Farm and food coalition is key to passing farm bill
The only way to pass a farm bill this year is to assemble a farm and food coalition of rural and urban lawmakers, said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow at a farm conference on Monday. “We need to be strengthening all parts of the farm bill,” rather than trying to raid SNAP and climate funds to pay for larger crop subsidy outlays, she said.
China will remain a food importer
President Xi Jinping has made food security a national priority since becoming China’s leader a decade ago, with a multi-prong drive for self-sufficiency in food. It is “an improbable, if not impossible, goal,” say analysts from the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in a brief.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Wildfires killed 7,000 cattle: Early estimates say 7,000 head of cattle died in the Smokehouse Creek wildfire that burned more than 1 million acres in the Texas panhandle; the total may not be known for months but could reach 10,000 head. (Texas Tribune)
Soymeal up, soybeans down: Exports of U.S. soybean meal rose to a record $7.4 billion during 2023, becoming one of the top 10 farm exports. Shipments of soybeans, the No. 1 ag export, shrank by 19 percent, to $27.9 billion, under pressure from a large Brazilian crop. (USDA)
Organic ag and farm bill: The new farm bill should provide larger cost-share assistance for farmers seeking organic certification and create an economic safety net for organic dairy farms, advocates told lawmakers. (National Organic Coalition)
