Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that, “China’s population likely started shrinking last year for the first time in decades, experts say, a significant milestone that will have long-term repercussions for the economy.”
Keith Good
Keith Good is the Farm Policy News editor for the farmdoc project. He has previously worked for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, and compiled the daily FarmPolicy.com News Summary from 2003-2015. He is a graduate of Purdue University (M.S.- Agricultural Economics), and Southern Illinois University School of Law.
Covid “Hammering” Rural Areas in China, While Wheat, Soybean, Rice Variables in Focus
Bloomberg News reported yesterday that, “Omicron has swept through China’s major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, overwhelming hospitals and causing widely-reported, if officially unrecorded, fatalities.”
Deere Reaches Deal to Allow Farmers to Repair Own Equipment
Patience Haggin reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Machinery manufacturer Deere & Co. signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation on Sunday that the group said ensures farmers can repair their own farm equipment or take it to independent repair shops.”
China Concerned About Farmers, Countryside as Covid Surges
Late last week, Bloomberg writer Jinglu Gu reported that, “China has asked farmers to avoid large gatherings and send their Lunar New Year greetings virtually to try and curb the impact of a severe wave of Covid-19 in the countryside.”
In Divided House, “Fractiousness Could Threaten Some Significant Bills,” Including the Farm Bill
Nolan D. McCaskill reported on the front page of Saturday’s Los Angeles Times that, “Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was elected speaker of the House early Saturday morning after four days and 15 ballots, resuscitating a chamber that had been paralyzed as it endured its longest struggle to elect a leader since before the Civil War.”
World Food Prices Dropped in December; China Demand in Focus; and Mississippi Barge Rates Normalize
Bloomberg writer Megan Durisin reported today that, “After a year marred by disruptions from the war in Ukraine and extreme weather, global food prices ended 2022 roughly where they started.”
Farm Bill Backdrop: “Pace of New Legislation is Expected to Slow,” as Divided Government Returns
Wall Street Journal writers Katy Stech Ferek and Natalie Andrews reported in Tuesday’s paper that, “A new era of divided government dawns this week as the 118th Congress begins, with Republicans looking to deploy their power with a fragile majority in the House and Democrats doing the same in the Senate.”
China: Road to Recovery Could “Be Uneven and Painful”
Keith Bradsher reported on the front page of Tuesday’s New York Times that, “China’s reversal of its Covid restrictions in early December was meant to help places like Guangzhou [the commercial hub of southern China]. But the chaotic approach has contributed to a tsunami of infections that has swept across the nation, overwhelming hospitals and funeral parlors.”
Global Food Crisis: Russia’s War With Ukraine “Contributing to Widespread Starvation,” and “Injects Volatility Into Grain Futures”
Edward Wong and Ana Swanson reported on the front page of today’s New York Times that, “Hulking ships carrying Ukrainian wheat and other grains are backed up along the Bosporus here in Istanbul as they await inspections before moving on to ports around the world.”
After September Peak, Dollar Rally Eases- Trade Implications
Chelsey Dulaney reported in Friday’s Wall Street Journal that, “The U.S. dollar’s rally in 2022 gave the world a reminder of the currency’s ability to inflict pain on the global economy. Investors are optimistic that the dollar’s strength has now run its course.”
WOTUS Update, “EPA Revises Clean-Water Protections”
Washington Post writer Scott Dance reported in Saturday’s paper that, “The Biden administration on Friday imposed a rule expanding the definition of waterways that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate, a move that reverses a Trump-era change and seeks to overcome nearly a decade of challenges to EPA powers, including a pending Supreme Court case.”
Small Towns and Wind Farms, Energy Policy in Focus; While Cover Crops Garner Attention
David Gelles reported on the front page of today’s New York Times that, “Depressed property values. Flickering shadows. Falling ice. One by one, a real estate appraiser rattled off what he said were the deleterious effects of wind farms as a crowd in an agricultural community in central Illinois hung on his every word.”
China Demand, Argentina Weather Impacting Soybean Prices, Recent Cold Spell Causes Winter-Kill Worries in Wheat
Bloomberg writers Tatiana Freitas and Megan Durisin reported yesterday that, “Soybean futures jumped to the highest in six months on expectations for greater demand from China and as dry conditions in parts of South America threaten supply.”
Production Costs in Focus
DTN writer Russ Quinn reported on Wednesday that, “Average retail fertilizer prices have begun to move noticeably lower for the fourth week of December 2022, according to sellers surveyed by DTN.”
FAS: U.S. Beef Exports to East Asia in 2022, Again on Record Pace
In a report yesterday from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), “U.S. Beef Exports to East Asia on Record Pace,” Ivan Lee indicated that, “U.S. beef exports to East Asia in 2022 are again on record pace after a record year in 2021.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping Presses for Ag Tech Progress, as Dismantling of Covid Restrictions Continues
Earlier this week, Reuters writers Dominique Patton, Roxanne Liu and Bernard Orr reported that, “President Xi Jinping wants China to accelerate efforts to achieve self-reliance in agricultural technology, identifying seed development and core equipment among areas to focus on, state media reported.”
Senate Passes Budget, Ag Provisions Included, as Winter Storm Creates Challenges; Senate Approves Key Ag Trade Positions
Tony Romm reported on the front page of today’s Washington Post that, “The Senate on Thursday adopted a sprawling, roughly $1.7 trillion bill that would fund the government through most of 2023, as Democrats and Republicans resolved a last-minute standoff over immigration and voted to avert a shutdown in the final days of the year.”
WSJ: U.S. Farm Belt Booming; Farmland Values Climb
Jesse Newman and Jacob Bunge reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “High prices for crops and livestock are fueling a boom in the U.S. Farm Belt, making farmers, ranchers and agricultural companies rare winners as the broader American economy softens.”
U.S. Seeks New USMCA Consultations Over Canadian Dairy Quotas; Brazil Corn Exports Climb
Bloomberg writer Ana Monteiro reported yesterday that, “The US is requesting dispute-settlement consultations for a third time over Canada’s dairy quotas, saying it has found more areas of ‘deep concern’ and that the nation’s measures are inconsistent with its obligations under a North American trade pact.”
Bird Flu Impacts, and A Glance at Production Cost Variables
Bloomberg writers Megan Durisin and Elizabeth Elkin reported earlier this week that, “The bird flu outbreak ravaging global poultry flocks is now the worst since records began, driving a spike in the price of eggs, threatening free-range chicken and risking long-term impacts to animal health.”