Packing plant reopenings will begin ‘maybe by the end of this week,’ says Perdue
Two days after President Trump ordered meat plants to operate during the pandemic, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said that some plants shuttered by coronavirus outbreaks will reopen “maybe by the end of this week, over the weekend.” The labor union representing 250,000 meat workers asked state governors to set stronger safety standards than those proposed by the CDC
As craft beer struggles amid pandemic, so do barley farmers and malthouses
With much of the country under stay-at-home orders, the craft beer sector has seen a steep decline in sales. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic could be existential not only for this newly robust market and its thousands of employees but also for the malthouses and barley farmers whose ingredients are the building blocks of beer.
Coronavirus may bring lowest season-average corn price in 14 years
This year’s corn crop could sell for the lowest price in years — probably around $3.10 a bushel — depending on how quickly demand for ethanol rebounds and whether or not farmers plant less corn land than they planned to in March, said an economist at Kansas State University.
More locust swarms to besiege East African harvest
The harvest in Kenya is likely to coincide with the arrival of a new generation of desert locusts to attack the crops, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Locusts also are swarming in Ethiopia and Somalia, said the FAO.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Pandemic amplifies food shortages (FEWS.NET): Some 94 million people around the world will need food assistance this year, up 25 percent from 2019, as the coronavirus pandemic and steps taken to slow its spread “are likely to further increase the magnitude and severity of acute food insecurity.”
Carryout chicken sales recover (Reuters): Although Americans are staying at home, they are ordering so much carryout chicken that sales are back at pre-pandemic levels, said Pilgrim’s Pride, a poultry company.
P-EBT ends with the school year (Bread): The anti-hunger group Bread for the World is running an internet campaign asking Congress to extend the P-EBT — Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer — program through the summer to help low-income families buy food for their school-age children.
Corn prices tumble worldwide (IGC): Sagging demand by U.S. ethanol makers and larger supplies in South America combined to pull down the International Grains Council index of global corn prices by 12 percent in the past month.
States ask for dicamba restrictions (DTN/Progressive Farmer): The Association of American Pesticide Control Officials, composed of state regulators, asked the EPA to consider a ban on post-emergence use of dicamba to reduce the risk of damage to neighboring fields.
