Farm bill debate pits conservation vs. commodities
The current tug-of-war among lawmakers for farm bill funding “offers a case study” of the long-running tension between conservation and crop subsidies, said Jonathan Coppess, associate professor at the University of Illinois. This time, the issue is whether to shift up to $18 billion that was earmarked for climate mitigation (in the 2022 climate, healthcare, and tax law) into crop subsidies.
USDA begins reports on ‘Prop 12’ hogs
For the first time, the USDA will report how many hogs are being raised in compliance with animal confinement legislation (ACL), such as Proposition 12 in California. Prop 12 bars the sale of pork produced on farms outside the state that do not provide at least the same amount of floor space for breeding sows as the 24 square feet required in California.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Walmart anticipates food deflation: The chief executive of Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, said “we may see dry grocery and consumables start to deflate in the coming weeks and months,” a sharp change from the inflationary period that followed the pandemic. (CNN)
Claim: H-2A workers forced to be truckers: A group of six companies and individuals brought foreign workers into the country on H-2A visas for agricultural work but put them to work in the trucking industry at lower pay, said farmworker advocates in a federal lawsuit filed in Iowa. (Farmworker Justice)
Plenty of holiday turkeys: Renewed outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza this fall on turkey farms “are not expected to significantly impact the availability of turkeys for the holidays,” said the monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook. (USDA)
Shellfish insurance signup extended: Aquaculture producers will have two additional weeks, until Dec. 15, to purchase shellfish insurance that is being offered for the first time. (USDA)
Mine damages Cargill ship: A cargo ship chartered by Cargill and loaded with Ukrainian wheat was slightly damaged after apparently striking a floating mine in the Black Sea, according to published reports. (The Maritime Executive)
ON THE CALENDAR
Monday
President Biden takes part in the annual pardoning of Thanksgiving turkeys at the White House.
University of Illinois Extension and Illinois Central College host Farmland Owners Conference, 9 a.m. ET, East Peoria, Illinois.
USDA releases weekly Crop Progress report, 4 p.m. ET.
Wednesday
USDA releases monthly Food Price Outlook, 9 a.m. ET. At present, the USDA forecasts food inflation at 5.8 percent this year and 2.1 percent in 2024. The long-term average for food price increases is 2.8 percent annually.
USDA releases semi-annual Farm Labor and monthly Cold Storage reports, 3 p.m. ET.
Thursday
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday that began during colonial times as a harvest feast and became an annual national holiday by proclamation of President Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War, “to heal the wounds of the nation” and commend care of “widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife.” Lincoln chose the final Thursday of November. President Franklin Roosevelt advanced it by a week in 1939 to spur the economy during the Great Recession. Congress passed a law in 1941 setting Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The American celebration of Thanksgiving as a response to the fall harvest “falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia,” says History.com. “Historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores.”
