Trust the farmer, says Vilsack, as senators warn of food shortages
Republican senators slammed the Biden administration on Thursday for high inflation nationwide and said the USDA should free American farmers to plant as much land as they want to avert a potential food crisis. “We’re all hammered with” inflation, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Record U.S. farm exports amid global turmoil
The United States will export a record $191 billion worth of agricultural products this fiscal year as the world scrambles to replace the corn, wheat, and vegetable oil it would normally get from Russia and Ukraine, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. It would be the second year in a row of record-high farm exports.
Export bans worsen global food crisis, says research group
Despite the experience of food price spikes a decade ago, nations are compounding the disruptions of warfare in the Black Sea region by hoarding their domestic supplies, said the global research group CGIAR.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Lake Erie more toxic?: U.S. and Canadian plans to reduce phosphorus loads in Lake Erie to diminish harmful algal blooms may backfire, warn scientists. (Science)
Groups seek tariff relief: The Biden administration can ease inflation in the agriculture and food sector by suspending, reducing, or eliminating retaliatory tariffs on imported products, said 41 farm, food, and shipping groups in a letter to U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai. (Farmers for Free Trade)
Farm bill hearing in Arkansas: The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold its second hearing on the 2023 farm bill on June 17 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with witnesses representing Southern agriculture. (Senate Agriculture)
CNH strike talks stall: Unionized workers at Case New Holland Industrial rejected the company’s latest contract offer as their strike entered its fourth week. (Burlington Hawk Eye)
