Category: Farm Report

Tighter SNAP rules could deny free school meals to nearly a million children   The Trump administration said on Wednesday that up to 982,000 children would lose automatic access to free meals at school under its plan to tighten SNAP eligibility rules. Brandon Lipps, deputy agriculture undersecretary, said the impact… Continue reading

Biofuel groups decry EPA backsliding on vow that ’15 billion means 15 billion’   The Trump administration is employing a regulatory version of “bait and switch” to renege on its promise to increase ethanol consumption, said farm and biofuel groups on Tuesday.   Trade war a factor in slower world… Continue reading

Global ethanol use to grow dramatically, says USGC analyst   China, Brazil and the United States will help drive a dramatic increase in global ethanol consumption in the next 10 years, said a U.S. Grains Council analyst on Monday. However, the Sino-U.S. trade war will blunt the opportunity for ethanol… Continue reading

(AP) Although Christopher Columbus was not the first European to reach America (Leif Ericson predates him), the arrival of Columbus in the “New World” (on a quest to open new trade routes) changed everything. Although it wasn’t Columbus’s intended destination, a lasting connection between Europe and the Americas was established;… Continue reading

One-year wonder: U.S. soy stockpile to shrink as quickly as it grew   Aided by the Sino-U.S. trade war, the U.S. soybean inventory doubled to a record 913 million bushels in one year, the government said on Thursday. At the same time, the USDA estimated that total will be cut… Continue reading

Pence tells Iowa, ‘I came … to turn up the heat’ on USMCA   Time is running short for President Trump to win congressional approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement this year, with lawmakers set to work just eight weeks before adjourning in early December. Vice President Mike Pence called… Continue reading

Ethanol plan to ‘net out’ at 15 billion gallons – EPA’s Wheeler   The EPA will adjust the Renewable Fuel Standard to “net out” at 15 billion gallons in 2020 after waivers to some oil refineries, said administrator Andrew Wheeler, a compromise between the ethanol and oil industries.   Michigan… Continue reading

More trade aid to farmers? ‘We’ll see what happens,’ says Trump.   Ahead of high-level Sino-U.S. trade talks, President Trump said on Monday that “I would much prefer a big deal” that would end the trade war, while at the same time touting the billions of dollars that farmers are… Continue reading

Trump’s vague plan to boost ethanol has the oil industry threatening to sue   The Trump administration responded to months of farm belt complaints that it was undermining homegrown biofuels by vowing to increase the ethanol mandate, beginning next year, above the 15-billion-gallon-a-year target that is set by law. The… Continue reading

Perdue puts his ‘Sonnyside’ on display as podcaster   Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will release the first episode of his own podcast today — a chat with former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who describes how much President Trump “loves America’s farmers and ranchers.”   Ahead of trade… Continue reading