Produce - General

One of North America’s Largest Farms Files for Financial Protection, Is Restructuring

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 14:50:03 GMT

Earlier this week, Monette Group, which farms more than 400,000 acres in Canada and the U.S. filed for financial protection and is restructuring.

The company filed for creditor protector in Canada via the Companies’ Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA) and filed Chapter 15 in Delaware Bankruptcy Court.

The Cost of Expansion: Efficiency Erosion and the Leverage Trap

The group’s recent financial trajectory highlights a cautionary tale of aggressive, debt-fueled expansion meeting a volatile economic climate. While the organization successfully scaled its footprint and top-line revenue over the last several years, operational efficiency and debt sustainability have reached a critical breaking point. [all dollars are Canadian]

The Era of Aggressive Growth (2017–2022)
Driven by substantial borrowing, the Group underwent a massive scale-up, growing revenue from $45 million to $198 million and expanding its cultivated land from 97,000 to 269,000 acres. While total EBITDA initially followed this upward trend, the underlying efficiency—measured by EBITDA-per-acre—began to signal trouble, dropping significantly from its 2015 highs.
Operational Headwinds and Margin Compression (2024–Present)
The transition into 2024 saw revenue climb to a record $347 million across 440,000 acres, yet profitability decoupled from growth. Diversification into produce and cattle, intended to broaden the portfolio, instead acted as a drag on the bottom line. By 2024, EBITDA-per-acre plummeted to a decade low of $83—a nearly 50% decline. This downward trend was exacerbated in 2025; despite a projected $72 million EBITDA, actual earnings reached only $31 million due to a “perfect storm” of poor crop prices, high input costs, and yield losses.
The Sustainability Crisis
The group’s reliance on cheap capital (approximately 3% interest rates) and rising real estate valuations proved successful in a low-rate environment. However, the convergence of flat property values, persistent inflation, and high interest rates has rendered the current capital structure unsustainable. Despite holding significant underlying asset value, the group is now overleveraged, with compressed margins leaving little room to service debt or maintain liquidity.

What Is Monette Group?

Since 2010, Monette Group has been aggressively expanding from its family farm in Saskatchewan to Manitoba and British Columbia in Canada. Current President Darrel Monette took over the family farm in 2013. In 2019, the company expanded into the U.S. first in Montana and then Arizona and Colorado. The company’s website says its core values are: teamwork, efficiency, growth and ‘get shit done.’

With its expansion and diversification, the business expanded into four main brands:

Monette Farms: growing pulses, wheat, corn, sugar beets, barley, and alfalfa in Canada and the U.S.
Monette Produce: with growing locations in California, Arizona and Canada
Monette Cattle: ranches located in Saskatchewan and British Columbia
Monette Seeds: located in Saskatchewan in partnership with NexGen Seeds

The 18 business entities of Monette Group employ between 300 and 600 people, depending on the season.

Grain production, primarily canola, wheat and durum accounted for over 60% of group revenue in 2024 and more than 50% in 2025. Grain operations dominate the Canadian footprint with 68% of the group’s production occurring in Canada.

Fresh produce operations are primarily located in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, with significant fall and winter production in Arizona. In 2025, produce accounted for approximately 15% of group revenue. Crops include carrots, squash, broccoli, cabbage, pumpkin, cauliflower and watermelon. The group’s produce is mainly sold to Loblaws and the Little Potato Company.

Cattle ranching accounted for approximately 10% of revenue in 2024 and 17% in 2025. Cattle ranching operations focus on Black and Red Angus cattle, including herd breeding in British Columbia and feedlots across Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Seed processing accounted for 19% of revenue in 2024 and 16% in 2025.

Its main crops 10 years ago were green and red lentils, durum, canola and malting barley.

According to the company’s website, Monette Farms’ newest addition is west of Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a certified organic farm and headquarters to Monette Seeds USA.

What Monette Farms Has Said

President Darrel Monette has penned a letter sent to landowners and leasing partners as well as a press release distributed with general counsel as the point of contact. Both are dated April 21, 2026.

In both Monette says this process will allow them to stabilize finances, restructure debt, and continue operating.

The letter read: “This filing is a proactive response to current industry pressures (higher input costs, higher interest rates, and tighter credit) and is not a liquidation.”

It continued: “We are working with our advisors and a court-appointed Monitor to develop a restructuring plan for credit and court approval.”

Per a company press release, the day-to-day farming activities, spring seeding and livestock care are continuing as planned. The release also said all employees are being retained at this time.

The Assets of Monette Group

According to its 2025 financial statements, the group has $1.24 billion of total assets booked at cost (and not reflective of market value.)

As of April 12, 2026, the group owns 274,000 acres of land. In the U.S. Monette owns 61,700 acres in Arizona, Montana and Colorado.

For crop production, it leases 175,000 acres in Canada and 43,000 acres in the U.S. with annual total lease payments of $29.4 million. For its cattle business, Monette holds grazing licenses on 1.2 million acres of land in Canada.

The group owns three seed processing facilities in Canada.

It leases more than 1,700 separate units of farm equipment, with 1,600 units leased from John Deere Financial. Annually, the group spends $26 million on leased equipment.In 2023, it was newsworthy when the business transitioned from Case IH equipment to John Deere equipment in a reported $100+ million deal.

What Else Is There To Watch?

Monette Group is one of the largest privately held farming operations in North America.

The timing of this filing is critical for the farm to put in a 2026 crop. In the CCAA filing, Monette Group said its seed expenses are $40 million per year. To get set up for seeding, Monette’s operations may receive 41 truck loads of product a day (nearly 15,000 truck loads a year).

The main filing is in Canada with proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) as part of a court-supervised restructuring process. From here is a process by which Monette will work with a court-appointed monitor to develop a restructuring plan for creditor and court approval.

The Chapter 15 filing asks the U.S. court to recognize the Canadian CCAA proceeding as the “foreign main proceeding” which can extend the protection of U.S. assets. It also prevents U.S. creditors from taking legal action such as seizing assets or filing lawsuits.

In the CCAA document, it is stated Monette Group held a $950 million secured credit facility dated December 5, 2018, which matured on April 15, 2026. Repayment of the obligations owing to the syndicate of lenders is a necessary component of the group’s overall restructuring strategy.

The CCAA filing comes after Monette per the guidance of its lending syndicate to sell assets. Two tracts were sold in 2025: in Regina, Saskatchewan for $41.18 million and 17,000 acres of land in Montana for $47.5 million. Additional sales were attempted this this winter, but with only one completed sale of 12,932 acres of farmland in the Stewart Valley of Swift Current, Saskatchewan for $54 million.

In the affadavit, Monette says a restructuring and selling of assets by the court appointed monitor is important to provide an orderly sale of assets and not cause a bulk liquidation which could result in lower values.

The farm has been active on social media:

These Half-Dozen U.S. Ag Trade Missions Aim To Diversify Global Demand

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 16:46:09 GMT

Trump’s USDA team has announced its agribusiness trade missions for the year ahead.

“Our team certainly plays an important role in generating demand overseas for the products,” says Luke Lindberg, USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs.

Lindberg points to a three-point plan Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ team is deploying:

Get better trade agreements.
Build willing buyer and willing seller relationships.
Hold trading partners accountable.

According to Lindberg, the goal is it “helps to cultivate, it helps to diversify, so we’re not solely focused on one or two key buyers. I think if you go to many business owners and ask them, would you rather have one buyer that buys 80% of your products or would you rather have some diversification to lots of buyers who have ups and downs of their own, I think many of them would say they prefer the diversification model.”

So far, six agribusiness trade missions have been announced for 2026 with the goal of growing global markets, increasing exports and strengthening the agricultural economy.

The six mission destinations, and potential agricultural focus areas, include the following.

1. February 2026, Jakarta, Indonesia

Since 2020, annual U.S. ag exports to Indonesia have hovered between $2.75 billion and $3.25 billion. Overall, it’s the 11^th largest trade partner for U.S. ag goods.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest market for U.S. soybeans following China, the European Union and Mexico. According to U.S. Census Bureau trade data, in 2024 Indonesia imported from the U.S. $1.2 billion in soybeans, $198 million in wheat and $139 million in cotton. This past July, the Indonesia private sector and the U.S. wheat industry signed a memorandum committing to purchasing at least 1 million metric tons of U.S. wheat between 2026 and 2030 plus a minimum of 800,000 metric tons of wheat in 2025 (prorated).

The Trump administration has worked to address long-standing barriers to U.S. agricultural trade and expanding market access into Indonesia with a trade agreement eliminating tariffs on more than 99% of U.S. products.

2. April 2026, Manila, Philippines

U.S. ag exports to the Philippines have more than doubled since 2010. In 2024, the total value was $3.5 billion, making it the ninth-largest customer for U.S. ag trade.

With limited domestic production, the Philippines imports nearly all of its dairy products, and specifically $365 million comes from the U.S. Poultry exports to the Philippines totaled $187 million, with a majority of that in frozen chicken leg quarters.

The U.S. gained market share for ethanol imports into the Philippines, having doubled volumes in 2024 with a value of $138 million.

Beef and beef products are the sixth-largest group of ag products the Philippines imports from the U.S. This category has also experienced recent growth by increasing 58% from 2023 to 2024. The U.S. is second to Brazil in market share for beef imported into the Philippines.

In 2024, the Philippines imported $120 million of pork and pork products from the U.S. The country’s local supply has been declining because of African Swine Fever.

According to an announcement in July, the Trump administration said the Philippines will charge zero tariffs for U.S. exports into their market, while the Philippines will pay 19% tariffs to the U.S.

3. May 2026, Istanbul, Turkey

According to USDA analysis, Turkey has grown its strength as an importer of raw materials and then reexported finished products. This includes importing wheat for flour and cotton for apparel.

Because of its geographic location, Turkey has also grown as a strategic regional transshipment hub, connecting U.S. exporters with trade partners across the Caucasus region.

In September, Turkey lifted its retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. ag products: rice, tree nuts, distilled spirits and more. The Trump administration says a focus for the upcoming agribusiness trade mission will be to address nontariff barriers to trade, which includes import bans on U.S. animal protein.

4. August 2026, Australia and New Zealand

The Trump administration says its trade breakthroughs with Australia will give greater access to U.S. beef exporters. The U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement is structured to give comprehensive duty-free market access.

Other protein sectors have significant trade established with Australia. In 2024, $328 million worth of U.S. pork and pork products were imported. And $173 million of U.S. dairy products were brought into the country.

New Zealand imported $520 million worth of U.S. ag goods, including: soybean meal, dairy ingredients (lactose and whey), fresh fruit and distiller’s dried grains.

5. September 2026, Saudi Arabia

This agribusiness trade mission will focus on technical issues and nontariff barriers. Saudi Arabia is the 23^rd largest ag export market for the U.S., and it is a gateway to the $3 billion market for U.S. ag goods that is the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

Over the past 10 years, the country has increased its imports of U.S. hay by 540% to its recent total of $152 million in 2024.

Corn, tree nuts and rice are also key ag goods exported from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, totaling $239 million, $169 million and $123 million, respectively.

6. November 2026, Vietnam

USDA says this trade mission will focus on preferential access for specialty cheese and meats as well as improved market access for U.S. peaches and nectarines.

U.S. ag exports to the country peaked in 2018 at $4 billion and in 2023 were around $3.1 billion. Ranked from highest value to smallest, the top five ag products exported from the U.S. into Vietnam in 2023 were: cotton, soybeans, distillers grains, soybean meal and tree nuts.

For meat and meat products, the key prospects include frozen/chilled beef (boneless and bone-in), frozen chicken (leg quarters, legs and paws), and turkey.

Dairy could be a growth market for U.S. exports into Vietnam as nonfat dried milk powder has led the segment to total $146 million of imports in 2023. Fresh cheese (for foodservice/restaurants) is in demand by younger generations despite not being part of a traditional diet in the country.

USDA also points to fresh fruit as a growth category for the country, namely apples, cherries and grapes.

Kennedy Says U.S. to Announce New Dietary Guidelines in December

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:18:48 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will release new dietary guidelines in December aimed at reducing high rates of obesity and changing the country’s food culture, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Thursday, Nov. 6.

“We’re about to release dietary guidelines that are going to change the food culture in this country,” Kennedy told reporters during an event in the Oval Office, where Trump announced a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to cut the price of weight loss drugs. “We’re releasing those in December.”

Kennedy says the new guidelines would change the kind of food served to military service members and children in schools, but gave no details on the new recommendations.

“If we want to solve the chronic disease crisis, we have to tackle obesity,” Kennedy says. “Obesity is the No. 1 driver of chronic disease.”

Fifty percent of the adult U.S. population is obese or overweight, Kennedy says, adding that it’s driving costs up for diabetes care and cardiac diseases.

The updated U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which influence school lunches, medical advice and nutrition standards, have been anticipated since summer. The new guidelines are expected to address saturated fat, found mainly in meat and certain oils, and ultra-processed food, along with modified suggestions related to dairy consumption, sources familiar with the process told Reuters in June.

The Department of Health and Human Services and USDA publish the guidelines jointly every five years.

The current dietary guidelines recommend limiting saturated fat to less than 10% of total calories consumed daily, and do not address ultra-processed food. The definition of ultra-processed food is hotly debated by the food industry, while the report describes it as industrially manufactured products.

The guidelines recommend limiting consumption of alcoholic beverages to one drink a day for women and two for men, or not drinking.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Rural America is Facing a Mounting Labor Crisis

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 21:02:49 GMT

The American labor market is reaching a critical turning point that could tighten labor availability in rural industries and slow growth across the U.S. economy. A new quarterly report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange warns that demographic shifts and recent policy changes may start impacting businesses as soon as late 2025.

From livestock and crop operations to food processors and rural cooperatives, this labor shortage is becoming especially noticeable in the heart of America’s farmland. Many producers are already struggling to fill roles, and the challenge is expected to intensify in the coming months.

“Barring an unforeseen change in labor force participation rates or immigration policies, the pool of available workers is set to shrink sharply in the next few years,” says Rob Fox, director of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange. “The problem will be even more serious in states with slower population growth in the Upper Midwest, Corn Belt and Central Plains.”

Demographic Pressures Mount

Fox says the warning signs have been building for years. Labor force participation has steadily declined, birth rates have dropped and immigration policy has become more restrictive.

Between 2022 and 2024, nearly 9 million immigrants arrived in the U.S., driven by global humanitarian crises and relaxed federal rules. While that influx temporarily eased labor constraints, Fox says it only masked deeper, long-term trends.

U.S. fertility rates have fallen from 2.12 children per woman in 2007 to 1.62 in 2023, meaning fewer young people are entering the workforce just as the last of the baby boomers retire. In addition, labor force participation has slipped from a peak of 67% in 2000 to 62% today. Nearly 2.5 million working-age Americans have left the labor force in the past eight months alone.

“There is no single reason people are stepping away,” Fox explains. “It’s a combination of rising caregiving responsibilities, job skill mismatches, mental health challenges and higher disability rates. These are complex issues that won’t be resolved overnight.”

Shrinking Workforce Hits Agriculture Hard

The effects are already being felt across rural America. Farms, food processors, equipment dealers and cooperatives are struggling to find and keep the workers they need to maintain daily operations. Seasonal labor has become harder to find and full-time positions, especially those requiring specialized skills or long hours, are increasingly difficult to fill.

In regions with slower population growth, such as the upper Midwest and central Plains, the challenge is even more acute. These areas often lack the population inflows that help offset workforce losses elsewhere in the country.

While labor has been tight for several years, Fox warns that conditions are poised to deteriorate further.

“What we are facing is not just a cyclical labor issue; it’s a structural one,” he says.

Border encounters have dropped sharply since August 2024, signaling a steep decline in immigration. Combined with rising political pressure to increase deportations, the agricultural labor pool could shrink even more in the months ahead.

“Immigration has long been a key pillar supporting the rural workforce,” Fox notes. “Without a steady flow of new workers, farms and agribusinesses will have to get creative, either by increasing wages, automating tasks or changing how they manage production.”

Technology Offers a Path Forward

In response, more agricultural businesses are turning to technology to help offset the labor gap.

“The key to addressing labor scarcity always lies in innovation,” Fox says. “AI and robotics are no longer limited to the factory floor. They are increasingly being used in fields, dairies and food plants.”

A recent Gallup poll found that nearly one in five workers already uses artificial intelligence in some form each week. At the same time, the cost of robotics has dropped by nearly half in the past decade, making automation more accessible for a broader range of farms and agribusinesses.

CoBank’s report notes that many farm supply customers are using new tools to increase efficiency, improve decision-making and free up time for employees to focus on higher-value responsibilities.

Planning for What Comes Next

As producers look toward 2026, a combination of labor constraints, volatile input costs and shifting policy landscapes will continue to shape decision-making. Fox thinks adaptability will be essential.

“Technology will be critical to agriculture’s future,” he says. “AI and robotics can help farmers do more with fewer workers, boosting efficiency and margins. But investment decisions must be made carefully, especially in this uncertain economic environment.”

Until clearer policies emerge on trade, labor and energy, rural America will need to prepare for continued pressure.

“This is a pivotal moment,” Fox concludes. “Farms that plan ahead, embrace innovation and stay flexible will be best positioned to succeed.”

Grassley: I Still Support Trump, But Congress Should Lead On Trade, Tariffs

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:33:07 GMT

With financial markets spiraling deeper into the red, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is pounding the table in support of a bill that would wrestle back the executive branch’s authority to enact unilateral world trade decisions without Congressional approval.

The senior senator from Iowa has long held the belief the U.S. Constitution gives Congress direct oversight in regulating foreign commerce. Grassley says the legislature has deferred this authority to the executive branch since the 1960s, and it’s time to claw that power back within the walls of Congress.

“The impression is that I’m doing this because of what Trump did last week. It has nothing to do with that,” Grassley told AgriTalk host Chip Flory on Monday. “This president is doing what Congress gave him the power to do, right? I felt the same way in 2019 and I tried to get some changes then.”

Now, Grassley says he is simply piggybacking on the heightened awareness of trade tariffs after last week’s “Liberation Day” announcements from the Rose Garden. He still supports the President’s overall agenda and is hoping for the best-case scenario – which would entail a worldwide negotiation process to balance trade deficits among the U.S. and its trade partners.

“If he’s successful in putting tariffs on other countries to get them to sit down at the table to bring all tariffs down, I’m going to say he did a better job than my approach of negotiating tariffs down,” Grassley says, adding that the administration can immediately help farmers by supporting a new 5-year Farm Bill and directing the EPA to approve year round E-15 fuel availability.

Under the proposed bipartisan legislation – which is co-sponsored by a handful of U.S. Senators from across the nation – the Trade Review Act of 2025 would require congressional approval of new unilateral tariffs proposed by the executive branch within 60 days.

Over the weekend, senior Trump administration officials, including USDA chief Brooke Rollins, made the rounds on the Sunday morning political TV programs to try to assure corn and soybean farmers – who have suffered profit line hits from two years of inflated operating expenses and low commodity prices – that the President’s tariff strategy would eventually pencil out to long-term gains in domestic manufacturing and crop export markets.

Then, on Monday morning, Trump posted on social media saying he will impose an additional 50% in tariffs (on top of the current 54% rate) on China by April 9 if the country did not back off the 34% retaliatory tariffs it enacted on American goods. Ag economists say the China tariffs will have a devastating impact on U.S. crop and meat exports, and many believe the tariffs have effectively handed Chinese feed and fiber demand to Brazil.

Related: As China Retaliates and Hits U.S. With a New 34% Tariff, What’s the Possible Impact on Ag?

(iStock/Lori Hays)

The U.S. today is China’s largest ag trading partner, but 2024 import data shows that relationship could be fading fast: shipments of U.S. farm goods into China nearly halved from 2022 levels, when China purchased almost $43 billion in U.S. ag products. Last year, that figure plummeted to $29 billion, and many expect the tariffs will slash that figure even lower. China has also torn up or suspended several trade deals with U.S.-based poultry producers, and some experts fear a decrease in demand for U.S. pork products could be devastating to American hog farmers.

Related: Pork Producers Resist Urge to Panic, Respond to New Tariffs

Overall, despite alarm bells being sounded from basically every corner of the economy, the senate’s current longest-tenured member is hopeful there’s a light at the end of this long, roller coaster tariff tunnel for America’s farmers and ranchers.

“If we can export our stuff in a free way, it’s going to help the economy of the United States, and it’s going to help our consumers if we don’t have tariffs on products coming into the United States,” Grassley says. “I’m supportive of the President’s effort to get a better deal for Americans, especially for our farmers because we export about a third of our production, and that’s where farmers want to get it.”

Your Next Read: Ag Markets Try to Recover Early Monday, Except Cattle

Freight Rates Skyrocket

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:27:49 GMT

Transportation woes continue to haunt Northeast shippers as trucks remain hard to come by and freight rates skyrocket because of rising fuel costs and a scarcity of drivers.

“Trucks are at a premium right now,” said Tracie Levin, controller at M. Levin and Co. , in Philadelphia.

“It’s a major hindrance for our industry and anyone else that uses trucking, which is basically every industry out there,” she said.

Shippers can’t even buy trucks.

“We’ve been on wait lists to get more trucks, trailer and tractors,” she said. “You just cannot get those things these days.”

But Levin is optimistic that things will turn around. She said some relief is already in evidence.

“We’re slowly able to get things again in a semi timely manner,” she said.

East Coast shippers have been dealing with transportation issues, but there are trucks available, said Tom Beaver, director of sales and marketing for Sunny Valley International Inc. , in Glassboro, N.J.

“Obviously, the cost of brokering a truck, especially for our (less-than-load) business, has increased considerably, but the same is true for all of our competitors,” he said. “We’re adjusting to this ‘new normal,’ but the important thing is that we can get fruit loaded and out to our customers on time and in full.”

Transportation challenges are more prevalent during the winter than they are during the spring and summer for Vineland, N.J.-based The Freshwave Fruit & Produce and its growing operation, Consalo Family Farms , said Chelsea Consalo, executive vice president.

That’s because the company has more local deals during the warmer months.

During the winter, the firm must bring in products from outside growing areas, such as Mexico, and transport fruits and vegetables imported from offshore growing regions, such as Chile, from U.S. ports.

“We have more trucks on the road (in winter),” she said.

Transportation costs are a major concern.

“We’re managing to get the trucks,” Consalo said. “It is just more expensive.”

(Farm Journal)

The Freshwave has added Nick Crisafulli, who recently completed an internship at Americold Logistics LLC, to its logistics staff to help arrange transportation.

Vineland-based Flaim Farms Inc . has its own fleet of trucks for local deliveries, said president Ryan Flaim.

But trying to find trucks for destinations that are farther out is challenging.

The company has good relationships with trucking firms, but rates are much higher than they have been in the past, Flaim said.

Finding transportation isn’t a problem, as long as you’re willing to pay exorbitant fees, said Joel Fierman, president of New York-based Joseph Fierman and Sons Inc .

“It’s really a pity when your cost for transportation pretty much is as high as your cost for goods,” he said.

He blamed the price spike on high fuel costs and a scarcity of drivers.

“It’s a terrible, terrible thing that this country is experiencing right now,” he said.

An added problem during the Christmas season was that many trucks were sidetracked delivering Christmas trees.

“It’s fast, easy money,” he said.

Filindo Colace, vice president of operations for Philadelphia-based Ryeco LLC , attributes the skyrocketing inflation rate the industry has experienced to high freight costs.

“Freight has been a premium for quite some time,” he said.

While seed prices and other costs have also gone up, he said high freight rates are 90% of the cause of inflation.

“Nothing in the industry has gone up at the same rate as freight has,” Colace said.

But he remains optimistic.

“We think the country is moving on,” he said. “We’re going to be as back-to-business as usual as possible in the first quarter of next year.”

He expected buying patterns to return to where they were in 2019.

“We hope the workforce returns to those levels, as well,” he said.

“If that’s the case, it will be our expectation that freight rates will start to lower because there are more truck drivers coming back into the workforce.”

Related articles:

Rising freight rates pose challenge

Distributors cope with rising freight costs

IMF Anticipates Global Inflation Will Peak in Late 2022

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 18:10:47 GMT

The International Monetary Fund forecasts a slowdown in global growth from 6.0% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023.

The global slowdown in 2022 is as projected in the July 2022 World Economic Outlook (WEO) update, while the forecast for 2023 is lower than projected by 0.2 percentage point. In the revised forecasts , 93% of countries received downgrades to their growth outlook.

More to Come

Aside from the global financial crisis and the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is “the weakest growth profile since 2001,” the IMF said in its WEO published Tuesday morning.

“The worst is yet to come, and for many people 2023 will feel like a recession,” the report said, echoing warnings from the United Nations, the World Bank and many global CEOs.

Cause for Shift

The IMF noted three major events currently hindering growth: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis and China’s economic slowdown. Together, they create a “volatile” period economically, geopolitically and ecologically.

More than a third of the global economy will see two consecutive quarters of negative growth, while the three largest economies — the United States, the European Union and China — will continue to slow, the report said.

Inflation Timeline

The IMF anticipates global inflation will peak in late 2022, increasing from 4.7% in 2021 to 8.8%, and that it will “remain elevated for longer than previously expected.”

Global inflation will likely decrease to 6.5% in 2023 and to 4.1% by 2024, according to the IMF forecast. The agency noted the tightening of monetary policy across the world to combat inflation and the “powerful appreciation” of the U.S. dollar against other currencies.

Red Flags

The IMF also highlighted that the risk of monetary, fiscal, or financial policy “miscalibration” had “risen sharply,” while the world economy “remains historically fragile” and financial markets are “showing signs of stress.”

In an interview with the Financial Times , Pierre Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s chief economist, said there was as much as a 15% chance global growth could fall below 1% eventually. This level would likely meet the threshold of a recession and would be “very, very painful for a lot of people.”

“We are not in a crisis yet, but things are really not looking good,” he said, adding that 2023 would be the “darkest hour” for the global economy.

The energy crisis is also weighing heavily on the world’s economies, particularly in Europe, and it “is not a transitory shock,” according to IMF’s report. “The geopolitical re-alignment of energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine is broad and permanent,” the report added. “Winter 2022 will be challenging for Europe, but winter 2023 will likely be worse,” the IMF said.

The U.S. economy is expected to stagnate over the four quarters of 2022 and then maintain a sluggish 1% growth rate in 2023.

More on inflation:

Could Food Prices Ease in 2023? USDA’s New Consumer Food Price Forecast Has a Bit of Good News
Is Out-of-Control Inflation on the Horizon? Watch These Two Indicators
John Phipps: The Inflation We Expect

California Approves Plan to 'Move State Away From Oil' by 2035

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 18:44:12 GMT

Noting an urgent need to address climate change while cutting back on air pollution, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted Thursday to require all new cars and light trucks sold by 2035 to be zero-emission vehicles.

Lauren Sanchez, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate advisor, called it “a huge day not only for California but the entire world.” The mission, she said: “Move the state away from oil.”

Liane Randolph, chairwoman of the CARB, said the rule is one of the state’s most important efforts yet to clean the air and will lead to a 50% reduction in pollution from cars and light trucks by 2040.

The EV Scoop

Congress gave California permission to set its own rules under the Federal Air Quality Act of 1966 when the state was combatting the toxic yellow-brown smog that hung over Los Angeles.

The Trump administration in 2019 revoked California’s authority to regulate its own air quality, but the Biden administration restored that authority earlier this year.

Already, 15 states , including Colorado and Minnesota, as well as states on the Northeast and West Coast, followed California’s previous zero-emission vehicle regulations.

New York, Oregon, Washington state and Rhode Island officials they plan to adopt California’s rule through their own rule-making process, while New Jersey and Maryland officials said they were reviewing California’s decision. Public comment in Washington state on a similar plan will start Sept. 7.

More than 16% of new cars sold in California in 2022 were zero-emissions vehicles, the state said , up from 12.41% in 2021 and 7.78% in 2020.

What’s Next for America and Electric Vehicles

The rules won’t be immediate and will go into effect in 2026. The mandate forces automakers to phase out gasoline and diesel cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks in favor of cleaner versions powered by batteries or fuel cells. If automakers do not comply, they could be charged $20,000 per noncomplying car, CARB said.

What if consumers don’t go along? One option: People could still buy internal combustion cars from another state without the mandate. And it will still be legal to buy and sell used fossil-fuel cars and light trucks.

Under the new rules, 35% of new cars must be zero emission by 2026, 51% by 2028, 68% by 2030, and 100% by 2035. The quotas also would allow 20% of zero-emission cars sold to be plug-in hybrids.

The mandate doesn’t cover all of highway transportation: Heavy trucks that burn diesel fuel will have 10 extra years before they are banned. A proposed zero-emission mandate for heavy trucks wouldn’t hit 100% until 2045.

Also, up to 20% of a carmaker’s sales can be plug-in hybrids, which have both electric motors and gas engines, and still count as zero-emission, as long as the minimum battery range is 50 miles or more.

As part of the California mandate, the state will require specific levels of warranty protection for EV batteries and related components.

Notable Hurdles for EV’s

One of them is that an electric car still costs far more than an equivalent gasoline car. According to Kelley Blue Book, the average EV sold for $66,000 in July, compared with $48,000 for the average international-combustion vehicle.

CARB officials pointed to studies that show savings in fuel and maintenance can make an EV a better financial deal over time, and that prices would continue to drop.

Charging is another hurdle. While homeowners can install their own EV charger in a garage, most people who live in apartment buildings and condos don’t have that option. California plans to require multifamily housing landlords to provide some way to charge electric cars.

John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automakers, said California’s mandate would be “extremely challenging” for automakers to meet.

“Whether or not these requirements are realistic or achievable is directly linked to external factors like inflation, charging and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, labor, critical mineral availability and pricing, and the ongoing semiconductor shortage,” Bozzella said in a statement. “These are complex, intertwined and global issues.”

State officials said the rule is critical to meeting to state’s goal to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045, and that resulting emissions reductions would lead to fewer cardiopulmonary deaths and emergency visits for asthma and other illnesses.

Ag Industry Responds

While environmental groups were largely very complimentary, some said the CARB rule didn’t go far enough. The National Corn Growers Assn. (NCGA) released the following statement:

“As NCGA told regulators during the rulemaking process, constraining the vision of a zero-emission future prevents the state from tapping into the immediate and affordable environmental solutions that come from replacing more gasoline with low-carbon and low-cost ethanol, in both current and new vehicles, including new plug-in hybrids,” NCGA wrote. “Ethanol is on a path to net zero emissions, and NCGA will continue to work with and urge California to use all the tools in its toolbox as it addresses climate change and cuts harmful tailpipe emissions. As recent University of California, Riverside, vehicle testing for CARB found, higher ethanol blends, like E15, significantly reduced most criteria air pollutants compared to standard 10% ethanol blends.”

What You Need to Know About Biden's Hunger Conference

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 17:59:24 GMT

More than four in 10 American have high blood pressure, which is directly correlated to the leading causes of death for Americans: heart disease and stroke. That’s according to new research from National Center for Health Statistics.

To reduce such diet-related diseases and end hunger by 2030, President Biden on Tuesday announced a 44-page package, National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health , that will focus on five primary pillars:

1. Improve food access and affordability
2. Integrate nutrition and health
3. Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices
4. Support physical activity for all
5. Enhance nutrition and food security research

Speaking on the plan at a hunger conference on Wednesday, Biden outlined the details of the strategy.

Nationwide Free Lunch

Biden wants to lower income thresholds to make nine million more children in high-poverty communities eligible for free school meals, a measure Biden called “a major first step toward free meals for each student.”

A pandemic-era program that provided free breakfast and lunch to all schoolchildren expired this school year. Republicans voted against Democratic efforts to include universal free school meals in this week’s stopgap government funding bill and have expressed skepticism about other programs to expand free school meals.

The President also urged making permanent the Summer EBT program, which gives low-income families money to buy groceries during the summer when children don’t have access to school meals.

Opportunities for More Food & Nutrition Funding Ahead

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.) pointed out two upcoming opportunities to improve food and nutrition policy — the farm bill reauthorization and the annual appropriations process.

Republicans will inevitably propose cuts to SNAP in the 2023 farm bill, as they did in the 2014 and 2018 bills, said Stabenow.

“I say, we’re not going to cut food stamps,” said Stabenow. “We need your help, because No. 1 is to not go backwards on public nutrition.”

But not losing ground isn’t enough, she said, “we have to build and build and build.”

“The farm bill is every five years. Friends, appropriations is every single year,” added DeLauro.

She urged Biden to put the Child Tax Credit expansion in the 2024 budget “so that we can deal with it and move on.”

Another $8 Billion

Officials announced they had secured $8 billion in commitments from public and private entities toward helping provide more food and better nutrition in coming years. The commitments underscore the Biden administration’s reliance on the private sector to meet its goals of ending hunger by 2030 and prompting healthier eating habits.

Efforts were launched to make healthy food more affordable and accessible, provide more options for physical activity, and bolster research on food and nutrition.

Worker Rights

Fair wages, collective bargaining rights. Biden reiterated his support for fair wages and collective bargaining rights for the workers who “grow, produce, and process our food.” As part of its anti-hunger strategy, the administration proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the House Rules Committee chair who spearheaded the effort for the conference, praised the Biden administration for making hunger and nutrition a national priority. But he also acknowledged that the conference was only a beginning

“We need to leave here with an assignment for tomorrow. And for next week and the week after that,” said McGovern. “This is an opportunity. We can’t blow it.”

He called for a bipartisan effort to “make history” and “transform this country where 35 million people don’t know where their next meal is going to come from into a country where hunger is illegal or doesn’t exist at all.”

Hunger Strategy Opposition

Some Republicans criticized the confab. Rep. GT Thompson (R-Pa.), Republican leader of the House Ag Committee, called it “nothing more than a political stunt.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), senior Republican on the House Education Committee, which oversees child nutrition, said the administration had prioritized liberal activist groups instead of a diverse range of stakeholders to “set up this conference to be forgotten before it even started.”

More information about the strategy will likely be announced in coming months.

Additional articles on the strategy:

How Biden’s 5 Pillars of Hunger Strategy Will Show Up on Your Operation
Want To End Hunger? Animal Protein May Be the Answer

How Biden’s 5 Pillars of Hunger Strategy Will Show Up on Your Operation

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 19:32:50 GMT

More than four in 10 American have high blood pressure, which is directly correlated to the leading causes of death for Americans: heart disease and stroke. That’s according to new research from National Center for Health Statistics.

To reduce such diet-related diseases and end hunger by 2030, President Biden on Tuesday announced a package, National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health , that he says creates a “pathway” to:

• Free school meals for all students
• Expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Develop front-of-package nutrition labels
• Implement a Medicare test of “food as medicine”

More News to Come

The 44-page strategy was released ahead of Wednesday’s White House hunger conference where Biden and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, among others, will speak.

According to the White House release, the national strategy will focus on five primary pillars:

1. Improve food access and affordability
2. Integrate nutrition and health
3. Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices
4. Support physical activity for all
5. Enhance nutrition and food security research

Some of the White House proposals will require congressional action, such as expanding school nutrition programs. Others can be undertaken at the agency level, such as FDA development of front-of-package labels and guidelines to reduce sodium and, potentially, added sugars in foods.

However, the Biden administration says the federal government cannot meet this 2030 goal alone.

In the strategy outline, the White House called upon the private sector to also implement the five pillars.

How This Announcement Will Impact Ag

Some ways this health legislation might be implemented on your operation come in the form of:

• A congressional push for $15 per hour minimum wage
• New policies that increase worker power and rights to bargain, including, “workers who grow, produce, and process our food…”
• EPA and USDA’s yet to be announced “whole-of government” strategy for reducing food loss and waste.
• USDA NIFA’s research to determine the “links between human health and soil health” from a soil management practice standpoint.

The Biden administration says this strategy was developed based on “robust” stakeholder engagement through web forums and listening sessions, which were open to agriculture groups.

But this isn’t the first strategy to address health and hunger.

A Page from History Books

The National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health comes more than 50 years after the White House hosted an event on food insecurity.

The last food insecurity conference at the White House was in the Nixon administration. The 1969 hunger conference and its many recommendations influenced U.S. nutrition policy for the rest of the century.

Key accomplishments include expansion of the food stamp and school lunch programs, authorization of WIC and creation of the dietary guidelines for Americans.

“The last conference was a critical moment in our history, and I have no doubt we’ll look back on this year’s conference with the same historic lens,” Vilsack says.

More on policy:

White House to Host First Hunger, Nutrition and Health Address in More Than 50 Years
EPA: Glyphosate Can Still be Used Through 2026
5 Conservation Needs to be Met in Farm Bill 2023

5 Conservation Needs to be Met in Farm Bill 2023

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 17:12:24 GMT

More than 140 million acres of farmland in the U.S. are currently receiving conservation-related financial and technical assistance from the federal government, according to an analysis from the Farm Bureau.

In preparation for farm bill 2023, the House Ag Committee met on Tuesday to “hear how our conservation programs are currently working for producers, how investments in conservation programs are addressing our resource needs, and how these programs can be utilized to help address the climate crisis,” according to Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), subcommittee chair.

Of all the testimony heard on Tuesday , five farm bill conservation needs echoed throughout the room more than once:
1. Simplified application processes
2. Technical assistance
3. Effective planning and implementation
4. Review of conservation cost share rates
5. Expand opportunities for early adopters

Michael Crowder, National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) president, opened the testimony floor to outline that “voluntary, locally led, incentive-based conservation works,” but needs more effort.

“To be successful, producers need a comprehensive suite of conservation systems and practices,” he says. “[There’s] a desire for Congress to examine conservation practice payment rates. With rising costs of labor and inputs, we need to ensure that producers are compensated fairly.”

National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) President Nicole Berg echoed Crowder, saying conservation programs are vastly oversubscribed and underfunded.

After a review of wheat growers NRCS programs between 2018 and 2021, Berg says her team found that wheat growers entered over 7,500 contracts, but, over the same period, there were 5,000 applications that were not funded by NRCS.

Conservation Limited by USDA

Shayne Wiese, Iowa cattleman, says he’s experienced this cost-share funding application and denial firsthand, and he wasn’t impressed.

“Recently, I applied to receive EQIP cost-share funding but after months of waiting, I gave up and completed a water infrastructure project without assistance from USDA,” says Wiese.

Wiese says his ranch has many opportunities to improve the land and environment, but USDA’s additional hurdles limit upgrades while, simultaneously, stopping USDA from recording producer’s environmental improvements.

“Noticing that a significant number of producers on the ground want to participate and can’t is a good call to action for us in the future,” Spanberger says.

Will there be Meaningful Changes in Conservation?

While these testimonies plead for change and inclusivity, House Ag’s Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), fears the farm bill conservation title will not meet producer needs unless it’s penned in red ink.

“I hope in the next Congress we can truly evaluate the funding needs for these programs paired with an evaluation of the ability to effectively and judiciously deliver these funds to farmers,” Thompson says. “I don’t feel bound by the amount of funding or the specific program allocation passed in the partisan IRA bill ,” Thompson says.

Committee members agree they would like to support staffing for NRCS in addition to a simpler application process for producers.

More on the 2023 farm bill:

Conservation, Loan Rates and Insurance: 3 Farm Bill Topics Gain Traction
Writing Farm Bill in Time of High Prices Pits Farm Group Wishes Against Budget Realities

Railroad Strike Days Away? Here’s What it Means for Agriculture

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:19 GMT

Nearly 60,000 union rail workers could go on strike starting Friday. The looming strike is despite the majority of unions reaching tentative agreement with the rail companies, but the unions not on board are essential to the operation of the nation’s rail system.

The impending rail strike has been a possibility for months and would be the first in nearly three decades. Despite the Presidential Executive Board (PEB) releasing recommendations as part of the ongoing collective bargaining process, the cooling off period will end Friday, opening the door for a strike to take place.

“As we’re sitting here, nine unions and the railroads have come to agreement on terms. A ninth one is tentative, but it looks like it’s very promising,” says Ken Erikson with S&P Global Commodity Insights. “That leaves us with three unions that need to finish negotiations with the railroads. And those three are the largest ones, representing roughly 50 to 60,000 employees. So, three outstanding, where the clock is ticking very fast. And there’s a lot of concern about you know, what are the final details is going to be the pays understood and a few other things. But it’s a matter about requirements of working on the job and such like that.”

As first reported on Monday , rail companies were already preparing for a possible strike and putting a halt to grain shipments as early as today, according to National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA).

“The railroads don’t want to have the cars and equipment out in areas of the country where they can’t protect them very well,” says Max Fisher, NGFA chief economist. “So, they’re taking steps to mitigate damages. For our members, they’re looking at essentially not receiving their grain on time and not being able to then ship out the finished products such as ethanol, flour, things of that nature.”

The rhetoric between unions and the railroads is also heating up ahead of Friday’s deadline. While the remaining unions say the negotiating process is still ongoing and they are committed to reaching a deal, rail companies say the some are creating false narratives about pay raises and paid time off. One group even accused the nation’s largest railroads of trying to further abuse shippers and gridlock the supply chain in order to extort a contract settlement from rail unions.

“Our Unions remain at the bargaining table and have given the rail carriers a proposal that we would be willing to submit to our members for ratification, but it is the rail carriers that refuse to reach an acceptable agreement,” Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART Transportation Division and Dennis Pierce, president of Brotherhood Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said in joint statement. In fact, it was abundantly clear from our negotiations over the past few days that the railroads show no intentions of reaching an agreement with our Unions, but they cannot legally lock out our members until the end of the cooling-off period. Instead, they are locking out their customers beginning on Monday and further harming the supply chain in an effort to provoke congressional action.”

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) claims coverage of the strike in recent days has included false information, specifically that laborers get no sick days or paid time off.

“Moreover, the matters at hand were dealt with summarily by the Biden administration’s hand-picked arbitrators through the ‘Presidential Emergency Board.’ A reminder that the White House has stood by those recommendations, which have served as the basis for nine tentative agreements with labor unions and endorsed by broad swaths of the U.S. economy. The majority of these industry groups have called on Congress to enact the framework by law should parties fail to reach agreements by midnight Thursday,” AAR said in a statement.

What’s the likelihood a strike happens? There are a lot of moving parts, but Erikson says a last-minute deal is still possible.

“I can see where you may get one, maybe two unions that can come together on terms and I think he could get to a point where you have a high percentage over 50%, maybe closer to 60%, if not more, where this is an opportunity to make it known just how important labor is to the railroads, how important labor is to the country, and that there are important things that the unions want to demonstrate that they have as having proper wages, proper respect and proper benefits,” says Erikson. “It’s just maybe an attention getter to make a point.”

The Biden administration on Monday urged railroads and unions to reach a deal to avoid a shutdown of the rail system, saying it would pose “an unacceptable outcome” to the U.S. economy.

Tuesday’s release of inflation data showed core inflation was up not down and CPI did not go down as much as analysts predicted. Erikson points out even if a strike lasts one or two days, it will have a severe economic impact, but rising wages will also be passed on to those not at the negotiating table.

“Today’s inflation numbers are terrible,” says Erikson. “And this would be making the point that look, we got to preserve these wages somehow. And that could be backfire, because if you get higher wages, and someone’s going to pay that freight, and that’s the consumer for farmers, its basis, it’s just weaken basis for the consumer and retail goods, it’s higher prices somewhere along the line. And that may be the adverse effect to this is that Be careful what you read what you request, it may come back to hurt everybody and that’s the risk that’s being run here.”

Agricultural Impact of Railroad Strike

NGFA says some processors will be forced to temporarily shut down, no matter how long a rail strike lasts, and Erikson says it will be weeks to get the system back up and running, a system already facing severe backlogs. .

Farm Journal Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer is also looking into the impact it could have on farmers. In his daily report, Wiesemeyer focused on the possible rail strike, breaking down the impact by commodity:

Cotton: “There is a lot of old crop that needs to ship via rail,” said Jordan Lea, senior trader at Deca Global LLC, a textile supplier and former president of the American Cotton Shippers Association. “The whole logistical system is still too fragile from backlogs and Covid. We do not need this hiccup right now.”

Livestock and poultry: “A shutdown would quickly cause additional problems and force producers to make difficult decisions regarding the viability of their animals,” said NGFA.

Biofuels: “Processing and biofuels plants may have to scale back production due to an inability to both move in commodities for processing and move out finished products for consumption,” the NGFA noted.

Food industry: “Failure to finalize an agreement before the Sept. 16 deadline will hurt U.S. consumers and imperil the availability, affordability and accessibility of everyday essential products,” the Consumer Brands Association, which represents manufacturers of food, beverage, household and personal care products, said in a letter (link) to President Biden last week.

Congress Can Step In

While Congress can intervene, NGFA says that is a last resort, as that could become complicated. Yet, NGFA was on Capitol Hill this week talking to legislators about the importance of stepping in if a strike does take place.

“This is a political football, you know, and I’m sure that Congress really doesn’t want to be in the middle of this, no doubt, they want the two parties to come to an agreement,” says Fisher. “we’re trying to convince the rail carriers and the rail labor for the last two unions to come to an agreement, we don’t want to have to depend on Congress to solve this. That’s kind of our, our last, last line of defense, so to speak.”

Shipping Container Rates Down 63%, But We're a Long Way From Back to Normal Operations

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:19 GMT

Of the many supply chain headaches brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, shipping container backlogs were arguably one of the worst.

A record 109 bottlenecked ships were documented by the Marine Exchange of Southern California & Vessel Traffic Service Los Angeles and Long Beach in January 2022.

As of last Monday, that ship count sat at eight—an all-time low.

L.A. Port officials are now asking for ships that diverted around the congestion to return.

But has the bottleneck issue been resolved, or moved somewhere else? The East Coast may now be carrying the burden.

East and South Coast Ports Status

Josh Brazil, vice president of supply chain insights at Project44, says the Port of Savannah, the Gulf Coast Port of Houston and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have taken on the west coast’s port congestion due to two reasons:

1. Strong demand
2. Potential for a labor strike

“There’s a lot to lose in the west, but the ports have mitigated a bit of that risk by pushing shipments towards the East Coast,” Brazil says. “When you combine that slight shift with some of the ground factors like the Port of Savannah’s closed births due to ongoing construction, or overall lack of capacity to hand incoming ships, it’s puts at least Savannah, Houston and New York on their heels.”

USDA announced pop-up ports along the Pacific coastline in February to ease port overflow. Brazil says the pop-up sites did work to ease port congestion and may be necessary in the East and South because “it’s not only the infrastructure, but also the port space” that’s available.

Not only have port congestion issues evolved, so have container shipment costs.

Container Costs Plummet

During the COVID-19 pandemic, container shipping companies were notorious for coming into U.S. ports with goods and leaving with empty containers, namely, in the highly profitable trade lanes like the Trans-Pacific trade lane from China to the U.S.

Numerous congressmen felt the empty container trend wouldn’t stop until legislation was put into place, but policy was already on its way when Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced the Ocean Shipping Reform Act in December 2021.

The bill passed through Congress on June 13, 2022, putting an end to empty shippers while driving the extremely high cost of containers down.

“From China to the U.S. West Coast, if we compare the beginning of January 2022 to now, the container cost rate has come down 63 percent,” says Brazil. “It used to be about $14,000 and now sits at $5,250. On the East Coast, it’s come down 42 percent from a high of $16,000 in January to $9215 today.”

U.S. shipment and supply chain issues don’t stop short of coastlines. A U.S. rail union strike looked to hit the tracks this week, breaking the supply chain just before the busy harvest hour. However, some hope came this month.

Container Ships Run into Rail Roadblocks

In early September, a tentative labor deal was reached by three of the 12 rail unions and large U.S. freight railroads. These unions represent more than 15,000 workers, or 11% of the 140,000 strong rail workforces.

Class one railroads and its worker struck a five-year labor contract that will provide:

• Wage increases
• Expanded health coverage

Mike Steenhoek, Soy Transportation Coalition executive director, says his team hopes the new deal will push rail labor full steam ahead.

“Our hope is that, moving forward, this will provide some real momentum for the other remaining unions to come to an agreement,” he says. “Ultimately we want to make sure that rail service is improving, not taking a step back.”

As for the remaining 9 rail unions and large freight railroads, an agreement wasn’t struck until Thursday —only a day before the potential strike on September 16.

The deal, impacting 115,000 rail workers, will provide:

• A 24% wage increase for the remaining life of the contract—2020 to 2024
• Provide improved working conditions

The last widespread rail strike occurred in the 1990s and only lasted one -to-two days. The effects, however, went on much longer. Industry professionals say the case will likely be the same in 2022.

Rail Labor Trouble Ahead

Max Fischer, National Grain and Feed Association’s chief economist, says the settlement won’t solder the rail supply chain back together over night.

“I think we’ll still have problems with winter,” he says. “It may be a year before we start to have more normal rail service.”

According to the Association of American Railroads, any nationwide rail service interruption would “dramatically” disrupt economic output, costing an estimated $2 billion each day.

More on shipping:
Rail Strike Averted: Tentative Agreement Reached Between Railroads and Unions Comes on the Eve of Harvest
Will The USDA Pop-Up Site Solve The Clogged Ports Issue?
Ocean Shipping Reform Bill on its Way to the President

How USDA's $2.8 Billion Climate-Smart Investment Might Impact Your Operation

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 06:20:07 GMT

After months of talking about climate-smart agriculture and working with a handful of funding recipients, USDA is now investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 projects under the first Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding pool. The projects, which seek funds ranging from $5 million to $100 million, include everything from flood control to building carbon markets.

After sifting through 450 proposals, USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding recipients include:

Government entities
Farmer coops
Conservation, energy and environmental groups
Universities
Small businesses
Large corporations

Trust In Food™ , the sustainability division of Farm Journal , is among the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities project recipients for its coalition-driven Connected Ag Project.

The Impact of USDA Climate Funding

According to Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary, these efforts will “increase the competitive advantage of U.S. agriculture both domestically and internationally,” while building wealth in rural America.

“Through today’s announcement of initial selections for the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, USDA is delivering on our promise to build and expand these market opportunities for American agriculture and be global leaders in climate-smart agricultural production,” he says.

USDA’s press release says, from the funding, farmers can expect:

1. Technical and financial assistance to implement voluntary climate-smart practices.

2. Methods to quantify, monitor, report and verify greenhouse gas benefits.

3. New markets and promotion in climate-smart commodities.

With this new funding in place, USDA anticipates the projects will:

Provide hundreds of expanded markets and revenue streams for producers and commodities ranging from traditional corn to specialty crops.
Reach more than 50,000 farms, encompassing 20 to 25 million acres of working land engaged in climate-smart production practices such as cover crops, no-till and nutrient management.
Sequester upward of 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the lives of the projects. This is equivalent to removing more than 10 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year.
Engage more than 50 universities to help advance projects, especially with outreach and monitoring, measurement, reporting and verification.

Proposals for the 70 projects include plans to match 50% of the federal investment with nonfederal funds.

Who Will Provide the Funds?

The Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding will be pulled from USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds in two pools. USDA says the projects announced today are part of the first funding pool.

The CCC has been tapped numerous times in the past year, such as a March announcement to put $250 million toward American-made fertilizer to give U.S. farmers more choices in the marketplace. Some, including Jim Wiesemeyer, Pro Farmer policy analyst, feel the CCC is more of an “ATM machine for aggies” than a tool used to stabilize, support and protect farm income and prices, as it was originally created for.

When asked about why USDA chose to pull more funds from the CCC, Vilsack said it was a matter of timing.

“We track expenditures from the CCC on a monthly basis. We are within a couple of weeks from the end of the fiscal year and there are significant resources left in the CCC account,” he says. “We won’t require any action from Congress to replenish the CCC. We will be able to adequately fund this initiative, as well as some nutrition announcements made today, and still have billions of dollars left in reserve in the account through the remainder of the fiscal year.”

The Agency says the second funding pool will be announced later this year.

How Funds Will Be Used

In the first pool of funding, numerous projects were selected with funding ceilings from $70 to $95 million. According to USDA, some of the individual projects that will span several states include:

1. Climate SMART (Scaling Mechanisms for Agriculture’s Regenerative Transformation), led by Truterra, LLC

This project, which will reach across 28 states, aims to catalyze a self-sustaining, market-based network to broaden farmer access, scale adoption of climate-smart practices, and sustainably produce grain and dairy commodities with verified and quantified climate benefits.

2. The Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovative Finance Initiative, led by Field to Market

This project, covering more than 30 states, will use innovative finance mechanisms to accelerate climate-smart practice uptake by farmers, leveraging private sector demand to strengthen markets for climate-smart commodities. Partners will provide technical assistance and additional financial incentives to an array of producers across commodities, tying climate-smart practices to commodity purchases and creating a scalable model for private sector investment.

3. Connected Ag Climate-Smart Commodities Pilot Project, led by Farm Journal, Inc.

This project will expand climate-smart markets for many agricultural commodities and provide direct payments, technical assistance and data management strategies to row crop, beef, dairy, pork and other producers to adopt climate-smart practices and strategies.

4. Scaling Methane Emissions Reductions and Soil Carbon Sequestration, led by the Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.

Through this project, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) climate-smart pilots will directly connect on-farm greenhouse gas reductions with the low-carbon dairy market. DFA will use its cooperative business model to ensure the collective financial benefits are captured at the farm, creating a compelling opportunity to establish a powerful self-sustaining circular economy model benefiting U.S. agriculture.

5. The Soil Inventory Project Partnership for Impact and Demand, led by The Meridian Institute

This project will build climate-smart markets, streamline field data collection and combine sample results with modeling to make impact quantifications accurate and locally specific but also scalable. Targeted farms produce value-added and direct-to-consumer specialty crops as well as the 19 most common row crops in the U.S.

Details on the other projects can be found here .

More on ag policy:

Biden Administration Presses Unions, Railroads to Avoid Shutdown

More than Hangry: What’s Really at Stake in Global Food Insecurity?

Meet the Farm Kid Who Became the Youngest Green Beret on a Daring U.S. Military Mission

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 20:27:47 GMT

As a young Missouri farm kid, Terry Buckler knew he was about to be drafted for the war in Vietnam, so he went ahead and volunteered. Soon he found himself at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

“They put us all in a big room and brought in this special forces sergeant who was looking for volunteers for special forces,” Buckler says. “I didn’t know a lot about it, but I knew if I was going to Vietnam, I want to go with the best, and they are the best. So, I stuck my paw up and volunteered for the Green Beret .”
Buckler says the training is tough and the number who make it through is small.

“The old song that says, ‘One hundred men will test today, but only three win the Green Beret’ is pretty accurate,” Buckler says. “We jumped in into our training and there was about 60 or 70 of us. Only 40 graduated out of three classes.”

Terry Buckler’s story is this edition of the Farming the Countryside with Andrew McCrea :

While Buckler became a Green Beret, he was not initially sent to Vietnam. Operations in the country were winding down. When he finally did make the trip across the Pacific, his role was far different than almost any American who had previously fought in the country.

“I was probably the deepest and the youngest behind enemy lines in the Vietnam War,” Buckler says.

In 1970, along with 56 other Green Berets, Buckler went 300 miles behind enemy lines into North Vietnam to rescue 60 to 70 Americans at the Son Tay prisoner of war camp . Odds of survival were 50-50.
Buckler volunteered for the mission, but even after selection, he knew very little about the task at hand.

“We didn’t know what we were going to be doing,” he says. “We had trained for three months for this down at Eglin Air Force Base. We knew we were doing some type of rescue, but we didn’t know where, when or who.”

While in the U.S., the soldiers had trained for this mission without knowing where it was located. The group was transported to Southeast Asia and dropped off for three days at a CIA compound.

“We had over 170 rehearsals,” Buckler says. “The CIA and made a mockup of the compound, which was very accurate. We would go in and we weren’t actually training and just study the terrain where we were at. So, when we hit the ground, we would already have our idea where we’re at and where we’re headed.”

The soldiers set off for Son Tay.

“Our orders were taking no prisoners,” Buckler says. “We had three choppers that took us in. They estimated we had to be in control of the guards within a minute. There were three guard towers, and we took the guard towers out on the way in.”

As part of a two-man team, Buckler had to get to the camp communication building as quickly as they could.

“Just as we had got to that building, I heard on my headset, ‘No items.’ Items is the code word for POWs, so they did another search, making sure that no man was left behind,” he says.

Unfortunately, the POW camp’s 65 American captives had been moved to a different location four months prior.

“The good thing about the mission, was we proved that the United States could get into the back door of Hanoi — get in and get out and not lose any men,” Buckler says.

While the raid didn’t achieve its mission, it is still revered as a military success .

“Every raid since has been modeled after the Son Tay raid,” Buckler says. “The only major differences of the raids today versus the raid we did is the technology they have today is tremendous compared to what we had. We used World War two ski goggles to keep the sand out of our eyes when the chopper landed.”

The planning, the execution and the training that went into the raid all was superb, he says.

“Today when they do a raid on anybody, they take some of the information that they learned in Son Tay and apply it to their mission,” he says.

Buckler wrote a book about his experience: Who Will Go: Into the Son Tay POW Camp

From Combat Boots to Agriculture Roots: Veterans Become ‘Armed to Farm’

Wed, 25 May 2022 12:00:38 GMT

“Veterans make really good farmers for a lot of reasons. I know that they’re dedicated, they are eager to learn, they are thankful for the opportunity to come and receive the training and they are always eager to get back home and to put it into practice,” says Margo Hale, ‘Armed to Farm’ program director.

Welcoming all those who served, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) along with the USDA and a variety of other partners and sponsors, provide veterans the opportunity for veterans to dive into the agricultural industry, learn from experienced farmers and ranchers and gather resources to prepare, start and operate their own agricultural businesses through the ‘Armed to Farm’ Flagship training.

“Armed to Farm has served more than 800 veterans in all corners of the country as they start or grow their own sustainable farm business,” says Hale in a recent release .

Applicants have been diverse, including veterans with a range of agriculture experience and rural and urban-focused business plans.

Since its launch in 2013 and nearly 30 trainings later, each training continues to receive more applicants than available training spots.

The free, week-long flagship training provides participants with technical assistance and access to specialists in the agriculture industry, as well as tours of local, region-specific operations, networking, peer-to-peer learning and instant support from other attendees.

(Farm Journal)

Texas, Studebaker Orchard -- Photo by National Center for Appropriate Technology

“Our goal is to build the network so that they can learn from each other, share what’s worked on their farms or ideas they might have and also be a source of support,” says Hale.

Air Force veteran Sara Creech describes the program as ‘the’ reason she was able to get started farming. “The opportunity to connect with other veterans and support each other’s dreams was life changing,” Creech says.

(Farm Journal)

Sara Creech (right) -- Photo by National Center for Appropriate Technology

Previously hosting trainings in California, Texas, New Mexico and Montana, to name a few, Hale announces upcoming trainings will be held for the first time in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida.

In addition to NCAT’s ‘Armed to Farm’ Flagship, ‘Armed to Urban Farm’ and ‘Armed to Farm 2.0’ provide specialized and advanced training to meet the veterans’ needs. NCAT also focuses on sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy, and participants are encouraged to be innovative and use regenerative practices in their operations.

“Armed to Farm was instrumental in helping my family get the farm and ranch up and running. All the connections I made with people and different businesses really helped me bring all the pieces together. They helped us with business planning and even helped with funding for infrastructure for the farm,” says Jared Ross of Ross Family Farm near Beach, N.D.

As a way of serving those who served, Armed to Farm has provided veterans from 45 states the resources, knowledge and understanding to be successful, and the program continues to grow and meet the needs of veterans looking to cultivate a future in agriculture.

Know of a veteran who may want to attend a training ? Visit NCAT’s Armed to Farm website or stay connected through their newsletters !

Diesel Prices Jump 37% in 10 Weeks, Gas Prices Projected to Hit $6.20 by August

Tue, 24 May 2022 19:58:41 GMT

The White House is considering waiving U.S. gasoline environmental rules aimed at reducing summertime smog, hoping the waiver will combat rising pump prices, Reuters reported , citing three sources involved in the discussions.

Retailers are required to sell summer-blend gas from June 1 to Sept. 15. In the past, the U.S. government has waived those requirements regionally or nationally to deal with hurricanes or other supply issues. The Biden administration has already lifted the restriction on summer sales of E15. The waiver under consideration would apply to all grades of gasoline, the sources said.

The Reuters report indicates the blending items are things like butane and that such a move to waive the smog rules would apply to all grades of gasoline and does not signal any impact for ethanol. “These pollutants have severe impacts on public health and would likely exacerbate the inequity in air quality that BIPOC communities already bear,” activist green groups including Friends of the Earth, National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club, wrote to EPA Administrator Michael Regan on Monday. The “potential savings from this measure are limited, while the climate impacts are irreversible. Solutions to oil price hikes lie elsewhere.”

This comes as gas prices are at record highs — a dollar more than one year ago — and one J.P. Morgan analyst predicted prices could reach $6.20 per gallon by August.

Diesel Dilemma

U.S. average retail prices for ultra-low-sulfur diesel rose more than 37% in just 10 weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, setting a new nominal record of $5.62 a gallon in the week ended May 9, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

(Farm Journal)

The Biden administration is considering a release of diesel fuel from federal reserves to address surging prices and the threat of supply outages on the East Coast. Officials have drafted an emergency declaration as prices have soared to record highs in recent weeks, White House spokeswoman Emilie Simons said on Twitter on Monday. Such a declaration would allow for the quick release of some of the 1 million barrels of diesel in the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve “if necessary,” she said. While the reserve only contains about one day’s supply, and might not substantially reduce diesel prices, it could prevent spot outages of the fuel, an official said. Diesel has outpaced gasoline prices because of refinery closings and because Russia was such a big supplier of refined fuels into Europe, causing ripple effects world-wide.

Possibility of Pumping More Oil?

If gas prices are so high, why aren’t shale drillers pumping more oil? The Wall Street Journal notes one reason: Their executives are no longer paid to. After years of losses, investors demanded changes to how bonuses are formulated, pushing for more emphasis on profitability. Now, executives who were paid to pump are rewarded more for keeping costs down and returning cash to shareholders. The focus on profitability over growth helps explain drillers’ muted response to the highest prices for oil and natural gas in more than a decade.

Possible Rebate for High Gas Prices?

Democrats float $500 rebate to combat gas prices. Americans would receive a $500 cash rebate under legislation being introduced today by Democratic Reps. Sean Casten (Ill.), Don McEachin (Va.) and Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) that would be paid for by eliminating tax subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.

The measure would eliminate 11 tax breaks for oil and gas companies, including for marginal wells and enhanced oil recovery. This bill comes after the House passed a bill last week that would give the Federal Trade Commission sharper teeth in preventing alleged gas price gouging by oil companies. The price gouging bill has hardly any chance of success in the Senate, where the Commerce Committee has a mark up on its own version of the price gouging bill Wednesday.

(Farm Journal)

Growing Less Dependent on Fossil Fuels

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency says governments around the world need to do more to spur faster growth in electric vehicles.

“Electric-car sales continue to break records, but mineral supply constraints are looming,” the IEA said in its latest EV outlook. “Much more needs to be done to support charging infrastructure and heavy-duty vehicles.”

The agency suggested officials ease bottlenecks for battery materials, enhance support for EV purchases and take action to kickstart the market for heavy-duty electric vehicles. Such efforts may help reach their goal of a 350 million global EV fleet. As it stands now, EVs aren’t selling fast enough for the world to have a realistic chance of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, the group said Monday.

White House Will Push China to Make Up for $16B Trade Deficit in Phase One, Vilsack Tells American Farm Bureau

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 13:04:13 GMT

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Convention in underway in Atlanta this week, and as Phase One agreement with China is now expired, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to members in-person, assuring farmers and ranchers the White House will push China to make up for the $16 billion shortfall in trade.

The in-person event is drawing farmer leaders from across the country with a focus on everything from H-2A workers, impacts from the drought, supply chain chaos, as well as policy changes like the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule.

Convention goers on Monday also heard from both President Biden and USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Biden’s remarks were in video message, but Vilsack was in-person this week. During Vilsack’s talk, he went through the list of programs the Biden Administration has put in place in the past year that impacts the farming community. He also talked about the importance of building trust among farmers when it comes to trade.

“And I think it starts with China. And we all know and appreciate the fact that we have a Phase One trade agreement with China,” Vilsack told AFBF members. “And during that period of time, we saw sales to China increase over what they were during the the trade war. But here’s the deal with Chinese friends, they’re about $16 billion light over what they committed to purchase. And that’s why Ambassador Tai, our U.S. Trade Representative, continues to converse with China about the necessity of living up totally and completely to the Phase One trade agreement, making up that $16 billion deficit over the course of the next several years.”

Vilsasck says as the Biden administration works to hold China accountable to their trade commitments, it’s more than just boosting exports that will remain a priority for the White House.

“And also working on those sanitary and phytosanitary barriers that still exist in the Chinese relationship that they agreed to remove other tracks dopamine in pork or whether it’s hormones and beef, or whether it’s ethanol, tariffs or the ability to to purchase more DDGs,” Vilsack added. “All of these steps that China can take and needs to take to live up to this phase one trade agreement are important and we’re going to continue to press China on the need for complete enforcement and complete implementation.”

While the minimum purchase commitments only covered two years from 2020 to 2021 within the Phase One trade agreement, USTR’s office says the remainder of the original Phase One deal is still intact and has not expired. USTR’s office also tells AgWeb virtual conversations with People’s Republic of China (PRC) are ongoing, but there are currently no plans for USTR officials to travel to China for talks.

After fallout from the Trade War, China ramped up purchases of sorghum, corn and other ag goods during the 2020 to 2021 time period. However, most economists and analysts say China bought out of necessity, not to live up to its trade promises and commitments within the Phase One agreement.

How to change the face of agriculture

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 16:57:11 GMT

It’s no wonder Michael Smith wasn’t comfortable with pursuing a career in agriculture when he started college at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.

He wasn’t aware of all opportunities in this broad field, and, as a young African American man growing up in Chicago, it wasn’t something anyone he knew was doing.

But while in college, Smith discovered the local chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS), and learned that he could make an impact and pursue a meaningful career in food and agricultural sciences. Now, Smith is a senior, an agriculture major and president of the school’s MANRRS chapter.

“Agriculture was a major I wasn’t real comfortable with, but when I joined MANRRS, it was like family. And it wasn’t just one ethnicity. It was black, it was white, it was a good mixing pot,” Smith said. “I appreciated that because it had the feeling of inclusion. MANRRS offers that, but people have to be open to being included.”

This is the kind of broader awareness and change advocates for minorities in agriculture are seeking.

With those goals in mind, Aug. 22-28 has been declared Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) Week by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. The proclamations, which coincide with the KC Animal Health Corridor’s Digital Animal Health Summit beginning Aug. 24, are to help change perceptions of agricultural careers and encourage greater inclusion of minority-represented populations to build a more prosperous, creative and innovative industry.

It’s needed: The ratio of professionals in the agriculture industry is not representative of the American population.

Of the 3.4 million farmers nationwide, about 7% are minorities — including Hispanic, American Indian, African American and Asian. That ratio that has remained relatively flat in recent years, according to a 2019 Western Growers Association article .

Almost 62% of the U.S. population identify as white alone, so that means 38% of the population identifies as another race or ethnicity, either alone or in combination with white or other groups, according to the 2020 U.S. Census .

To recruit more minorities in agriculture sciences and related food industries, the young people need to be aware of these fields and what they involve, before college and during college, according to a 1997 Journal of Agricultural Education article by Zelia Wiley, assistant dean and director of diversity programs at the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University.

Minority populations need exposure to these fields of study, and then, once they gain that knowledge, their perceptions and attitudes can shift, which ultimately leads to behavior change.

“Our goal is to change the face of agriculture. We know we can do it, one day at a time,” Wiley said. “Most ethnic groups that are underserved, most have a negative view of agriculture.”

For instance, many African Americans think of slavery when they think of agriculture, so changing that perception requires a lot of outreach and education.

Today, Wiley has been a member of MANRRS for more than 30 years, is the Kansas State University MANRRS chapter advisor and president of the national society of MANRRS. In 2003, she was the first black woman hired with a doctorate degree in agriculture and extension education at Kansas State’s agriculture college.

Of course, there’s the FFA and the 4H, where all people are invited to join, “but all students don’t feel included or embraced. It’s all about having an informed choice,” she said.

Everybody is part of an ethnic group, Wiley said.

“I’m doing this for everyone. We want to get more individuals knowledgeable. The only way we can work together, is that we all have to be informed of each other. Diversity and inclusion are the way,” Wiley said.

The MANRRS chapters hold outreach events, fundraisers, take students on farm tours and hold trainings in professional etiquette, such as in interviews, Zoom calls and on social media. The organization also connects students with large agriculture companies, serving as an empowering networking resource.

To succeed at retaining young professionals in agriculture, employers need to make people like Smith feel like part of the team, offer chances for them to have a voice, and provide motivation for what they’re doing, he said.

Many students — especially those who are the first generation in their family to go to university — don’t know what to do when they get there, Smith said.

“MANRRS helped me find where I needed to go and helped put me in the direction that, even though it was scary and it was unknown, I was willing to take a chance,” he said. “How are we ever going to integrate, how are we ever going to be one, if we don’t try?”

Greta Thunberg Aims to Change How Food Is Produced

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:02:56 GMT

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has set her sights on changing how the world produces and consumes food in order to counteract a trio of threats: carbon emissions, disease outbreaks and animal suffering.

In a video posted on Twitter on Saturday, Thunberg said the environmental impact of farming as well as disease outbreaks such as COVID-19, which is believed to have originated from animals, would be reduced by changing how food was produced.

“Our relationship with nature is broken. But relationships can change,” Thunberg said in the video marking the International Day of Biological Diversity.

A focus on agriculture and linking the climate crisis to health pandemics is a new angle for Thunberg who has typically focused her ire on policy-makers and carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

“The climate crisis, ecological crisis and health crisis, they are all interlinked,” she said.

Thunberg said the spillover of diseases from animals to humans was caused by farming methods, adding that a move to a plant-based diet could save up to 8 billion tonnes of CO2 each year.

The World Health Organization has said the coronavirus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, while scientists say 60% of the infectious human diseases that emerged from 1990 to 2004 came from animals.

Meanwhile, demand for alternatives to regular meat is surging worldwide due to concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment.

More than two dozen firms are testing lab-grown fish, beef and chicken, hoping to break into an unproven segment of the alternative meat market, which Barclays estimates could be worth $140 billion by 2029.

The Global Center on Adaptation, which works to accelerate climate resilience, said in January climate change could depress global food production by up to 30%, while rising seas and more intense storms could force hundreds of millions of people in coastal cities out of their homes.

(Reporting by Colm Fulton; Editing by Alison Williams)

#FarmON Concert is Tonight: Watch Live at 7 Central

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:56:56 GMT

Lee Brice, Martina McBride, Rodney Atkins and Justin Moore along with a host of other country stars will take the virtual stage at 7 p.m. Central for the #FarmOn virtual concert to benefit the 4-H FOURWARD Fund.

Watch live in the player below:

The concert will raise donations for the 4-H FOURWARD Fund to ensure young people across all communities, with or without internet access, continue to have access to the necessary resources and meaningful learning opportunities to help them thrive. The event will feature images of 4-H members working on their project in a year when many livestock shows and 4-H fairs were cut back or cancelled due to the pandemic.

The #FarmON concert is the final event of Farm Journal Field Days, the New American Farm Show, a three day farm show that combined live, in-person and virtual events hosted on farms in Iowa and Ohio.

US--Election 2020-Rural Democrats

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:22:37 GMT

2020 Democrats try to make inroads in rural America 2020 Democrats try to make inroads in rural America By BILL BARROWAssociated Press The Associated Press DENMARK, S.C. DENMARK, S.C. (AP) — Deanna Miller Berry doesn’t often see presidential candidates. So when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker recently came to Bamberg County, South Carolina, she was primed to unload about a contaminated water system.

“What is your plan to fix it?” Berry asked, her eyes narrowed.

Booker, former mayor of Newark, the largest city in the most densely populated state, assured Berry he cares about the 3,000 residents of Denmark, South Carolina. “This is a time in America where too many people are feeling left out, left behind, not included,” he said, promising “a massive infrastructure investment” targeting “forgotten” places.

The exchange highlights the effort by Democratic presidential candidates to make inroads in rural America. With the first contests unfolding next year in South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire, small-town voters will play a critical role in choosing the next Democratic nominee. And the early attention could help the eventual nominee be more conversant on rural issues and compete for votes in places that gave President Donald Trump his most intense support in 2016.

“Organizing in every precinct is the key to winning both the caucus and the general election in Iowa,” Iowa Democratic Chairman Troy Price said.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lamented rural decline during an Iowa swing this weekend.

“All over America, we have tragically seen more and more young people leave the small towns they grew up in, the small towns they love, because there are no decent-paying jobs in those towns — we intend to change that,” Sanders said, drawing cheers at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

At the same time, California Sen. Kamala Harris was in small-town South Carolina advocating more spending on telemedicine, broadband internet and infrastructure. Booker used his two-day rural swing last month to talk health care, housing, infrastructure and criminal justice, among other issues. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first candidate who ventured to rural northern New Hampshire. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has already visited a tiny town in Wisconsin, which will be a general election battleground.

Several candidates plan to attend a March 30 rural issues forum at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa — population 10,600.

The approach matters most immediately because the delegates necessary to become the nominee are awarded in part from primary and caucus results in individual congressional districts, even the most rural and Republican-leaning. But investing there also could narrow Republicans’ general election margins, by increasing turnout among Democratic-friendly constituencies like rural black and Latino voters or peeling off white voters or both.

That could flip states like Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina — even Florida — that propelled Trump to an Electoral College majority. Besides helping win the presidency, rural gains would be necessary for Democrats to have the muscle on Capitol Hill to enact the kinds of sweeping policy changes they are advocating on many fronts.

“So much of this is about the margins,” Iowa’s Price said.

Beyond the politics, candidates say rural outreach is required of anyone who wants to govern a diverse nation.

“Folks want to be seen,” Harris said. “They want their issues to be heard. ... They could care less about half the stuff that gets covered on cable news networks.”

In Wisconsin, Klobuchar said, it’s “about knowing the issues that matter to people whether they’re Democrats, Republicans and independents — and in rural areas it’s not just about the farm bill.”

The 2018 midterms demonstrated Democrats’ tough realities beyond metro areas, but still offered some bright spots.

AP VoteCast, a national survey of more than 115,000 voters, found rural and small-town residents cast 35 percent of midterm ballots; 56 percent of those voted for Republican House candidates, compared to 41 percent for Democrats. The advantage was wider among small-town and rural whites: 30 percent of the electorate, tilting 63-35 for Republicans. Correspondingly, Democrats’ net 40-seat gain in the House was driven mostly by previously GOP-leaning suburban districts, while Democratic nominees fell short in more rural areas.

There’s no consensus on whether rural success for Democrats is about policy or personality or some combination. Some winners establish a personal brand at odds with the national party — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin defending the coal industry, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown opposing much of U.S. trade policy, Montana Sen. Jon Tester playing up his rancher credentials.

But that won’t necessarily work for a presidential candidate looking to become the face of a party with a decidedly liberal base. None of the declared candidates deviates from Democratic orthodoxy supporting abortion rights and LGBTQ civil rights and opposing Trump’s hard line on immigration — all positions that run afoul of rural and small-town voters who collectively are more culturally conservative than urban dwellers.

Sanders struggled with that balance in 2016 when Hillary Clinton hammered him for some Senate votes against gun measures that most Democrats backed. Sanders noted that many Vermonters, as in the rest of rural America, view guns differently than most big-city residents, but Clinton successfully used the issue against Sanders, particularly with black women.

Would-be Democratic presidents are left to mix economic arguments with biography.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee grew up in Seattle, but he often mentions that he spent his early adult years in central Washington. He touts his signature issue — combating climate change — as a boon for the “heartland” economy by growing the clean-energy industry.

Klobuchar, a Twin Cities-area native, points to her work on the Senate Agriculture Committee and notes she’s won every congressional district in Minnesota during her Senate career. Sanders, who still speaks with his native Brooklyn inflection, drew roars in Iowa when mentioned using antitrust law to limit corporate power.

Harris notes that California — caricatured in Middle America as a bastion of coastal liberalism — has the nation’s biggest agricultural output. And in South Carolina, she said she heard a lot about jobs and state Republicans’ refusal to expand Medicaid insurance.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren notes that long before her Harvard law career, she was a child in Norman, Oklahoma, where her family’s working-class struggles shaped her liberal approach to consumer, labor and finance law.

After hearing Booker, Kenneth Belton, a 63-year-old resident of struggling Fairfield County, South Carolina, said a president doesn’t have to come from his walk of life. Belton just wants the person in the Oval Office to understand him — and then to help.

“It just feels like they’ve been ignoring us,” he said.

Berry, the clean water activist, agreed, crediting Booker and others for what she describes as first steps.

“I’ve heard enough to be inspired,” she said, pausing before adding, “enough to want to hear more.”

___

Associated Press writers Sara Burnett in Chicago, Alexandra Jaffe in Des Moines, Iowa, Meg Kinnard in North Charleston, South Carolina, and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP.