U.S. farmers lean into soy but pull back on corn and wheat in 2024 Farmers are expected to plant an estimated 86.5 million acres of soybeans this year, up 3 percent from last year, and dial back their corn acreage by 5 percent and their wheat acreage by 4 percent,… Continue reading
“People’s Tribunal” in NYC to talk policy & goals Farmworkers and labor organizers from across North America will convene in New York City this weekend for a “people’s tribunal,” where they plan to produce a list of overarching priorities that will guide their organizing efforts going forward. TODAY’S QUICK HITS… Continue reading
California paraquat use concentrated in poor, Latino communities Between 2017 and 2021, 5.3 million pounds of the herbicide paraquat were sprayed on California fields, with 66 percent of it in five Central Valley counties whose residents are predominantly poor and Latino, according to a new Environmental Working Group analysis. AFR… Continue reading
Bird flu found in dairy cows in Texas and Kansas The USDA announced Monday that unpasteurized milk samples from sick cattle at two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas, as well as an oropharyngeal swab from another dairy in Texas, tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)…. Continue reading
California’s water board hit with civil rights complaint over tainted water A coalition of public interest groups filed a civil rights complaint against California’s top water board last week, accusing the agency of perpetuating environmental racism along the state’s Central Coast. According to the complaint, the region’s agricultural industry has… Continue reading
Climate change will drive up food costs, threatening political stability Global warming may drive up food inflation by as much as 3.2 percentage points a year, based on temperature increases projected for 2035, according to a paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday. Warming is also… Continue reading
Ice cover on the upper Mississippi was fleeting this winter. Is this our future? The above-average temperatures across the upper Midwest, driven in part by the El Niño climate pattern and in part by human-caused climate change, made for less than one month of safe ice on the Mississippi River… Continue reading
Agriculture grows in tribal nations Agriculture in Indian Country was a nearly $6.5 billion industry in 2022, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture, up from $3.5 billion just five years earlier. Cattle ranching was the most common form of agriculture production, occurring on 39 percent of farms operated… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
Farmers’ tax liability to rise as tax breaks expire in 2025 Farmers would face an increased federal tax liability of billions of dollars following the expiration of Trump-era tax breaks in 2025, said USDA economists. The biggest impact, estimated at a combined $4.5 billion, would come from reduced income tax… Continue reading
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