AgClips
Recent AgClips
USDA says nearly $840 million in aid paid to farmers to date
Reuters | Posted onNovember 21, 2018 in Federal NewsU.S. Department of Agriculture has paid out nearly $840 million to farmers to date as part of a promised $12 billion aid program rolled out by President Donald Trump last July to offset losses from the imposition of tariffs on American exports. A total of $837.8 million to date has been paid out with the top five commodities being soybeans, wheat, corn, dairy and hogs, USDA told Reuters.
Farm bill negotiators struggle with forestry, other issues in closing deal
Agri-Pulse | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in Federal NewsFarm bill negotiators are struggling to work out deals on forestry regulations, commodity program eligibility rules and other issues with a goal of finalizing an agreement that Congress can vote on before adjourning in December. Conaway said he was gearing up to pitch the final bill to his fellow Republicans, who will lose control of the House in January.
Bayer faces billion-dollar losses related to legal claims of deadly Roundup herbicide
Public Radio International | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsJurors found that Monsanto, now owned by Bayer in a $66 billion merger, had acted with malice and negligence in failing to warn Johnson, a former school groundskeeper, about the cancer risks associated with Roundup and its key ingredient, glyphosate. Johnson is now suffering from late-stage non-Hodgkins lymphoma.The German-based company Bayer merged with Monsanto in June 2018, just two months before the California jury ruled unanimously in favor of Mr. Johnson.
China rules: The land that failed to fail
The New York Times | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in NewsIn the uncertain years after Mao’s death, long before China became an industrial juggernaut, before the Communist Party went on a winning streak that would reshape the world, a group of economics students gathered at a mountain retreat outside Shanghai. There, in the bamboo forests of Moganshan, the young scholars grappled with a pressing question: How could China catch up with the West? It was the autumn of 1984, and on the other side of the world, Ronald Reagan was promising “morning again in America.” China, meanwhile, was just recovering from decades of political and economic turmoil.
A $12 billion program to help farmers stung by Trump's trade war has aided few
The New York Times | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in Federal NewsAmerica’s farmers have been shut out of foreign markets, hit with retaliatory tariffs and lost lucrative contracts in the face of President Trump’s trade war. But a $12 billion bailout program Mr. Trump created to “make it up” to farmers has done little to cushion the blow, with red tape and long waiting periods resulting in few payouts so far.According to the Department of Agriculture, just $838 million has been paid out to farmers since the first $6 billion pot of money was made available in September. Another pool of up to $6 billion is expected to become available next month.
New CDC report corrects inaccurate data on farmer suicides
Politico | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in Rural NewsFarmers face many stresses and farm income is continuing to fall, but a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that farmers are not the workers with the highest suicide rate in America.That distinction belongs to workers in construction and "extraction" jobs, like mining and drilling, according to the new CDC analysis.
USDA terminates Chinese-owned Smithfield farm aid contract
Reuters | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in Federal NewsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated a $240,000 purchase contract with Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods that had been awarded under the Trump administration’s agricultural trade bailout program, a move taken at the company’s request, a department spokesman told Reuters. The move comes weeks after Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of the country’s biggest farm states and the biggest hog-producing state, slammed Smithfield for receiving what he said was aid from the USDA that was meant to help American farmers hurt by China’s trade tariffs.
House offers deal, dropping some demands on SNAP
DTN | Posted onNovember 20, 2018 in Agriculture NewsSenate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., needs to read a joint farm bill offer from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway, D-Texas, and ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., before commenting on it, a spokeswoman for Roberts said Friday."We'll have to read it first, but it's a good sign," Meghan Cline, Roberts' press secretary, said in an email.Earlier, Politico reported that Conaway and Peterson had come up with a joint offer.
Yakima hotel transforms into farmworker housing
Capital Press | Posted onNovember 18, 2018 in Agriculture NewsA large Yakima hotel has been mostly converted into farmworker housing and owners foresee it meeting more need as use of foreign guestworkers continues to grow.
U.S. Crop Giants are Doing More Brazil Deals Thanks to Trade War
Bloomberg | Posted onNovember 18, 2018 in Agriculture NewsCargill, ADM agree to ship soybeans from South America. Soy stockpiles in U.S. forecast to rise as exports decrease.Some of the most iconic names in U.S. agriculture just agreed to do more business with China. But it’s coming at the expense of American farmers as the companies agree to ship more soybeans from Brazil amid Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing.Cargill Inc., the biggest privately-held U.S. company, as well as its century-old rivals Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.