Author: The Farm Report

Slowest growth rate for organic food sales since 2009 Organic food is everywhere, from nationwide retailers to the local corner store, and facing increased price competition that slowed sales growth to its lowest rate since 2009, said the Organic Trade Association in an annual report on Wednesday. House panel to… Continue reading

Trade war expands government role in agriculture, despite decades of free-market reforms The multibillion-dollar Trump tariff payments to farmers are expanding the government role in agriculture despite decades of free-market reforms that told farmers to pursue profits rather than subsidies. Come here, ERS and NIFA, say Kansas and Missouri lawmakers… Continue reading

Farmers in Plains lean heavily on Trump tariff payments Due to the trade war, more than a third of net farm income for Kansas farmers comes from Trump tariff payments, but that won’t make up for lost export sales, said Republican Sen. Jerry Moran on Monday. Bill would require USDA… Continue reading

A ‘black swan’ casts shadow on soggy Farm Belt Mired by a rainy and chilly spring, U.S. farmers may soon give up on planting corn in rain-soaked parts of the Farm Belt because it is getting too late for money-making yields, said economist Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois…. Continue reading

Busy in the field? Here are seven agricultural stories you might have missed this week. 1. J.P. Morgan analyst Ann Duignan said the state of American agriculture is “rapidly deteriorating” into crisis due to declining exports, a poor crop of corn and soybeans and the trade war with China. –… Continue reading

Shorthanded, U.S. agriculture hopes for a role in immigration debate President Trump proposed a “points-based” system on Thursday that would put younger, highly trained, and well-paid workers at the front of the line for legal immigration to the United States. The plan was silent on agricultural labor, but farm groups… Continue reading

USDA looking at $15-$20 billion for new Trump bailout As it did with the Trump tariff payments on 2018 crops, the administration is likely to send money directly to producers in the upcoming round of aid, which may total $15-$20 billion, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday. That total… Continue reading

U.S. vote on the new NAFTA could slip to late 2020, says Grassley The Sino-U.S.trade war has pushed the new NAFTA, a pact between Canada, Mexico and the United States, into the shadows on Capitol Hill. Sec. Perdue is open to carbon markets for farmers, Pingree says Agriculture Secretary Sonny… Continue reading

In Farm Belt, objections mount to ‘endless tariff war’ In a sign that their patience is waning, soybean leaders called for talks, not tariffs, in the Sino-U.S. trade war. “With depressed prices and unsold stocks expected to double by the 2019 harvest, soybean farmers are not willing to be collateral… Continue reading

As trade war lengthens, Trump orders another bailout for farmers For the second time in 14 months, President Trump announced a multibillion-dollar government intervention to prop up the farm sector, a prominent casualty of the Sino-U.S. trade war. Sharply lower farm-gate prices forecast for U.S. crops Farmers growing the three… Continue reading