Farm Policy News

Bloomberg writers Elizabeth Elkin and Tarso Veloso Ribeiro reported yesterday that, “Fertilizer prices are falling as farmers balking at the high costs of nutrients hold off on purchases, driving down demand and causing gluts that are upending the market for crop inputs.”

Bloomberg writers Michael Hirtzer and Diego Lasarte reported yesterday that, “Drought has again closed a portion of the Mississippi River — and this time shrunk a part of the major US waterway in Memphis to its lowest level ever.”

Cameron McWhirter reported in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal that, “Sections of the Mississippi River are approaching low water levels not seen in more than three decades, disrupting a vital supply lane for agriculture, oil and building materials and threatening businesses including barge and towboat operators, farmers and factories.”

Don Lee reported on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times that, “That turkey you’re planning for the big family get-together is going to give you a nasty peck on the pocketbook. So will the flour for the gravy and the butter for the rolls.”

Bloomberg’s Brian K Sullivan, Joe Deaux, and Michael Hirtzer reported earlier this week that, “The Mississippi River isn’t out of the woods as falling water levels along its major tributaries threaten to deepen a crisis on the US’s main artery for moving vital products.”

David G. Savage reported in today’s Los Angeles Times that, “The Supreme Court justices sounded wary Tuesday of California’s animal welfare law and its protections for breeding pigs, warning it could set off a wave of state laws that put a wide array of restrictions on products moving nationwide.”

Bloomberg writers Kim Chipman and Megan Durisin reported yesterday that, “Wheat closed at the highest price since June as traders considered a worsening Russia-Ukraine war against lackluster US grain demand.”

Financial Times writers Roman Olearchyk, Mehul Srivastava, Max Seddon, and Christopher Miller reported today that, “Vladimir Putin has described Russia’s massive airstrikes on Ukraine, its most extensive since the early weeks of his seven-month invasion, as retaliation for the bombing of the bridge linking Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.”

New York Times writer Jacey Fortin reported yesterday that, “Low water levels in the Mississippi River have snarled barge traffic along one of the nation’s busiest waterways this week and have threatened the drinking water supply in Plaquemines Parish, La., just southeast of New Orleans.”

Bloomberg writers Michael Hirtzer, Elizabeth Elkin, and Joe Deaux reported yesterday that, “A logjam of more than 100 ships, tugboats and their convoys of barges in the shrinking Mississippi River is threatening to grind trade of grains, fertilizer, metals and petroleum to a halt.”

Sarah Bowman, writing on the front page of the Money section in today’s USA Today, reported that, “Outside Evansville, near the corner of Indiana where it meets with Kentucky and Illinois, Randy Kron farms about 2,200 acres of corn and soybeans.”

Bloomberg writer Jinglu Gu reported yesterday that, “China has curbed exports of corn starch in a signal that the world’s biggest corn importer is likely worried about local supplies.” 

Wall Street Journal writer Yuka Hayashi reported late last week that, “Sharp rises in food and fertilizer prices caused by the war in Ukraine are creating the worst global food crisis since at least 2008, putting the lives and livelihood of 345 million people in immediate danger, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.”

Elizabeth Findell, Dan Frosch and Cameron McWhirter reported on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal that, “A day after Hurricane Ian ripped through the beach towns and coastal cities of southwest Florida, the widespread damage wrought by one of the strongest storms to hit the U.S. in decades was coming into view.”

DTN writer Russ Quinn reported yesterday that, “Retail fertilizer prices tracked by DTN for the third week of September 2022 continue to show varied prices. Five of the eight major fertilizers are lower in price compared to a month ago, while the remaining three are higher.”

Reuters writer Tom Polansek reported yesterday that, “The world is heading toward the tightest grain inventories in years despite the resumption of exports from Ukraine, as the shipments are too few and harvests from other major crop producers are smaller than initially expected, according to grain supply and crop forecast data.”

Bloomberg writer Aine Quinn reported today that, “Russia’s wheat harvest could reach a historic 100 million tons, according to consultant SovEcon, with the commodity piling up at home as the nation struggles to export large volumes.”

Patrick Thomas reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “A lackluster U.S. harvest this year is setting back efforts to relieve a global food supply that has been constrained by Russia’s war in Ukraine, agriculture-industry executives said.”