USDA Equity Commission task: ‘Prevent wrongs in the future’
After referring to the USDA’s self-admitted history of racial discrimination, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said a 15-member Equity Commission would try “to prevent wrongs in the future.” The commission met for the first time on Monday, the final day of Black History Month.
Less food, more wildfires in North America with climate change
Global warming “is causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world,” said a UN climate change report on Monday. Hotter weather and shifts in rainfall are likely to reduce food production in North America and are a risk to food security, said a fact sheet on climate change’s impacts on the continent.
Biden calls for ocean shipping reforms
Despite port congestion in 2021, ocean carriers made huge profits that are estimated to drive up consumer prices by 1 percent this year, said the White House on Monday. “The president is calling on Congress to pass robust reforms to the ocean shipping industry, including reforms that address the current antitrust immunity for ocean shipping alliances.”
Today’s Quick Hits
Vote on cattle: Senate Democratic leaders will call a vote this spring on legislation to require meatpackers to buy a portion of their slaughter cattle on the cash market, said sponsor Sen. Jon Tester of Montana at the National Farmers Union convention. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Back in the office: Senior USDA officials returned to their offices on Monday, and USDA plans to bring back its workforce in stages beginning on March 28. (Politico)
Chevron pursues biodiesel: Oil giant Chevron said it will pay $3.15 billion to acquire biodiesel producer REG, which has 11 biorefineries in the United States and Europe, in a drive to expand its renewable fuels production to 100,000 barrels a day. (Renewables Now)
China buys soy: Chinese importers made their fourth purchase of U.S. soybeans in seven days for a total of 734,000 tonnes, or nearly 27 million bushels, said the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service. (USDA)
Wheat to Vietnam: Less than two months after Vietnam removed its 3 percent tariff on U.S. wheat, a 68,350-tonne shipment of duty-free U.S.-grown soft white and hard red spring wheat was unloaded in Ho Chi Minh City. (U.S. Wheat)
