USDA forecasts highest prices for U.S. crops in years amid global boom
U.S. farmers will reap two of their largest corn and soybean crops ever and sell them for the highest average prices since the commodity boom ended several years ago, said the government Wednesday in its first projections of the fall harvest. The USDA also said that global soybean king Brazil would increase its share of the world market at the expense of U.S. exports.
A plan to make Denmark’s food system carbon neutral by 2050
Two years ago, Denmark’s farming sector announced a bold goal: Its food industry would become carbon neutral by 2050 and serve as a model for the rest of the world. This week, a new report commissioned by a Danish agriculture industry trade group lays out a strategy for how the country can reduce emissions while producing significantly more food.
Dean says USDA will bring standards for school meals, WIC, in line with Dietary Guidelines
With hunger levels stubbornly high and an estimated 1 in 5 American children obese, Stacy Dean, the deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services, told lawmakers Wednesday that the USDA would update nutrition standards for school meals and the WIC program to meet current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
USDA ‘hiring at an extremely fast pace’ to rebuild ERS and NIFA
One-third of the jobs at two USDA research agencies are still vacant 18 months after their abrupt Trump-era relocation to Kansas City, said the chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the USDA budget on Wednesday.
Today’s Quick Hits
Food inflation slows: Food prices are 2.4 percent higher than a year ago, said the Labor Department in its monthly CPI report. A month ago, the annual food inflation rate was 3.5 percent. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Cattle fraud: A federal grand jury in Denver indicted an Illinois woman and a Georgia man on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that raised $650 million from people who believed their money was going into short-term investments in cattle. (Department of Justice)
Mississippi shutdown: The Coast Guard closed the Mississippi River near the I-40 bridge at Memphis, halting barge traffic, following the discovery of a fracture in a beam that supports the bridge. (Reuters)
Fuel deliveries resume: Colonial Pipeline restarted pipeline operations on Wednesday afternoon but warned of “intermittent service interruptions” and said it would take several days for fuel deliveries to return to normal. (Colonial)
Name change: Memphis Meats, a producer of cell-cultured meat, poultry, and seafood, changed its name to Upside Foods to show “our passion and potential to make our favorite foods healthier for the planet.” (Meat + Poultry)
