Strong Senate support for Torres Small as Agriculture deputy secretary
President Biden’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Agriculture Department, Xochitl Torres Small, easily cleared a procedural hurdle on a 79-8 Senate roll call on Monday, opening the door to a confirmation vote expected on Tuesday. The granddaughter of migrant farmworkers, Torres Small would be the USDA’s first Hispanic deputy secretary.
Hot, dry, windy events on the rise in Kansas wheat fields
It’s been a record-breaking year for hot, dry, windy (HDW) events in the Midwest, with Kansas — the nation’s largest winter wheat producer — hit worse than any other state. The events, in which all three conditions occur simultaneously for a prolonged period, inevitably lead to drought and lowered grain yields.
Put the whole-field Conservation Reserve out to pasture
Congress has a once-in-a-generation opportunity in the new farm bill to remodel the land-idling Conservation Reserve to focus on small tracts that merit attention and to encourage carbon capture on grasslands, said a farm policy expert on Monday. The reserve was created in 1985 to retire entire fields or even farms of fragile land from crop production, but those “general” enrollments have fallen steeply since 2007.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Rosy Nebraska farmland outlook: The value of Nebraska farmland surged by an average 14 percent statewide during 2022 and “the outlook for future gains in farm real estate values remains relatively strong,” said a panel of experts. (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)
Corn up, soy not: Some 55 percent of the corn crop was in good or excellent condition, an increase of 5 points in two weeks thanks to rain in the Midwest; soybeans were unchanged from two weeks ago at 51 percent good or excellent. (USDA)
El Niño increases risk: The emerging El Niño weather pattern “poses a risk to agricultural production and food security in several regions, particularly Southern Africa and Central America”; 45 countries need food aid. (FAO)
Crop insurance comes first: The most important item to protect in the new farm bill is the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance program, said Collin Peterson, a former House Agriculture committee chair who warns against payment limits on premium subsidies or tying coverage to stewardship practices. (Agweek)
Ditch WOTUS, ask aggies: Agriculture groups asked a federal judge in North Dakota to discard the Biden administration’s “waters of the United States” rule, rather than allowing the administration to update it to reflect the new Supreme Court standard for protecting wetlands. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
