AgClips
Recent AgClips
These workers are hurt by Trump’s trade war, but ineligible for his bailout
The Washington Post | Posted onOctober 26, 2018 in Federal NewsIn August 2017, $27 million worth of soybeans shipped to China through Washington state’s port of Vancouver. This August’s total shipment: $0.The drop, driven by President Trump’s escalating trade war with China, has meant real pain for the longshoremen responsible for transporting the cargo at the port. With fewer crops to load onto ships bound for China, the number of shifts available for longshoremen has fallen.
Regulatory regime for cell-cultured food is on agenda for 2019
Food Safety News | Posted onOctober 26, 2018 in Food NewsAfter two -days of public meetings this week in Washington D.C., the government can claim it is getting ahead of the day when meat grown from cells grown in the lab becomes available in the marketplace alongside meat grown on the hoof.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the federal government’s top two food safety regulatory agencies, co-sponsored this week’s meetings.
Demand for Larger Farm Operating Loans Bears Watching
Farm Equipment | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Agriculture Newshe Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released it third quarter Ag Finance Databook last Friday and its headline read “Large Scale Financing Drives Ag Lending Activity Higher.” In summarizing its findings, the report said, “Large operating loans made by large agricultural banks led to a significant increase in farm lending in the third quarter of 2018. A sharp increase in the volume of loans exceeding $1 million was a primary contributor to the increase in non-real estate farm lending.
Court order stalls Arkansas hog farm permit decision
The State | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Agriculture NewsA judge has further delayed an Arkansas hog farm's permit application to operate near the Buffalo River watershed. Newton County Circuit Judge John Putman issued a stay Wednesday on an order issued in August by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission. The order had reopened the permit application process for C&H Hog Farms. The farm is permitted to house about 6,500 hogs on Big Creek.
DowDuPont to Record $4.6 Billion Charge as Agriculture Unit Suffers
The Wall Street Journal | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Agriculture NewsDowDuPont Inc.’s agriculture unit is taking a $4.6 billion charge in the third quarter after the business lowered its long-term expectations on sales and profits, a move that underscores challenges agribusinesses are facing in the Americas. DowDuPont said in securities filings Thursday that it recalculated the fair value of goodwill and other intangible assets on the books of the merged Dow and DuPont company, and determined that the values of assets in its agricultural unit had fallen.
Kansas City Fed Update: Ag Lending, Farmland Values, and Farm Income
Farm Policy News | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Agriculture News“Non-real estate lending increased significantly in the third quarter, according to the National Survey of Terms of Lending to Farmers. The total volume of non-real estate farm loans was more than 30 percent higher than a year ago. This sharp growth in farm lending followed steady increases earlier in 2018 and represents the largest annual percentage increase in the third quarter since 2002.”
Privatized Medicaid's latest target: New transportation charges are leaving disabled Iowans in the lurch
Des Moines Register | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Rural NewsLife for many disabled Iowans now features fewer outings, longer commute times and tighter living arrangements as a result of a state Medicaid policy change that affects their transportation to jobs and day services, a Des Moines Register investigation has found. The findings come less than a year after the Iowa Department of Human Services replaced a longtime "waiver" program used to pay for these transportation services.
If Parents Get Deported, Who Gets Their Children?
Pew Trust | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Federal NewsAs the Trump administration increases immigration enforcement actions against working adults, grandparents and other extended family members — often immigrants themselves — are stepping in to care for many of those children left behind.One in five children being raised by extended family members — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — live in an immigrant household, more than half a million children, a new report shows.
USDA provides basic goods and services for rural residents
Ag Policy | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Federal, Rural NewsIn many ways the programs of the USDA serve as a validation of the list of basic goods and services set forth by Reinert. In his discussion of the merits of providing unrestricted cash transfers directly to people for the purchase of food compared to providing conditional cash transfers that set restrictions on the items that can be purchased we found Reinert speaking directly to most of us.He writes, “[A] way of enjoying oneself is to purchase things other than food even when your diet is far less than ideal. These could include televisions, festivals, videogame parlors, and much more.
General Motors Texas Plant Runs 100% on Wind Power
Industry Week | Posted onOctober 25, 2018 in Energy NewsThe energy sourced from Cactus Flats combined with power procured from the Los Mirasoles Wind Farm meets the electricity demand.