AgClips
Recent AgClips
Hanging onto uncertainty
The Farmers | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Agriculture NewsIt’s been a tough go for farmers these last few years with low incomes. Many dairy farmers across the U.S. have been hit particularly hard — financially, physically and emotionally — as they work 16-plus hour days, seven days a week, to care for cattle and manage their farm businesses. Farmers work where they live. They don’t go home at the end of the day — they are already there. Coworkers can mostly be family members. They wrestle with responsibility versus control. Farmers feel responsible for just about everything, yet some things are beyond control.
Negotiations over NAFTA are bogging down ahead of a major deadline
The Washington Post | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Federal NewsNegotiations over a new North American trade deal have hit a major snag, leaving White House officials increasingly uncertain of their ability to hit their May 18 deadline for securing congressional approval of a new deal before year’s end. The main stumbling block involves a dispute over determiningwhich automobiles are given duty-free treatment under the agreement, according to five industry and U.S. government sources.After almost nine months of negotiations, the United States and its trading partners , Canada and Mexico, remain far apart on a host of contentiousissues, including U.S.
China food giant expands in Brazil
Bloomberg | Posted onMay 10, 2018 in Agriculture NewsChina’s food giant Cofco International is positioning itself to increase soybean purchases from Brazil as trade tensions escalate between the U.S. and the Asian nation, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Cofco has strengthened its team that buys, stores and sells farmer crops, known as origination, in the South American country, recently hiring as many as 12 people to work directly with farmers in Mato Grosso, Goias, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul states, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.
Wisconsin cheese producer plans to stop buying milk from 11 state dairy farms, state cheese official says
The Chppewa Herald | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in NewsA Wisconsin cheese producer has notified 11 state dairy farms that it will stop buying their milk in 60 days, an official with the state’s cheesemakers’ association is saying.Arla Foods’ Hollandtown Dairy in Kaukauna notified the farms either Monday or Tuesday, according to John Umhoefer, the executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.Umhoefer said an Arla Foods executive told him the company is no longer buying milk from the farms because “they are oversupplied for their needs.”The decision comes at a bad time for dairy farmers, who have been dealing with depressed milk
New Data Shows Millions of Hungry Americans Ineligible for Federal Nutrition Assistance
Feeding America | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in Rural NewsThe national anti-hunger nonprofit, Feeding America, announced new data, today, that shows 97 percent of counties include families facing hunger who are likely ineligible for federal nutrition assistance and, as such, must rely on charitable food banks to help put meals on their tables.
2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program
USDA | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in Federal NewsThe 2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (WHIP) is providing payments to agricultural producers to offset losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irene and Maria and devastating wildfires. WHIP was authorized by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Sign-up for the new program will begin no later than July 16.
Conservative groups demand farm program reforms
Agri-Pulse | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in Rural NewsHeritage Action for America and other fiscally conservative groups are calling on House members to demand major changes to commodity programs and crop insurance in the House Republican farm bill. “The bill not only fails to make reforms to farm subsidies, but actually makes the subsidies even worse,” says the letter released Wednesday by 14 organizations. The letter could complicate the House GOP leadership’s attempt to win passage of the farm bill this month because of reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that the legislation includes.
Shorebirds, the World’s Greatest Travelers, Face Extinction
The New York Times | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in Rural NewsA worldwide catastrophe is underway among an extraordinary group of birds — the marathon migrants we know as shorebirds. Numbers of some species are falling so quickly that many biologists fear an imminent planet-wide wave of extinctions.These declines represent the No. 1 conservation crisis facing birds in the world today. Climate change, coastal development, the destruction of wetlands and hunting are all culprits.
House farm bill helps rich, hurts poor
Kentucky.com | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in Federal NewsRepublicans on the House Agriculture Committee dished up treats for the insurance and chemical industries, while handing empty bowls to millions of struggling Americans.
Profitability Pressures Kansas Land Values
DTN | Posted onMay 8, 2018 in Agriculture NewsKansas farmland prices continue to march steadily downward, and there's little in the economic forecast to reverse the trend. "All of the numbers are pointing down, but it’s not falling off a cliff," Kansas State University farm management specialist Mykel Taylor said about near-term price movements in a press release.