White House checklist cites livestock marketing, ocean shipping
In a summary of achievements, the White House pointed on Monday to progress toward increased competition, including action on livestock marketing, consumer right-to-repair and ocean shipping rates. It said President Biden would “highlight progress we need to continue to make to promote competition and protect consumers” in the State of the Union speech on Tuesday, with so-called junk fees as an area for action.
Swap crop insurance for area-based coverage
The government could save more than $2 billion a year if it replaced the public-private partnership of the crop insurance program with simpler and more tightly targeted disaster programs, said two agricultural economists. In an analysis for the American Enterprise Institute, Eric Belasco and Vincent Smith said a template for the less expensive program was the Pasture, Rangeland and Forage (PRF) insurance product offered by USDA.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Salmonella Smacks: Food and ingredient manufacturing company Kerry Inc. agreed to pay over $19 million in criminal fines after pleading guilty to manufacturing Kellogg’s Honey Smacks under insanitary conditions, which triggered a salmonella outbreak in 2018. (Department of Justice)
Lakes Mead, Powell unlikely to refill: The water crisis in the Colorado River is so dire that the reservoirs are unlikely to refill in our lifetimes, water managers and climate scientists say. (Los Angeles Times)
Biodiversity slow to bounce back: A new study shows that after 80 years, abandoned farm fields still lacked the flora that the land supported before it was plowed under. (Journal of Ecology)
First House Ag meeting: The new chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Glenn Thompson, scheduled an organizational meeting of the committee for Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET to prepare for work that includes writing a new farm bill. (House Agriculture)
Welch to chair subcommittee: Newly-elected Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said he will chair the Senate Agriculture subcommittee on rural development; his farm bill priorities include climate change, public nutrition, dairy, organics and value-added local production. (Politico)
Minnesota re-confirms agriculture director: The Minnesota state Senate voted 63-0 to confirm Thom Peterson, a former Minnesota Farmers Union official, to a second term as state agriculture secretary. (Minnesota Department of Agriculture)
