Category: Farm Report

Farmer confidence sours amid rising costs, income squeeze Despite high farm income in 2021, farmer confidence has been on a nearly unbroken decline since last April, said Purdue University on Tuesday. “Producers expect financial performance in 2022 to be much weaker than in 2021,” said the monthly Ag Economy Barometer,… Continue reading

White House is working ‘from both ends’ to resolve ag export disruptions The Biden administration is employing a multi-pronged strategy to speed agricultural exports through congested ports, and a project in Oakland is one piece of it, said White House port envoy John Porcari on Monday. The government will pay… Continue reading

Hefty subsidy needed for adoption of cover crops Only 5 percent of U.S. cropland is planted to cover crops amid debate over their financial benefits to farmers. Congress may need to offer a “sizable” subsidy to growers if it wants large-scale adoption of the farming practice, said two university economists…. Continue reading

USDA reports: USDA’s cuts to South American corn and soybean crops stole the show in Wednesday’s WASDE report. “The January 2022 USDA report package did not move markets as significantly as previous January reports have,” says Farm Futures grain market analyst Jacqueline Holland. To learn more, read the full analysis…. Continue reading

USDA Announces Additional Farm Service Agency and Rural Development State Directors Release & Contact Info Press Release Release No. 0029.22 Contact: USDA Press Email: press@usda.gov WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2022 – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint five U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regional positions, including four Farm Service Agency (FSA)… Continue reading

Supply chain issues, not profiteering, to blame for high prices, says pork industry report Although the White House blames big meatpackers for driving up food prices, the real culprits are higher costs and labor shortages all along the supply chain, said a pork industry report on Wednesday. Four packers control… Continue reading

Judge delays Prop 12 enforcement on California retailers California cannot enforce Proposition 12 against food retailers until it issues overdue regulations to assure they sell pork only from farms that comply with the animal-welfare law, said a Superior Court judge on Tuesday. The meat industry cheered the ruling, but state… Continue reading

Supreme Court will hear Idaho challenge to clean water law The Supreme Court opened the door to a possible revision of wetlands regulations by agreeing to decide whether Michael and Chantell Sackett can build a house in the Idaho panhandle. Justices will hear the case even though the Biden administration… Continue reading

Largest U.S. farm group opposes cattle market quotas While supporting more transparency in cattle prices, the American Farm Bureau Federation draws the line at requiring meatpackers to buy slaughter cattle on the cash market, said president Zippy Duvall. Mandatory purchases are a prime feature of the leading Senate bill for… Continue reading

Agriculture has ‘unfinished business’ in Sino-U.S. trade, says Vilsack Although China purchased a record amount of U.S. farm exports over the past two years, it wasn’t enough to comply with the “phase one” agreement that de-escalated the Sino-U.S. trade war, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. “We obviously have… Continue reading