The United States Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that is canceling the July Cattle report and discontinuing the Cotton Objective Yield Survey and County Estimates for Crop and Livestock beginning with the 2024 production year. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a press release that “the decision to discontinue these surveys and reports […]
Farm Policy News
New Farm Bill Remains Unlikely as Congress Returns
Politico’s Garrett Downs reported Monday that “Congress is back to work this week, but a new five-year farm bill — set to determine the future of agriculture and nutrition policy — still seems like an afterthought.” “Last week, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley suggested that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could make the farm bill […]
Solar Eclipse Crossing U.S. Today
NBC News’ Denise Chow and Lucas Thompson report that “a total solar eclipse will cross North America on Monday (today), offering millions a rare opportunity to see afternoon skies temporarily darken as the moon blocks the face of the sun.” “The eclipse’s path fortuitously cuts across Mexico, 15 U.S. states and a small part of […]
Iowa Senate Votes to Limit Pesticide Illness Lawsuits
Iowa Public Radio’s Katarina Sostaric reported Wednesday that “Republicans in the Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would bar Iowans with severe illnesses from suing pesticide manufacturers for failing to warn them of potential health risks like cancer.” “Republican supporters of the bill said it would ensure pesticide companies are not sued for following […]
Republican Study Committee Budget Targets SNAP, Crop Insurance
A proposed 2025 budget from the Republican Study Committee — the largest conservative caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives — would cap crop insurance subsidies a single farmer may receive to $40,000, provide PLC and ARC payments only to farms with gross income below $500,000 and convert funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program […]
U.S. Drought Area Smallest Since 2020
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Tuesday that “after a wet winter and early spring across much of the country, drought across the continuous United States had decreased to around 18% by the end of March, down from 20% at the end of February, and from about 36% at the beginning of winter.” “This […]
Bird Flu Detected in Texas Human
Just one day after reports of highly pathogenic avian influenza spreading to cattle in more states — including Michigan and Idaho — Politico’s Adam Cancryn and David Lim reported that “a Texas dairy worker has tested positive for the avian flu, marking the first identified human case of an illness in the U.S. that has sickened […]
HPAI Spreading to Cattle in More States
NPR’s Joe Hernandez reported over the weekend that “livestock at multiple dairy farms across the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — in an outbreak that’s likely spread to at least five states.” “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service […]
U.S. Cotton Mills Rapidly Closing
Bloomberg’s Ilena Peng reported Saturday that cotton’s “demand from US manufacturers is on an unrelenting — and accelerating — decline. There were nearly 900 US cotton mills operating around the time of the Chicago expo (in 1893). That number is today around 100, the National Cotton Council estimates, after eight closed in the last five months […]
2024 U.S. Corn Acres Predicted to Fall, Soybeans Increase
United States farmers are predicted to plant 90 million acres of corn and 86.5 million acres of soybeans this year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Prospective Plantings report released Thursday. The corn planted acreage of 90 million is “down 5% or 4.61 million acres from last year,” the USDA said in its […]
Maryland Bridge Collapse Could Affect Ag
NBC News’ Rob Wile and Shannon Pettypiece reported Tuesday that “customers from the East Coast to the Midwest who were expecting goods shipped in via the Port of Baltimore could see significant cost increases as a result of Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore” that has blocked access for ships to […]
FAA Exemption Expands Drone Use in Ag
Fox Business’ Michael Ruiz reported Sunday that “a new exemption for drone piloting from the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the airways for ‘drone-swarm’ agriculture, a method of seeding and spraying crops at a fraction of the traditional cost.” “Hylio, a Texas-based drone manufacturer, successfully applied for an exemption from the FAA to allow fleets […]
Illness Impacting Texas Cattle Confirmed as Bird Flu
AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan reported Monday that “a mystery illness that’s impacted dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle now has a diagnosis: Influenza A. USDA says genetic sequencing revealed it’s the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that’s been in the U.S. for two years.” “APHIS says the ‘National Veterinary Services Laboratories’ detected Influenza […]
Senate Resolution Blocks Paraguay Beef Imports
The Nebraska Examiner’s Jacob Fischler reported this past week that “the U.S. Senate easily passed a resolution Thursday to repeal a Biden administration rule allowing for beef to be imported from Paraguay.” “The resolution targets a final rule the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued in November that allowed for importation […]
Ag Disappointed in Tailpipe Emissions Rule
Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported Wednesday that “the Biden administration finalized national pollution standards for vehicles through 2032, leaving next to no room for ethanol and other biofuels as a tool to cut emissions.” “While the new standards give automakers some flexibility in how they reduce emissions, the standards do little to use ethanol and other […]
Ag Groups Seek USDA Funds to Recover Markets
Bloomberg’s Gerson Freitas Jr and Isis Almeida reported Tuesday that “the US is seeing fervent industry support for its program to help the nation’s farmers win back overseas markets from rivals including Brazil and Russia, with agriculture groups seeking more than $900 million in aid.” “The US Department of Agriculture received applications for more than […]
EU Imposing Tariffs on Russian Grain
Reuters’ reported Tuesday that “the EU is preparing to impose tariffs on grain imports from Russia and Belarus to placate farmers and some member states, officials familiar with the plans said on Tuesday. Traders said Russian and Belarusian shipments to the bloc were low, certainly relative to those from Ukraine, and that the imposition of […]
Iowa Fertilizer Spill Killing Fish
The Iowa Capital Dispatch’s Jared Strong reported this past weekend that “state conservation officials have found no living fish in the East Nishnabotna River south of Red Oak — the result of a massive fertilizer spill at a farmers cooperative. The only living fish were discovered near Hamburg in far southwest Iowa, downstream of where […]
Texas Wildfires Kill 7,000+ Cattle
The Texas Tribune’s Jayme Lozano Carver reported this past Friday that estimates from recent wildfires in the Texas Panhandle “show more than 7,000 head of cattle died. The final number directly related to the fires could reach 10,000. The true total may not be known for months, as ranchers consider euthanizing cattle with severe injuries such […]
U.S. Wheat Farms Declined 40% in Last 20 Years
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported earlier this week that “the number of wheat farms in the United States has declined substantially over time. Since 2002, the total number of wheat farms fell by more than 40 percent, from 169,528 in 2002 to 97,014 in 2022, and also more than 7 […]