers

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 15:00:00 GMT

In an 83–11 vote in the Senate on Thursday, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) was reauthorized.

The WRDA is a biennial bill that was first set in stone in 2014 to allow U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to implement water infrastructure projects and programs across the nation. By way of the WRDA, the Corps constructs and maintain ports, inland waterways, locks and dams.

WRDA 2022 includes funding for 94 new feasibility studies and 21 projects, as well as instruction for the Corps to “expedite several ongoing studies and projects that are critical to addressing our nation’s water resources needs,” according to the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works release.

However, different from other years, WRDA 2022 cements a cost-share system for inland waterway projects in which 65% of funding stems from general treasury while the remaining 35% comes from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.

The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) applauded the passage of the legislation in a release , which it dubbed an “integral” component of the fertilizer distribution system.

“On a ton-mile basis, approximately one-fourth of fertilizer moves on the inland barge system and these projects are absolutely critical to the safe and efficient distribution of fertilizers,” said Corey Rosenbusch, TFI president and CEO. “Making the cost-share permanent will…provide confidence to industry that much needed maintenance and modernization of our inland waterway system.”

According to Rosenbusch, repairs of locks and dams have increased 700% and further hindered production. He adds that these locks and dams—built nearly 100 years ago—were only designed to last 50 years.

“These delays are not only disastrous for the farmers who receive much of the almost 70 million tons of fertilizer each year via our nation’s waterways, they can also raise the prices of everyday goods and food for consumers,” Rosenbusch noted.

The bill will now move to President Biden’s desk, where he will likely sign it in coming weeks.

More on policy:

Expect New WOTUS Testing Rules by the End of 2022, According to Government Lawyer
5 Conservation Needs to be Met in Farm Bill 2023

Ranchers Battle Back-to-Back Blizzards, Now Near-Record Flooding Blankets the East, Yet North Dakota Still Isn't Drought-Free

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 20:40:52 GMT

Farmers and ranchers across western North Dakota and Montana were staring at a bleak drought picture for a second consecutive year just a few weeks ago. The weather took a sharp turn with a blizzard Easter week, and now more snow and torrential rains are causing flooding across areas of North Dakota.

While moisture conditions have improved a little too much in some areas, USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says the drought gradient has sharpened. The wet areas have gotten wetter, while many of the dry areas, including the central and southern Plains, have actually gotten drier.

Back to back killer April blizzards…
(For those never experiencing one.) pic.twitter.com/edhxZSAC8A
— WC Mckenzie (@longXranch) April 24, 2022

North Dakota has seen more moisture in two weeks than some areas have seen in two years, but overall, the state isn’t free of drought just yet.

“For North Dakota, the April 12-14 blizzard was particularly extreme, with widespread 1 to 2½-foot snowfall totals, winds above 60 mph, and multiple days below 10°F in the storm’s wake, says Brad Rippey, USDA meteorologist. It was a very unusual event, even for North Dakota in April. And, of course, it was followed within a few days by the April 17-18 snowfall and then last weekend’s powerful storm.”

The storm this past weekend made it extremely difficult for ranchers who had cows in the middle of calving. Ranchers across western North Dakota and eastern Montana are exhausted, as three back-to-back blizzards has bade calving season especially challenging this year, and livestock losses are still unknown.

“It was really stressful on the cows and the calves,” says Carrie Roth, a producer in Mott, North Dakota told AgDay affiliate KFYR before this past weekend’s blizzard . “Calves are getting sick. Cows are all mixed up from being confined and just it’s just been a challenge I guess getting kind of back on track with everything.”

KFYR also spoke to Julie Schaff Ellingson with the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association. After the first storm, Ellingson was also concerned about how livestock losses could mount as ranchers found more cattle and calves buried in by the snow.

“In many areas there are huge drifts and so livestock that maybe perished might be covered in snow,” Ellingson told KFYR. “We have to wait for some time and maybe for some snow to melt reveal some of those losses in many areas that are still inaccessible because of that incredible drifting of snow.”

Power lines falling like dominos in western North Dakota today! #plant22 pic.twitter.com/4wzzHQSNTq
— Duran Vigesaa (@DuranVigesaa) April 24, 2022

The videos on social media from this past weekend’s storm showed powerlines falling like dominoes. North Dakota experienced blizzard conditions in the western part of the state and more than 4 inches of rain in the east.

“In eastern North Dakota, where the latest storm brought heavy rain, near-record flooding will occur over the next few days, north of Grand Forks toward the Canadian border,” says Rippey. “The Red River at Oslo, Minnesota, should crest later this week very close to the record set on April 1, 2009.”

(Farm Journal)

How can an area so desperate for moisture go to near-record flooding in such a short period of time? Rippey says it’s a combination of heavy rainfall and snowmelt. The two factors collided, followed by the flooding across the area.

“The flooding in the Red River Valley and environs is largely due to the recent rainfall, amounting to as much as 2 to 3½ inches, which fell on partially frozen soils, maximizing runoff. In addition, the last of the snow melted during the storm, adding a bit more runoff and effectively becoming a 3- to 5-inch event,” says Rippey.

The moisture has been a mixed bag for producers across the state. While many needed the moisture, it came with extreme conditions. Even with all the flooding and snow, Rippey says the state still isn’t drought-free.

“It’s hard to believe, but there is some lingering drought in western North Dakota,” he says. “Snow from the April 12-14 blizzard blew into massive drifts, minimizing the amount of moisture that stayed on - and melted into- open fields. Although the situation continues to further improve in western North Dakota with each passing storm, it will take time to replenish the soil moisture profile and for drought-damaged rangeland and pastures to fully recover.”

Nebraska Flooding Unlikely to Stop Cattle Herd Growth

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 20:17:34 GMT

Livestock producers are still adding up the totals when it comes to losses they suffered in the last month’s flooding. Tyne Morgan recently sat down with Don Close, an animal protein analyst with Rabo AgriFinance , on AgDay TV for insights as to what that means for supply and demand.

“It sounds like there were more losses of new calves in the western half of the state with the blizzard side of that storm than there was from the flood damage,” says Close. “There were more yearlings and fed cattle lost on the east side.”

As the counts come in, Close expects a full picture to emerge. Part of that picture now includes recalculating the nation’s herd size.

“I still think that cattle inventory numbers are growing,” says Close. “It’s the growth we see from here that’s going to be really, really flat.”

That flattening curve is when compared to the last three years. He expects growth to continue but there are concerns beyond weather that could have an impact.

“If we were to really see a slowdown in the economy that could have some impact,” says Close. “The counter side of that is this export picture looks so bright, particularly with the uncertainties around China that it looks like demand for global protein is going to be there.”

Nebraska receives hay donations from people around the US

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:23:33 GMT

YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — Many teenagers would spend spring break catching up on sleep or spending time with friends.

However, 17-year-old Kylie Bos is spending it with her father, Jamie Bos, as the Michigan residents haul hay bales to various parts of flood-devastated areas of Nebraska.

Jamie Bos has performed previous runs for Farm Rescue, an organization that benefits producers hit by major illness, major injury or natural disaster, the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan reported.

For Kylie Bos, it’s a first-time experience. She was intrigued by her father’s commitment to help others. She also liked the idea of spending quality time with him.

“He made it sound fun,” Kylie Bos said. “I help him by making sure the hay is strapped tight to the semi.”

Jamie Bos sees his mission as helping those in need. “These producers have lost their machinery, livestock and buildings because of flooding,” he said.

So far, he has hauled hay from seven states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska. The names of the donor states are visible on signs and bales of hay.

On this trip, Verdigre has become the ground zero for collecting, transferring and transporting hay to hard-hit areas. Knox County, Nebraska, and its western neighbors have suffered tremendous losses of livestock, feed and fences, along with the prospect of little or no crop this year.

Initial estimates place Nebraska’s agricultural losses at $1 billion. However, that figure could soar as more losses are discovered and the full impact is realized for things like delayed or no planting.

Over the course of a week, the Boses have logged hundreds of miles, starting with their initial 12-hour trek from Michigan to North Dakota to pick up the first shipment of hay. They trucked it to Nebraska and have remained in the Cornhusker State for daily hauls of hay to hard-hit areas.

“We’ve gone to places like Hemingford and Fullerton,” Jamie Bos said. “At first, we were driving 700 miles a day. Now, we’re making shorter trips and are probably traveling 300 miles a day.”

Kylie Bos believes she has received rewards from the hay recipients far in excess of what the Boses have provided.

“The people are so friendly. If we stop to check our hay load, people ask if something is wrong,” she said. “And when we drop off the hay, the people are so appreciative of what we’re doing.”

The father-daughter duo are part of a staggering outpouring of support from across the nation. Tons of hay donations have poured onto the grounds of the Zim Metal and Welding business owned by Curt and Sherri Zimmerer. The business is located along Nebraska Highway 14 on the north end of Verdigre, a community of about 600 residents.

The Zimmerers are no strangers to the livestock industry. They owned the neighboring livestock sale barn for 23 years. The new Verdigre Stockyards owners have allowed use of their grounds for the arrival, transfer and transporting of hay rolling into the community.

The response has exceeded the Zimmerers’ wildest expectations. They enlisted the help of their daughter, Hannah Sucha, who teaches fourth grade at Creighton, Nebraska.

Sucha created a social media site that drew attention far beyond the original goal of reaching some local hay suppliers.

“Curt was looking for a few bales of hay to help (Verdigre farmer Willard Ruzicka and his family), and the whole thing blew up. I think it went viral,” Sherri Zimmerer said. “We started getting hay from all over the country. We were getting hay from Wyoming, Colorado and Kansas. I think the Kansas hay donations were (a repayment) because of the help that Nebraska gave them during the Kansas fires.”

One hay donation even came from Pennsylvania.

“We had a husband, wife, their baby and dog who were the first ones to come from Pennsylvania,” Sherri Zimmerer said. “Then we had another group who were part of (Lycoming County FFA alumni) group from that state. One of the trucks in their group blew a tire, and the hay started on fire. But they got it taken care of and arrived here a little after midnight Sunday.”

New Holland corporate members Koletzky Implement of Yankton and Dinkel Implement of Norfolk, Nebraska, paid for the freight and fuel to get the latter Pennsylvania hay to Verdigre.

Other groups arrived with more than hay, Sherri said.

“A Kansas group brought three envelopes with them and asked for the names of three individuals who had the greatest need around here,” she said. “When those three people opened the envelopes, each one contained $100 and a letter of encouragement.”

An Ohio group made the Nebraska trek after learning about it during their priest’s sermon, Sherri Zimmerer said.

“The priest talked about the Nebraska disaster and his own experiences growing up on a farm and seeing others hit by disaster,” she said. “The parish dedicated its offertory collection toward helping Nebraska flood victims, and they arrived with hay. They said, ‘There was something leading us here, and we came.’”

In another instance, a girl raised $4,500 within 24 hours to help the Nebraska farmers and ranchers. One man donated $5,000 directed toward the purchase of fencing.

The outpouring of support has become overwhelming and emotional, Sherri Zimmerer said.

“On Saturday, we had 25 semis in the parking lot at one time,” she said. “We found places for them. We had 10 trailers backed up, waiting to unload hay.”

The Zimmerers have also received loads of donations besides hay, requiring them to find storage locations on their property or in town.

“We started receiving supplies, things we didn’t even ask for. We were getting socks, boots, jeans and all sorts of other clothing,” she said. “We’ve even gotten veterinary supplies, pallets of dog and cat food, calf bottles and lick tubs. We could start our own veterinary supply store.”

For now, the Zimmerers are asking for donations to focus on hay, fencing, poles, barbed wire and cash for the purchase of such items.

Greg Rudoff works at the Zimmerers’ office and has kept track of the hay donations.

“We’re at 70 loads, which is what (Curt Zimmerer) wanted, and each load is averaging 30 bales,” Rudoff said.

The Zimmerers said they marvel at the non-stop volunteer efforts during the last three weeks. They pointed to Marvin Soucek, Kenny Vacok, Jeff Olerich and his dog, Ginger, as constant presences on the scene.

Sherri Zimmerer stopped for a moment of reflection, that perhaps the Zimmerers had been put in place to handle such an undertaking.

“We ran the sale barn for 23 years, and we sold it two months ago,” she said. “If we still owned the sale barn, we wouldn’t have been able to do any of it. It’s like there was a sign, telling us to sell the sale barn in order to make all this possible.”

Curt Zimmerer added that he has been inspired by others in the midst of disaster.

“There’s so much love being shown here, to total strangers. It’s hard to get your head around it,” he said. “We need to hear more stories of generosity like this.”

___

Information from: Yankton Press and Dakotan, http://www.yankton.net/

An AP Member Exchange shared by the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan.

USDA Opening 2 Emergency Programs For NE Producers Dealing With Flood

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:23:17 GMT

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking matters into its own hands, opening two more emergency programs for producers dealing with flooding in Nebraska.

The Department announcing it will allow emergency grazing of livestock on conservation reserve acres until the end of April.

Also, 45 Nebraska counties have been approved to begin accepting applications for the Emergency Conservation Program to address damages from flooding. That may provide cost-share assistance and possibly restore fences.

Flooding Kills Estimated 300,000-plus Cattle in Australia

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:21:36 GMT

Record rain fall in northern Queensland, Australia has left upwards of 300,000 cattle dead as farmers struggle to care for their livestock during a multiday rain storm.

After years of drought, the northeastern region of Australia received much needed rain towards the end of January and the start February. However, the rain was more what is typically expected in the area during a single year and led to widespread devastation.

“We think that there’s over 300,000 head of cattle that have been lost, drowned or washed away,” says Georgie Somerset, president of the farm lobby group AgForce .

Queensland is home to approximately 11.1 million head of cattle, about 42.5% of Australia’s cattle, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Government Land and Coasts . The current estimated death toll would mean one out 37 cattle in the state have been killed. Other estimates from a number of media outlets in Australia have put the death toll at up to 500,000 head of cattle.

According to AgForce, the area impacted is twice the size of Tasmania (or West Virginia ) at 32.74 million acres (13.25 million hectares).

In an interview with ABC News , 4^th generation cattle farmer Dudley Harrington shares his experience dealing with flood waters on his station.

“About two weeks ago the rain started here which was very welcomed after we’ve gone through about seven tough years of drought here,” Harrington says.

Unfortunately, for 11 days it rained at Harrington’s cattle station with relentless winds blowing around 40 miles/hour (65 km/hour) and with the temperature dropping it made it difficult on livestock. During breaks in the storms Harrington would fly in a helicopter to drive cattle towards higher ground and drop hay from the air.

Harrington is unsure of the losses on his station or the extent of the damage. He has only been able to leave the homestead via a helicopter and has observed that much of his fence has been destroyed.

“There are a lot of cattle that have perished in the paddocks just because of the chilly winds and extensive rain. There have been a lot wash away because it has been such a widespread flood,” Harrington says. He adds that areas he has seen are as wide as 53 miles (85 km) with no land in between.

Large cattle stations like Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AACo) have experienced significant cattle losses because of the flooding . AACo owns nearly half a million cattle running on 24 stations throughout Australia and four of those properties were impacted by the storms.

Losses at the 600,000 acre Wondoola station have been extreme according to Hugh Killen, AACo managing director.

“We’ll have to see what happens over the coming days and weeks, but it looks grim for those cattle,” Killen says.

The Canobie, Dalgonally and Carrum stations also had high losses. “We haven’t disclosed the breakdown of numbers across those three properties, but it’s been a pretty tough one on Dalgonally,” Killen says.

There have been efforts underway to give support to cattle farmers in Australia via hay donations . These efforts have been put together by groups like the Australian Defence Force, local government, AgForce and Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Queensland’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has enacted an assistance funding program that offers up to US$53,000 (AUS$75,000) in grants to aid farmers. The grants can be used for hiring and leasing of equipment, purchasing hay, replacing dead livestock, salvaging feed or crops and repairing essential plant and equipment.

The government is also being flexible with its rules regarding the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) during this time of natural disaster for impacted cattle producers.

Queensland’s Bureau of Meteorology calls the flooding along the Flinders River – Queensland’s longest river – the most significant that has been witnessed in more than 50 years.

Below are some social media posts showing the devastation and rescue efforts going on in Australia (Warning: Some of the images are graphic in nature):

River levels continuing to rise in the lower Burdekin River into tomorrow. Roughly 16,000 cubic metres of water is currently flowing over #BurdekinFallsDam every second, the equivalent of 16,000 fully grown salt crocs being flushed down the river every second #qld #floods 🐊 pic.twitter.com/eShqcPH2FW
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 7, 2019

These cattle in Cloncurry are dry and safe - it’s thousands of others around Richmond, Hughenden and other centres across NW Qld that are stranded in water and unable to access feed. We’re working with other levels of government to find the best way to drop fodder. pic.twitter.com/OoMwWcJuJd
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@a_palaszczuk) February 7, 2019

Timelapse shows train line engulfed by rising flood waters in Corella Creek, Queensland, Australia. The footage was captured from 30 January to 5 February during the north Queensland floods. Hundreds of thousands of cattle are feared to have died in the area. pic.twitter.com/QFHlrLT5gM
— BBC Weather (@bbcweather) February 8, 2019

Flood plumes entering the ocean near #Ayr are clearly visible from Japan's Himawari-8 weather satellite. Levels on the Burdekin River are expected to ease below the minor flood level overnight tonight. See Warnings for further info: https://t.co/CQJkcamqzO pic.twitter.com/EEnJuGFnkz
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 12, 2019

False-colour images of #flood waters in #Queensland taken from Japan's Himawari-8 satellite. Major flooding is occurring now on the #DiamantinaRiver at Diamantina Lakes and downstream during the coming weeks. See Warnings for further info: https://t.co/reR9XrAPYW #bigwet pic.twitter.com/W1h8je9WD8
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 10, 2019

Cattle Losses from Flooding to be Lower Than First Predicted

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:58:38 GMT

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture says cattle losses in Nebraska from devastating March floods will be much lower than previously reported.

Director Steve Wellman tells the Omaha World-Herald that reports of up to a million cattle killed in the natural disaster are not accurate. Wellman says his agency hasn’t come up with a number, but expects the loss to be in the thousands.

Officials say some deadlines for assistance could yield better numbers. Producers have until April 29 to seek help for livestock losses under the Nebraska USDA Farm Service Agency’s Livestock Indemnity Program. There is a May 1 deadline to get help in disposing of dead livestock through a USDA program.

Bobbie Kriz-Wickham is the public affairs and outreach coordinator for the Nebraska Farm Service Agency. He says a few producers have reported losses of up to 200 head of cattle, but most report losses of 10 to 40 head.

Stories of Hope Flood Out of Nebraska

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:23:04 GMT

As states like Nebraska continue to wrap their arms around what appears to the be the worst natural disaster in state history stories are slowly starting to pour out of the region from farmers and ranchers impacted by the flood. Michigan Farm Bureau and Ag Community Relief recently made a trip to Verdigre, Nebraska to hear for themselves the stories from the storm including the experiences of ranchers Clint Pischel and Willard Ruzicka.

“At six a.m. sharp someone from the dam called and said we need to evacuate now,” recounted Pischel a fifth-generation cattle rancher near the Niobrara River. “I told them I’ve got calves and I’ve got cows I know are on that river bottom.”

The voice on the other end of the line told Pischel he didn’t have time to worry about the cows. They had to evacuate and get to higher ground. Newlyweds, he and wife hunted their belongings in the dark and waited.

They said the wall of water was coming and we waited for it and finally about 8:30 it came,” says Pischel. “When it came, the wall of ice came with it.”

Pischel says it happened within 30 seconds.

“The best way I can explain it is it’s like an ocean,” says Pischel. “It had to have been 30 feet deep.”

All while a blizzard roared with winds topping 60 miles per hour.

“You know what I can’t run very fast anymore, but I’ll tell you what I moved faster than normal,” recounts Ruzicka. “I mean it was on top of us.”

Nearby, Willard Ruzicka was dealing with the same wall of water and ice.

“I could see that I lost everything,” says Ruzicka. “I lost everything including the buildings that are now mostly gone.”

In a moment, both families losing generations worth of work. Their homes and their livelihoods erased by a mountain of ice.

“We knew it wasn’t good, but we didn’t know it was that bad,” says Pischel. “There were baby calves laying on the banks.”

For the Ruzicka’s it wasn’t just the first wave of water and ice that took their herd.

“We tried to get to them the day before and the ice was piled up against the gate and we couldn’t get them out,” says Ruzicka. “It would have taken a Catapillar to get them out of there, so when this second round came it drown them.”

Early estimates put ag damages at nearly a billion dollars in Nebraska alone.

“That does not include property damages on farms,” explains Steve Nelson the President of the Nebraska Farm Bureau . “Buildings that have been destroyed, equipment, homes those kinds of things that have been lost or damaged on farms are not part of those numbers.”

“It kind of just makes you want to lay your head down and give up for a little bit,” sighs Pischel.

However, the kindness of strangers is helping these families weather the storm.

“Ninety percent of the people who have come to help I’ve never met them,” says Ruzicka. “I don’t know them.”

Hay, feed, and supplies from strangers like Ag Community Relief out of Michigan help. They even brought handwritten cards from kids hundreds of miles away urging producers to be strong and don’t give up.

“You know it could have been worse,” says Pischel. “I know Willard lost everything.”

Both families steadfast in their resolve, if not for themselves, driven by the goodness of neighbors.

“I’m not going to waste that time and energy that they’ve already sacrificed to help me,” says Ruzicka. “If I walk away now that would be the wrong thing.”

Clint Pischel just recently got married. He and his wife are expecting their first baby.

Nebraska Farm Bureau said they raised nearly a half million dollars in the first week. If you’d like to help, click here .

Air National Guard Dropping Hay to Stranded Livestock

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:23:04 GMT

While some farmers are hauling feed in boats, other livestock producers are relying on help from above as they wait on disaster assistance from state and federal agencies.

State leaders and teams of agriculture orgs are gathering to assess the damage following some of the worst flooding in Nebraska’s history.

Volunteers with the Nebraska Air National Guard are picking up and dropping hay to cattle in places currently unreachable on the ground.

While the feed is being delivered, the Nebraska Cattlemen and other leaders are working to compile damage totals knowing it may be weeks before the true scope of the disaster is revealed.

The President approved Nebraska’s request for federal disaster aid on Thursday.

“We’re with you and the American people are going to stand with people across Nebraska, across Iowa, across all of the eight states that have been impacted by the severe weather and the flooding,” said Vice President Mike Pence while touring the flood in Nebraska.

In the meantime, boots on the ground also include help from the air.

Related Links:

Man Feeds Hogs by Boat

Fencing and Fields See Damage in Floods

Live Reporting From Missouri Floods

Cattlemen Suffer Extreme Flooding in Nebraska and Iowa

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:23:01 GMT

Flooding in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa continues to impact cattlemen, right in the middle of calving season. Additional moisture this week, will aggravate the situation even more, meteorologists say.

While many areas of the country received large amounts of moisture during the “bomb cyclone” the first week of March, residents of Nebraska and Iowa saw the flood levels rise, as water moved across frozen ground. Cattlemen are facing challenges of all kinds, from moving livestock away from flood waters, finding feed resources, to rescuing animals from deep and debilitating mud.

Peterbilt pontoon boat. Going to get wdgs for the cattle. Hope I never see anything like this again in my lifetime. #Flood2019 pic.twitter.com/TgdeoqIG2E — Ryan Loseke (@RyanLoseke) March 15, 2019

At this point we are sure that at least 57 pairs are swept away from the flooding. It’s trying times for us people that ranch the platte pic.twitter.com/p3ERtdNxGq — Hank (@hankkMG) March 14, 2019

From the Fremont area this morning on the Platte. Each of those little islands has dozens of cattle on it, stranded with no place to go. Our thoughts are with our agriculture industry as they will certainly feel the effects of this flooding. pic.twitter.com/PK8gpu2NMb — NEStatePatrol (@NEStatePatrol) March 15, 2019

Ranchers all over are also stepping up to help. This hay caravan came from South Dakota, where ranchers have been struggling to get through huge snow drifts to reach livestock. Click here to read about an injured rancher that was rescued by a neighbor with a tractor .

Hay for sale! You load. pic.twitter.com/nBei2t3k3l — gordon (@GordonLassen) March 13, 2019

Here in Wisconsin we’ve been dealing with the snow epidemic for a while. Barns collapsing, grain bins falling in, and now major flooding. It takes a village to get through this! Prayers to all dealing with this horrible winter! pic.twitter.com/Jw7ZvCo4SA — Emily Flory Carolan (@emily_floryag14) March 15, 2019

A Facebook group for Nebraska coverage shows the impact the flooding is having on many different communities, as users upload their photos and videos. Search for “Nebraska Flooding 2019”.

Seventeen locations so far have broken their flooding records, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

The Associated Press reports three fatalities due to the flooding. Additional moisture is on the way for Tuesday, but flooding is expected to last through at least April .

Sheets of ice scramble over Iowa dam causing additional flooding concerns pic.twitter.com/tT639n0xAJ — AccuWeather (@accuweather) March 17, 2019

Rivers are cresting 3-5 feet over record levels this weekend in Nebraska and Iowa; the flooding will continue for weeks in the Midwest. https://t.co/POkgfC2cCA pic.twitter.com/AMM6305wL2 — AccuWeather (@accuweather) March 17, 2019

Full Impact of Flooding Likely to Take Months

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:23:01 GMT

Early estimates are putting the cost of the blizzard and flooding to agriculture in Nebraska at nearly $1 billion, but how big could the impact ultimately be? AgriTalk host Chip Flory tells Tyne Morgan on AgDay-TV the market impacts are still an unknown.

“I think we’re a few weeks away from finding out just how big of an impact it could be,” says Flory. “How long are the issues going to linger and how long is it going to be before fields are fit?”

Flory says questions about fertilizer application, planting and acreage mix are endless.

“I think it could lead to higher prevent plant, which would mean fewer corn acres and fewer soybean acres,” says Flory. “Those acres that typically do get planted in the Missouri river bottoms well that’s not getting done [this year].”

Farming isn’t the only part of agriculture facing challenges. Cattle ranchers and feeders first had to deal with blizzard conditions before seeing floods sweep whole herds aways.

“The Platte River got wider and deeper than it’s ever been,” says Flory. “When you think of the amount of timber, pasture and Platte River ground that supports the cow herd out in Nebraska it’s really concerning.”

Flory says when calving season is added on top, there’s the potential to lose an entire year of production in the affected places.

“I think it’s going to be pretty eye-popping when the numbers all come together,” says Flory. “I think it’s going to be still a few weeks or months before we fully know.”

Click on the video above to see the entire conversation.

Drovers TV: Cattle Flood Losses Not Clear Yet in Nebraska

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:22:43 GMT

At the moment there have been no official cattle death loss projections released by government representatives following the mid-March blizzard and flooding event that hit Nebraska and surrounding states. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts did release an estimate that $400 million in damage was sustained by cattle producers in the state.

The economic impact released by Gov. Ricketts similarly falls in line with an overall livestock economic loss of $500 million estimated by Nebraska Farm Bureau .

Greg Henderson, editor of Drovers, says that while the monetary estimates don’t mention an exact head amount for cattle that were lost or if those estimates include other momentary losses to property, it can be surmised that the death loss is significant.

“If you use the $400 million and just equivalent that out to fed cattle, that would be 228,000 fed cattle lost,” Henderson relates.

Henderson does caution that type of death loss would likely be extreme.

Other widespread winter storms in the recent past did not eclipse the 100,000 head lost. For instance, the Goliath blizzard that hit New Mexico and Texas during December 2015 killed an estimated 40,000 dairy cattle and another 12,000 beef cattle . South Dakota’s Atlas blizzard during October 2013 killed 15,500 head in the state and another 3,000 animals in Nebraska.

It is also important to note that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue incorrectly told Fox Business Network on March 19 that “1 million calves” were lost to the storm. Perdue later backed away from that statement apologizing on Trent Loos’ news program Loos Tales for the inaccurate announcement.

“I made the mistake personally of propagating some misinformation regarding the number of cattle lost in Nebraska which was not accurate,” Perdue shared.

For more on the impact of the flooding in Nebraska watch the video above from AgDay.

Flooding Leads to Cattle Rescues Around the Country

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:22:29 GMT

High water in a number of states has forced cattle producers to take desperate measures to care and in some cases rescue livestock. Reports of flooding from South Dakota to Louisiana the past week on pasture land have shown the extent of damage that cattle raisers are dealing with during a near-record moisture year for many parts of the country.

Here is a breakdown of news stories from flooded areas during the end of May and start of June that show the lengths to which ranchers and farmers are going to care for cattle.

Oklahoma Cowboys Rescue Stranded Cattle

In northeast Oklahoma, a group of cowboys have offered up their services to help save cattle that have been surrounded by floodwaters.

“We just refuse to sit back and watch these livestock drown because I mean, all of us own cattle,” says Cory Conley.

Cattle are being hauled out of the water with horses and boats in an effort to get cattle to higher ground.

A prison farm near Taft was forced to move cattle out of flooded pasture using a tractor and hay acreage appears to be wiped out by water.

“I’ve been at Jess Dunn for 20 years and have never even [seen] anything close to this,” says Terry Fry, with the Department of Corrections Agri-Services Division.

In some cases cattle haven’t been able to be rescued. Rancher Larry Washom says the flooding is worse than what he endured in 1986 because he has lost cattle. He estimates that 28 cattle worth about $30,000 were killed by the flood.

Helicopters Deliver Hay in Arkansas

Hay was airlifted to cattle stranded along the flooded Arkansas River in Conway County, Arkansas, by Arkansas National Guard helicopters.

Below is a series of photos from the Arkansas National Guard showing the delivery effort that started on June 4:

Aerial footage of #77thECAB Soldiers providing hay bales to stranded cattle in Conway Co. The cattle are stranded due to #ARFlood19. #BeYourBest #ArkanStrong pic.twitter.com/GyZukI4FfM
— Ark National Guard (@arkansasguard) June 4, 2019

Holy cow! #77thECAB Soldiers provide hay bales to stranded cattle in Conway Co. The cattle are stranded due to #ARFlood19. #BeYourBest #ArkanStrong pic.twitter.com/ul7WWuuGs7
— Ark National Guard (@arkansasguard) June 4, 2019

It's a bunch of bull that we hadn't herd about starving cattle. So we steered our helos over to provide some fast food. 77th ECAB Soldiers provided hay bales to stranded cattle in Conway Co. (AR NG photos by SGT Bryan Cerrato) #ARFlood19 #BeYourBest #KnowYourMil #ArkanStrong pic.twitter.com/OjqrVicPlM
— Ark National Guard (@arkansasguard) June 5, 2019

200 Cows and Calves Moved Before Louisiana Flooding

Before the Morganza Spillway gates opened and flooded nearly 350 acres of pasture, Ricky Rivet, owner of Ricky Rivet Farms near Morganza, Louisiana, moved his whole herd out of the path on May 29.

“I don’t want to do this at all, but it’s something I have to do. I mean, this is the reality. This is going to happen and I have to do it,” Rivet says. He moved about 200 head of cows and calves out of the potential flood plain .

In an effort to relieve the Mississippi River the Morganza Spillway was opened, but it is estimated that the water released will flood about 25,000 acres. Approximately 10,000 acres is farmland with the remainder being timber or pasture land.

Levee Breach in Missouri Forces Horse and Cattle Rescue

When a levee breached near Levasy, Missouri, people went out on boats to lead horses and cattle out of the water .

Here are some social media posts by Ariel Rothfield from KSHB that show the rescue effort that involved removing cattle seeking shelter on a house’s front porch:

Livestock are on this home’s porch to avoid the high water in Levasy @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/Vxo3Q51TMj
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

These guys are trying to take the animals to dry land one at a time. Right now they’re having a hard time because the momma is protecting the calf @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/xEHxKv5PRE
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

Tom made it to the horse. The tricky part now is to calm the horse down so he can get the horse to land that is not flooded @41actionnews #OnlyOn41 pic.twitter.com/VaAQaKZ9rN
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

Tom and the horse on the railroad tracks. He’s going to take the horse to a friend’s home up the road & wait for the owner. @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/PH4mjAvqSL
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

The biggest challenge right now is trying to get these cattle to go one-by-one. The calf has already been taken to dry land on boat @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/jWetAZqpmX
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

They got the momma to start heading towards dry land, which they say is good. They’re hoping the younger ones will now follow @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/9mjCob7sNq
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

And they are making a little bit of progress... it’s a slow process @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/vtnSnwxFuh
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

They made it to the railroad tracks! Now all the volunteers have to do us guide them along the tracks. @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/YxVK31iyPW
— Ariel Rothfield (@arothfield) June 3, 2019

Kansas Ranchers Dealing with Flooding

Similar to other states, cattle producers in Kansas are also having to move cattle because of a glut of rain. Jeff Dewerff, a rancher near Ellinwod, has moved his cattle several times to avoid high water.

“It’s very dangerous for the little baby calves,” Dewerff says. “This water can sweep them away.”

He’s been dealing with problems like pneumonia and grass dying off following the continued flooding.

South Dakota Rancher Uses Kayak to Check Cattle

A rancher near Freeman, South Dakota, who can’t access his cattle with a truck or ATV has resorted to using a kayak as a means to look at his cows and calves.

“We tried to go through this field over here, but that was too wet,” says Patrick Hofer. “We almost got stuck with the four-wheeler so then Laura and I had the idea. Well maybe we should take a kayak down the creek.”

This photo is from Hutchinson County on Friday. Fast forward to today... pic.twitter.com/lHFFKKAce8
— Dan Santella (@KELODanS) June 3, 2019

...and the water has receded considerably. We're talking with the owner of these cows (and the pilot of that kayak) momentarily pic.twitter.com/Srfz0QDpnu
— Dan Santella (@KELODanS) June 3, 2019

Managing Cattle on Flooded Pasture

Below is a video from Oklahoma State University Extension beef specialist David Lalman offering advice on how to feed and care for cattle that have been on flooded pasture:

For more on what you can do for cattle following a flood read the following articles:

Harvey may not have dealt devastating blow to Texas ranchers

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 02:21:05 GMT

GLEN FLORA, Texas (AP) — As John Locke looked down from a helicopter at his roughly 200 cattle struggling with Harvey’s rising floodwaters, he saw about 20 becoming entangled in a barbed wire fence and feared the worst.

Bundled in a lifejacket, the 38-year-old rancher jumped in to try and help. But by the time he reached the Brahmans, a beef cow species that originated in India and is known for its distinctive hump, most had already freed themselves and headed for higher ground with the rest of the herd.

“I thought they were going to die, and they’re fine, which is kind of a theme for the whole thing,” Locke said.

The damage Harvey inflicted on Texas’ cattle industry hasn’t been calculated yet, but there’s evidence that it might be less than initially feared and perhaps not as costly as Hurricane Ike. That came ashore in 2008 as a weaker storm but with more salty storm surge that wiped out pastures for months. Even though Harvey unleashed catastrophic flooding on counties that are home to 1.2 million beef cattle, which is more than a fourth of the state’s herd, there were apparently only a few instances in which large groups of cows drowned.

To be sure, some ranchers were walloped by Harvey, including at least one family that lost hundreds of cattle in flooding that reached the rooftops of low-lying homes near Beaumont, said Bill Hyman, who heads the Independent Cattleman’s Association of Texas. And even surviving cattle can bring increased costs, as they can face longer-term health problems from standing in water for days, having gone long periods without eating and stress.

Hyman said he expects the association’s membership to fall by 5 percent because some affected ranchers, especially older ones, will leave the business.

But whatever damage Harvey did cause shouldn’t trigger a short-term rise in beef prices, said David Anderson, a Texas A&M University professor and agricultural economist. Texas is the nation’s top cattle producer, with cow and calf sales averaging $10.7 billion annually between 2011 and 2014. But there are 30 million beef cows in the U.S. and most of the Texas beef industry’s feed lots and packing plants are concentrated in parts of the state that escaped the storm.

“Individual ranchers are going to see huge financial effects,” Anderson said, including livestock killed; replacing destroyed homes, feed, fences and equipment; and purchasing medicines to protect cows from post-Harvey health problems. “But I don’t think we’re going to see much at all in the way of market impacts, changes in calf prices for other ranchers, or in the consumer beef prices.”

One sign that Harvey might not have been as bad on ranchers as had been feared is that there were, in the early weeks after Harvey, fewer than 10 applications to a federal program that provides aid for livestock carcass disposal, said assistant state conservationist Mark Habiger, who cautioned that it’s still too early to declare that a crisis was averted. Federal officials urged ranchers to burn cattle killed in the storm because the soil is so saturated that burying them could spread contamination.

When Ike hit Texas nine years ago, it cost the ranching industry at least an estimated $37 million, killing up to 5,000 cattle and decimating pastureland with saltwater storm surge. During Harvey, most of the flooding was freshwater that came from rains and rivers, meaning many ranches won’t have to deal with grasslands hurt by saltwater — though some closer to the Gulf Coast still might.

At Locke’s J.D. Hudgins Ranch in Glen Flora, a village with just one post office and an antique shop about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southwest of Houston, the cattle have returned to grazing in lush pastures that are greener than ever. Although Locke’s family lost three cows and a calf to Harvey and a few survivors seemed sluggish or walked with a limp as he herded them under a fence one recent day, Locke said it could have been much worse.

“We’re just happy they’re still here,” he said.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press

Cattlemen Suffer Extreme Flooding in Nebraska and Iowa

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 01:44:16 GMT

Peterbilt pontoon boat. Going to get wdgs for the cattle. Hope I never see anything like this again in my lifetime. #Flood2019 pic.twitter.com/TgdeoqIG2E — Ryan Loseke (@RyanLoseke) March 15, 2019

At this point we are sure that at least 57 pairs are swept away from the flooding. It’s trying times for us people that ranch the platte pic.twitter.com/p3ERtdNxGq — Hank (@hankkMG) March 14, 2019

From the Fremont area this morning on the Platte. Each of those little islands has dozens of cattle on it, stranded with no place to go. Our thoughts are with our agriculture industry as they will certainly feel the effects of this flooding. pic.twitter.com/PK8gpu2NMb — NEStatePatrol (@NEStatePatrol) March 15, 2019

Hay for sale! You load. pic.twitter.com/nBei2t3k3l — gordon (@GordonLassen) March 13, 2019

Here in Wisconsin we’ve been dealing with the snow epidemic for a while. Barns collapsing, grain bins falling in, and now major flooding. It takes a village to get through this! Prayers to all dealing with this horrible winter! pic.twitter.com/Jw7ZvCo4SA — Emily Flory Carolan (@emily_floryag14) March 15, 2019

A Facebook group for Nebraska coverage shows the impact the flooding is having on many different communities, as users upload their photos and videos. Search for “Nebraska Flooding 2019”.

Seventeen locations so far have broken their flooding records, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

The Associated Press reports three fatalities due to the flooding. Additional moisture is on the way for Tuesday, but flooding is expected to last through at least April .

Sheets of ice scramble over Iowa dam causing additional flooding concerns pic.twitter.com/tT639n0xAJ — AccuWeather (@accuweather) March 17, 2019

Rivers are cresting 3-5 feet over record levels this weekend in Nebraska and Iowa; the flooding will continue for weeks in the Midwest. https://t.co/POkgfC2cCA pic.twitter.com/AMM6305wL2 — AccuWeather (@accuweather) March 17, 2019

First Thing Today: Flooding in Southwest Argentina

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 01:17:21 GMT

Firmer tone in grains and soybeans to start the week... Corn and soybean futures are both posting gains around 2 to 3 cents, with the corn market extending Friday’s surge and soybeans seeing some short-covering after the report-inspired plunge. Winter wheat futures are 3 to 4 cents higher, while spring wheat is fractionally to a penny lower. The U.S. dollar index is up slightly, while crude oil futures are near unchanged.

Busy week in Washington... A Friday Senate vote on Neil Gorsuch as a Supreme Court justice, several more House farm bill hearings, FOMC minutes and a Friday Employment report are the highlights from Washington this week. A Senate vote on the nomination of Sonny Perdue to be the next USDA Secretary is unlikely due to action on Gorsuch, but Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) continues to seek a vote before the April 7 Easter recess or quickly after the chamber returns. Also of note, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet President Donald Trump on Thursday and Friday in Florida to talk about trade and security issues. This meeting is also expected to bring some Chinese buyers to the U.S., so there could be announcements on sales commitments.

Flooding in southwest Argentina... Heavy rains have led to flooding in southwest Argentina, with more rainfall expected for the region this week. World Weather Inc. notes that “harvest delays and a general slowdown in crop maturation rates are likely because of the rain and the cooler weather that will soon follow.” But it continues that drier weather next week should help get some fieldwork underway and no crop quality issues are expected, so long as conditions do dry out. Bahia, Brazil also experienced some flooding rains over the weekend, causing crop damage in low-lying areas. But conditions elsewhere in the country are favorable.

Private PMI slows more than expected in March... IHS Markit/Caixin’s seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slipped 0.5 points to 51.2 points in March, falling short of analysts’ expectations for a reading of 51.6 points. The PMI for small and mid-size manufacturers is still above the 50.0 mark separating expansion from contraction in its manufacturing sector and it is still one of the highest readings from the the past four years. But growth in production and new orders slowed since February.

Russia’s ag ministry drops grain export forecast... Russia’s ag ministry has slashed its 2016-17 grain export forecast by 3.1 MMT to 33.9 MMT, according to First Deputy Minister Dzhambulat Khatuov. This would be in line with 2015-16 shipments. A rise in its currency have slowed Russia’s grain shipments, despite plentiful supplies.

Allegations JBS knowingly bought cattle from illegally deforested land... JBS SA, the world’s largest meatpacker, is in hot water again, this time regarding allegations that for years it knowingly bought cattle raised on illegally deforested land. IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental regulator, ordered the suspension of two JBS meat packing plants and 13 others in the southwest state of Para for buying cattle raised on pastures cleared illegally from the Amazon forest. It also leveled fines of 24 million reals ($7.7 million) against JBS. IBAMA says JBS bought 49,438 illegal cattle between 2013 and 2016, half of those directly from embargoed pastures and the remainder by three-way “laundering” transactions to disguise the source. JBS denies the allegations, and says it has no way of knowing where cattle were raised when supplied by a legal rancher. The company is also involved in a corruption scandal regarding bribes of meat inspectors.

Trend of the cattle market remains lower... While momentum points to followthrough selling, futures start the week well below last week’s cash cattle trade that took place in a wide range of $124 to $130, with much of the action around $128 in Kansas and Texas. But with that said, traders may be comfortable with the discount structure as most believe the cash market has topped. Boxed beef prices dropped $1.09 (Choice) to $4.05 (Select) on Friday, though movement was solid at 140 loads.

Path of least resistance is down for hogs... Hog futures faced pressure last week and more such action is likely this week, since market-ready supplies are plentiful, which has kept cash hog bids under pressure. The calendar flip to April could shift a bit more attention to the April contract’s $3-plus discount to the cash hog index, however.

Weekend demand news... Iraq reportedly canceled a tender to buy at least 50,000 MT of wheat due to a lack of offers. South Korea bought around 125,000 MT of feed wheat to be sourced from optional origins; the EU is expected to get the business.