Trump chooses former White House adviser to become Agriculture secretary
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Brooke Rollins, director of his Domestic Policy Council during his first term, for Agriculture secretary, saying she would “spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country.” Rollins is chief executive of a think tank that has advocated stronger work requirements for SNAP recipients. She would be the second woman to lead USDA.
California finds bird flu virus in raw milk
Public health officials in California’s Silicon Valley said tests found the bird flu virus in a container of raw milk purchased at a local store and warned consumers on Sunday not to consume the milk. The supplier, Raw Farm, of Fresno County, issued a recall of the batch of milk that was involved.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Chavez-DeRemer for Labor: President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican member of the House Agriculture Committee defeated for re-election, to serve as Labor secretary. (NPR)
Screwworm found in Mexico: The USDA said it would restrict movement of animal commodities from Mexico following the discovery of New World screwworm in a cow in southern Mexico near the Guatemala border; screwworm maggots can infest warm-blooded animals, including people. (APHIS)
FDA and CDC nominees: President-elect Donald Trump selected Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon who was critical of Covid vaccination mandates, to head the FDA, and former Rep. David Weldon, a physician, to run the CDC; Weldon once sought to reduce the CDC role in overseeing vaccine safety. (Washington Post)
Triticale hybrid in the wild: Plant experts in Kansas say a wild triticale hybrid, a cross of wheat and triticale, was found in wheat fields this summer, a surprise because it was not intentionally bred and because triticale is a cross between wheat and rye. (Kansas State University)
World grain supply tightens: Due to slightly smaller wheat and barley crops, the forecast of world grain production in 2024/25 was lowered at the same time the estimate of global grain consumption rose, suggesting the global carryover will drop 3 percent this season. (International Grains Council)
ON THE CALENDAR
Monday
In a tradition established decades ago, President Biden will “pardon” a Thanksgiving turkey at the White House, 11 a.m. ET. The National Turkey Federation introduced “Peach” and “Blossom,” 17-week-old male turkeys, at a news conference at the Willard Hotel on Sunday.
USDA releases monthly Food Price Outlook, 9 a.m. ET. At present, the USDA estimates grocery inflation of 1.2 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2025. The long-term grocery inflation rate is 2.7 percent a year.
USDA releases monthly Cold Storage report, 3 p.m. ET.
USDA releases final Crop Progress report of the year, 4 p.m. ET. The weekly report will resume in April 2025.
Tuesday
USDA releases quarterly Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade, 3 p,m. ET. At present, the USDA forecasts ag exports of $169.5 billion in the current fiscal year, the fourth-highest on record but down for the second year in a row. Imports were forecast for a record $212 billion, resulting in the largest ag trade deficit ever, $42.5 billion. It would be the third year in a row of record-large trade deficits.
Thursday
Thanksgiving Day, a holiday that began during colonial times as a harvest feast and became an annual national holiday by proclamation of President Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War, “to heal the wounds of the nation” and commend care of “widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife.” Lincoln chose the final Thursday of November. President Franklin Roosevelt advanced it by a week in 1939 to spur the economy during the Great Depression. Congress passed a law in 1941 setting Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. The American celebration of Thanksgiving as a response to the fall harvest “falls under a category of festivals that spans cultures, continents and millennia,” says History.com. “Historians have noted that Native Americans had a rich tradition of commemorating the fall harvest with feasting and merrymaking long before Europeans set foot on their shores.”
Friday
USDA releases monthly Agricultural Prices report, 3 p.m. ET.
