First Black chairman of House Ag will fight climate change, rural-urban split
Rep. David Scott of Georgia soundly defeated a California rival in a vote among majority-party Democrats on Thursday to become the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Scott, who represents a suburban Atlanta district with 313 farms, pledged to tackle an array of issues, most prominently climate change and the rural-urban split, in the new session of Congress opening on Jan. 3.
Not looking to run USDA, says Peterson
House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson threw cold water Thursday on suggestions that he should be agriculture secretary in the Biden administration. “There’s plenty of people out there that want the job,” he told reporters, adding that he was “not looking for a full-time, four-year job” after 30 years in Congress.
Today’s Quick Hits
Food index highest in six years: Vegetable oil prices soared “a stunning 14.5 percent” in one month because of reduced palm oil supplies, lifting the FAO Food Price Index, a composite of prices for six types of commodities, to its highest level since December 2014. (UN Food and Agriculture Organization)
Deadline extended for seafood aid: Fishermen and other producers have until Jan. 15 to apply for payments of up to $250,000 from the Seafood Trade Relief Program, a one-month extension from the original deadline of Dec. 14. (USDA)
Food inflation at 3.6 percent in OECD: Food prices are 3.6 percent higher than a year ago in the three dozen industrialized nations that make up the OECD. In the United States, the food inflation rate was 4 percent. (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
‘One-in-four’ rule goes nationwide: Under the terms of a crop insurance rule that will go into effect nationally in 2021, farmers who want to qualify for prevented planting coverage must have planted, insured, and harvested the acreage in at least one of the previous four years, said the USDA. (Risk Management Agency)
A plan for indoor farming in Appalachia: Startup company AppHarvest, touting the twin benefits of local food production and job creation, is hoping to bring large-scale indoor agricultural production to Appalachia. (Daily Yonder)
