Bet the farm on Prop 12? NPPC leader isn’t.
The president of the National Pork Producers Council, which fought California’s Proposition 12 animal welfare law all the way to the Supreme Court, said on Tuesday he won’t convert his Missouri hog farm to satisfy the California rules. Scott Hays told reporters that it wasn’t clear if making the required renovations, meant to give breeding sows more room to move about, would pay off.
Rural poverty rate is stable, says Census Bureau
Household income edged downward in rural America in 2022, but the poverty rate held steady at 15 percent, said the Census Bureau on Tuesday. Median household income in rural America was more than $21,000 lower than in metropolitan areas, helping to explain why rural poverty rates are higher than the U.S. average.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
‘Don’t miss this opportunity’: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, speaking to a biofuels trade group, urged the industry to jump into sustainable aviation fuel, a U.S. market potentially twice as large as ethanol, and then “make it for everybody else.” (FERN’s Ag Insider)
WIC is underfunded: An estimated 600,000 new parents and young children would be turned away from the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program in fiscal 2024 without a substantial increase in the funding being proposed in the Senate and House, said a think tank. (Center on Budget)
Bumper corn crop: Despite periods of hot and dry weather during the summer, this year’s corn crop will be 10 percent larger than last year’s and the second largest on record. (USDA)
Brazil eyes top cotton spot: After displacing the United States as the No. 1 corn exporter, Brazil is narrowing the U.S. lead in the race to be the world’s largest cotton exporter. (Bloomberg)
California food safety action: Legislators sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a food safety bill that would ban the manufacture, sale, or distribution of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye No. 3. (Los Angeles Times)
