Indemnities could soar to $3.6 billion for prevented planting The wettest spring in a quarter-century may lead to the largest crop insurance payout since 2000 to farmers unable to plant corn and soybeans, said a university economist. He spoke ahead of a USDA report today that will project the impact… Continue reading

Summer food program loses ground for third year Participation in federally funded summer nutrition programs, which provide meals for low-income children when school is out of session, is down by 10 percent since 2015, said the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center in a report today. Ag purchases would show… Continue reading

Summer shower of federal cash to follow rainy spring in Farm Belt Farmers can expect a deluge of federal payments in the weeks ahead to cushion the effect of farm exports lost to the trade war and crops washed away by the rainiest spring in a quarter-century, say analysts. Trump… Continue reading

Farm Belt howls as EPA proposes no-growth biofuel mandate for 2020 The Trump administration proposed a Renewable Fuel Standard of 20.04 billion gallons for 2020, meaning no change in corn ethanol’s share of the gasoline market for cars and light trucks, while the share of that market going to cleaner-burning… Continue reading

Brazil’s JBS wins a quarter of Trump-tariff contracts for pork A Brazilian-owned meat processing company undercut its competition by more than $1 per pound to win nearly $78 million in pork contracts through a federal program launched to help American farmers offset the impact of the ongoing trade war. As… Continue reading

Food access in D.C.: Q&A with Ashanté Reese In her new book, “Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C.,” Ashanté M. Reese, an assistant professor of anthropology at Spelman College, uses Deanwood, a predominately black neighborhood in D.C., as a lens to examine the broader obstacles… Continue reading