High food inflation to persist in 2023
The 9.9 percent food inflation rate of 2022 will be followed by a 7.1 percent rate this year, the highest rates in three decades, said USDA economists on Wednesday. Egg prices were forecast to rise 27 percent this year, on top of a 32 percent increase in 2022.
FDA food safety official resigns as agency reorganization nears
Deputy commissioner Frank Yiannas resigned as the top food safety official at the FDA, effective Feb. 24, in a three-page letter that defended his record and criticized the agency for a decentralized structure that hobbled its protection of the food supply.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
‘What’s a farm bill?’: More than 40 percent of U.S. representatives have taken office since the 2018 farm bill was enacted, meaning that nearly 200 members of the House may know little about the panoramic, and lately contentious, legislation. (Roll Call)
Lawsuit targets livestock antibiotics: A coalition of public health, animal welfare, and environmental groups filed suit in federal court to end the use of medically important antibiotics as a tool for preventing illness among food-producing animals. (Earthjustice)
New vote on wages: Restaurant and business groups gathered enough signatures to force a statewide vote in 2024 on whether to overturn a new California law intended to improve wages and workplace conditions for fast-food workers. (Los Angeles Times)
Fertilizer costs move downward: Prices for the eight major fertilizers have softened and are “essentially at the same level” as in fall 2021, roughly 15 months ago, when a long price run-up began. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Tongass protections restored: A new USDA regulation repealed a Trump-era rule and restored protections against road building on 9.37 million acres, or 56 percent, of the Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rain forest in the world. (USDA)
