Category: Farm Report

Food a factor in highest inflation rate in three decades With the U.S. inflation rate at 6.2 percent — the highest it’s been since 1990 — President Biden said the government was on the alert for price gouging as it worked to remove bottlenecks in the supply chain. Inflation has… Continue reading

U.S. let in record 317,000 agricultural guest workers With American farmers increasingly relying on foreign agricultural laborers, the Labor Department approved 317,619 seasonal guest workers during the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, up 15 percent from a year earlier, a farmworker advocacy group said on Tuesday. Cattle reformers… Continue reading

U.S. hits REvil ransomware group linked to attack on JBS The Justice Department is seeking extradition of a Ukrainian man on ransomware charges and has seized $6.1 million in alleged ransom payments from a Russian man, said Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday. Both men were part of the REvil… Continue reading

USDA: Strong U.S. economy, but falling crop prices in 2022 The red-hot U.S. recovery from the pandemic, with the fastest economic growth rate since 1984, will moderate to a still-strong 3.5 percent in 2022, said the USDA in its first look at the agricultural economy in the new year. Farm-gate… Continue reading

‘Build back’ bill offers work authorization for undocumented immigrants Hundreds of thousands of undocumented farmworkers could gain employment and travel authorization under provisions in the social welfare and climate change bill drafted by House Democrats. But while the proposal would relieve fears of deportation, it was far less than the… Continue reading

Renewable diesel boom is bane of bakers Bakers are experiencing a “soybean oil supply crisis” of soaring prices and limited availability due in part to the land rush of investors into renewable diesel fuel, said an Ohio baking executive on Wednesday. Soy oil is a key ingredient in baked goods… Continue reading

‘Overfed but undernourished’ — Congress is told U.S. in health crisis Poor-quality diets are driving an expensive epidemic of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in America, a panel of physicians, researchers and policy experts told senators on Tuesday. They called for a national strategy to replace the mishmash of federal… Continue reading

Voters to decide constitutional ‘right to food’ in Maine Maine enacted the country’s first food sovereignty law in 2017 to encourage food self-sufficiency. Now, its voters will decide whether to declare a first-in-the-nation constitutional right to food “including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow,… Continue reading

Fertilizer responsible for more than 20 percent of agricultural emissions As the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) gets underway in Glasgow, a new report finds that synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought, outpacing even the commercial aviation industry. New proposal in Congress on… Continue reading

‘Build back better’ bill would pay farmers to plant cover crops House Democrats, acting in concert with President Biden, proposed a $1.75 trillion social welfare and climate change bill on Thursday that would combat global warming by paying farmers up to $25 an acre to grow cover crops on their… Continue reading