Big increases for rural power, WIC, ag research in Biden proposal
Most of the increased spending proposed by President Biden for USDA’s so-called discretionary accounts would go to three things: Rural electricity, WIC and agricultural research. If approved by Congress, the money would accelerate the shift to cleaner electricity, help low-income families put food on the table and, as part of climate mitigation, find ways to verify carbon sequestration and greenhouse-gas reduction on the farm, said the White House.
California orange crop nearly as large as No. 1 Florida’s
Thanks to a huge decline in the Florida crop this season, California is running neck and neck with the Sunshine State as the top orange-producing state with the harvest season in its final weeks, said the USDA. California has expanded production in recent years while output in Florida, hit by the tree-killing citrus greening disease, has fallen steeply over the past two decades.
Native Alaskan halibut fishers are losing out to industrial fleet in the Bering Sea
In the Bering Sea, Native Alaskans are losing the fight for halibut, up against factory ships that throw away more of the high-value fish than the long-line fishers are allowed to catch. Each year, millions of halibut — mostly young ones, which crowd the shallows — are scooped up by the giant boats of the so-called Amendment 80 fleet. Because the fleet’s harvest quota doesn’t include halibut, the vessels are required to throw them overboard.
Todays Quick Hits
More Covid-19 if there’s a packing plant: Researchers say that within 60 days of the emergence of Covid-19 in a county, the per-capita infection rate is 110-percent higher in counties with a meatpacking plant compared to counties without a plant, suggesting 334,000 Covid-19 cases in the nation are attributable to large meatpacking operations, say researchers in a journal. (Food Policy)
Rural Covid-19 vaccinations: Four out of every 10 rural adults say they already have gotten at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, ahead of the three in 10 urban and suburban adults who say the same. (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Midnight Roma, the purple tomato: Ten years after Indigo Rose, the first antioxidant-rich purple tomato, Oregon State University plant breeder Jim Myers has created Midnight Roma, a purple “processing” tomato for canning and making sauces. (Oregon State University)
‘Two-dog battle’ over soy seed: Corteva, a spinoff of the Dow-DuPont merger, is battling Bayer, the successor to long-dominant Monsanto, for billions of dollars in sales of GE soybean seed and leadership in the U.S. market. (Reuters)
Record soy exports by Brazil: The No. 1 soybean grower and exporter in the world, Brazil, exported a record 13.5 million tonnes of the oilseed in March, 25-percent more than its previous one-month mark, and a sign of strong competition with U.S. soybean exports. (USDA)
On The Calendar
Monday
Purdue University holds a Corn and Soybean Outlook webinar, 3:30 p.m.
Chicago Farmers holds a webinar on land values with Andy Weidner, a certified real estate appraiser for Compeer Financial, as the speaker, 1 p.m. ET.
North American Meat Institute holds Meat Industry Summit online, through Friday.
USDA releases weekly Crop Progress reports, 4 p.m. ET.
Tuesday
Labor Department releases the monthly Consumer Price Index report, 8:30 a.m. ET.
Wednesday
House Appropriations subcommittee holds hearing online, “The Department of Agriculture — the year ahead,” 10 a.m. ET.
USDA holds Data Users Meeting online, through Thursday, noon ET.
Thursday
House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, “U.S. Forest Service FY22 budget request,” 2 p.m. ET.
AGree holds Agriculture Data and Climate Change webinar, noon ET.
National Pork Producers Council discusses its spring Legislative Action Conference, 2 p.m. ET.
USDA releases monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook, 3 p.m. ET.
Friday
North American Millers Association holds spring conference, Orlando, Florida.
Ducks Unlimited holds the annual Expo, Fort Worth, Texas.
USDA releases monthly Vegetable and Pulses Outlook, 3 p.m. ET.
Sunday
Watt Global Media holds the 2021 Chicken Marketing Summit, through Wednesday, Fernandina Beach, Florida.
