Stabenow open to reference price proposals, a farm bill obstacle
In a bid to break the farm bill deadlock, Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow said that she was “open to proposals” to increase so-called effective reference prices for all crops in the U.S. farm program but would not accept cuts in SNAP or climate funding. “If we’re going to get a farm bill done this spring to keep farmers farming, it’s time to get serious,” she said in a letter to all senators.
USDA pilot program will test remote grading of beef carcasses
The USDA is launching a pilot program that will grade cattle carcasses by using images submitted electronically by small meatpackers rather than sending an inspector to the plant, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce on Friday.
Interest rates rise faster than farmland values, says economist
For the first time since 2001, interest rates are rising faster than farmland values, creating a potential obstacle to land purchasers, said assistant economist Ty Kreitman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.
AG Insider
Ethanol is just comically inefficient solar energy
No topic brought the candidates in this week’s Iowa caucuses into more violent consensus than the sanctity of federal support for corn-based ethanol. Whether they know it or not, all of these politicians are calling for the government to puff up what is a particularly byzantine and wasteful form of … solar energy. You can’t grow corn without photosynthesis, which converts energy from sunlight into plant tissue. There’s a more straightforward way to leverage the sun, one that could generate much more energy with a fraction of the fuss: the simple photovoltaic solar panel.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Congress approves stopgap funding: On bipartisan votes of 77-18 in the Senate and 314-108 in the House, Congress passed a bill to fund the government until early March, averting a partial shutdown of the USDA on Friday. (U.S. House)
U.S., China ag leaders meet: At the first meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Committee on Cooperation in Agriculture since 2015, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack raised market access issues and emphasized to Chinese Agriculture Minister Tang Renjian the importance of embracing innovative technologies. (USDA)
The Indiana primary is competitive: Trump-endorsed Sen. Mike Braun, a member of the Agriculture Committee, has the largest war chest of the five Republicans seeking the gubernatorial nomination in Indiana. (Associated Press)
SDSU to close dairy farm: South Dakota State University said it would shutter its Dairy Research and Training Facility by the end of June after a fundraising campaign failed to raise enough money to renovate the facility. (Progressive Dairy)
