High prices, strong demand mean back-to-back records for U.S. ag exports
Propelled by the global economic recovery from the pandemic, U.S. farm exports will set back-to-back sales records this fiscal year and in the new year beginning on Oct. 1, the government forecast on Thursday. China would account for $1 of every $5 in exports during the two-year span, with annual purchases running more than $10 billion above its previous record, set in 2014.
Meat and seafood pull food prices higher
Americans will see the second year in a row of larger-than-usual food price increases, with food inflation now forecast at 3.5 percent this year, following the pandemic-driven 3.4 percent increase of 2020, said USDA economists on Thursday.
USDA to create ‘protection zone’ against disease deadly to hogs
In a step to protect U.S. swine and pork exports, the USDA said on Thursday that it will establish a “foreign animal disease protection zone” in two Caribbean territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. African swine fever was confirmed a month ago in the Dominican Republic.
Today’s Quick Hits
Battling ‘murder hornets’: Washington agriculture officials destroyed an Asian giant hornet nest — the first of the year — in a dead alder tree, capturing 180 hornets and removing the section of the tree containing the nest for further study. (Washington Department of Agriculture)
Warning on neonics: Draft evaluations by the EPA say that three widely used neonicotinoid insecticides are “likely to adversely affect” thousands of endangered species and their habitats, raising the possibility of changing guidelines for the pesticides’ use. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Canadian crops suffer: Canada’s canola harvest, usually the largest in the world, will fall by 20 percent from last year’s total and its wheat harvest will plunge by 43 percent due to punishing drought in much of the country. (Bloomberg)
Drought pummels ranchers: Throughout the West, drought is forcing ranchers to liquidate cattle herds, “often at fire-sale prices,” because they are running out of pasture and forage for the animals. (New York Times)
‘Stress test’ for crop income: There may be more risk in growing corn than soybeans in 2022, say four university economists who ran three scenarios assessing the impact of lower-than-projected market prices for corn and soybeans on midwestern farms. (Farmdoc Daily)
