Agriculture News
The Profit Problem of American Agriculture: What We Have Learned with the Perspective of Time
Choices magazine | Posted on September 20, 2018The problem of poor profits in American agriculture is not new or a secret, but it is not well known to most Americans, including most policy makers, even though the problem threatens an entire sector of our national economy. As such, the problem should be understood by policy makers at all levels of American government. Yet after more than 80 years of government policy interventions in agriculture, the problem remains: Farm income for 2018 is forecast to fall to its lowest real-dollar level in nearly two decades (USDA, 20018c). This failure indicates there must be a fundamental flaw in policy makers’ understanding of the profit problem. Therefore, this article i) presents a summary of research findings that outlines the problem and ii) offers guidelines to policy makers and agricultural industry participants who, as a team, may hold the only workable solutions to this old problem.
After 'major escalation' in US-China trade war, what happens next?
CNN | Posted on September 20, 2018The trade war between the United States and China just got a lot bigger after both sides announced their broadest waves of tariffs yet.The latest exchange of fire means the two economic superpowers will soon have imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion of goods. And analysts say the battle is likely to get worse, even as China starts to run low on ways to retaliate.The new tariffs announced by Washington and Beijing this week "mark a major escalation of their conflict that will hit global economic growth," Louis Kuijs, head of Asia Economics at research firm Oxford Economics, said in a note.The Chinese government said late Tuesday that it would impose tariffs on US goods worth $60 billion following the Trump administration's announcement that it was hitting $200 billion worth of Chinese goods with new tariffs.The US tariffs start at a rate of 10%, before rising to 25% at the end of the year. They come into effect on September 24, and will apply to thousands of Chinese products, ranging from food seasonings and baseball gloves to network routers and industrial machinery parts.China's new tariffs will be levied at rates of 5% or 10%, depending on the product, from the same date, the Chinese government said.More than 5,000 US goods will be affected, including meat, nuts, alcoholic drinks, chemicals, clothes, machinery, furniture and auto parts.
No federal aid coming for livestock producers: Canadian agriculture minister
ipolitics | Posted on September 20, 2018No financial aid package is in the works for Canada’s livestock sector, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay says — despite pleas from producer groups who warn plummeting prices are forcing producers out of business. “I’m willing to look at anything through the government, but with anything like this, you’d have to work with the government here, and the provincial governments, if there was going to be a special package put in place,” MacAulay said in an interview with iPolitics Monday afternoon.“But honestly, I am not looking at putting one in place at the moment,” he said, adding the federal government is “doing everything we can with the programs in place in order to help them.”As a former farmer himself, MacAulay said it’s well understood the sector “is looking for aid.”The Alberta government had asked the Trudeau government to consider supporting the province’s hog industry amid economic instability in North American commodity markets caused by an ongoing trade war.
Florence update: Animal deaths expected to top Hurricane Matthew toll
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on September 20, 2018Hurricane Florence apparently has caused more livestock losses than Hurricane Matthew two years ago, as state officials and processing companies continue to assess the damage to operations and farms. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is estimating preliminary livestock losses – from the storm making landfall and subsequent flooding – at 3.4 million poultry and 5,500 hogs. Officials at the agency called Florence “an unprecedented storm” that affected the top six agricultural counties in the state. Florence covered the same areas hit by Matthew in 2016.
Pennsylvania announces $5M for dairy farmers
ABC | Posted on September 20, 2018The funding was made available under the Pennsylvania Dairy Investment Program, which helps farmers to modernize or expand their operations. Milk sales have dropped in recent years, partly because more people are buying soy, almond, and other non-dairy substitutes.
Ring leader pleads guilty in egg farm worker smuggling scheme
Columbus Dispatch | Posted on September 20, 2018The man who held a multimillion-dollar contract to supply workers — many of whom were underage and smuggled into the country illegally from Guatemala — for central Ohio egg farms pleaded guilty in federal court in Cleveland to a labor trafficking-related charge. Pablo Duran Ramirez, 50, faces up to 10 years in prison for one count of encouraging the illegal entry of Guatemalan nationals for financial gain.
Hurricane Florence: Animal death toll reaches millions in North Carolina
Newsweek | Posted on September 20, 2018The North Carolina Department of Agriculture reported the deaths by drowning of 3.4 million chickens and turkeys and 5,500 hogs, the Associated Press reported. Many died in farm buildings overcome by flooding as they waited to be taken to market.
Sanderson Farms loses 1.7 million chickens to hurricane
Watt Ag Net | Posted on September 20, 201860 broiler houses and four breeder houses in North Carolina have flooded.
‘CUPS’ Protects Citrus From Greening, Storms
Universifty of Florida | Posted on September 20, 2018A system designed to protect citrus trees from the deadly greening disease withstood the ravaging winds of Hurricane Irma last year, University of Florida scientists say. With reinforcements installed after the storm, they’ll likely withstand even more dangerous storms. Using Citrus Under Protective Screening, or “CUPS,” growers can keep the Asian citrus psyllid away from their trees, said Arnold Schumann, a professor of soil and water sciences at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. If an infected psyllid – a bug the size of a pin -- bites citrus leaves, it infects trees with a bacterium that sickens them with greening, also known as Huanglongbing, or HLB.During the four years of the CUPS experiment, UF/IFAS researchers have seen no psyllids or greening on the citrus grown in the screened-in environment, said Schumann, a faculty member at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) in Lake Alfred, Florida.When they built the indoor citrus growing system, UF/IFAS researchers – knowing they faced the potential of tropical storm-force winds -- had anchors installed on the poles that keep the screens in place, Schumann said. Those worked fairly well during Irma, but there was room for improvement, he said.
$2M Missing at Minnesota grain elevator
Ag Web | Posted on September 20, 2018A former grain elevator manager is on the run after allegedly pocketing $2 million from the Ashby Farmers Cooperative Elevator Co. in west-central Minnesota. Jerry Hennessey used the money for hunting trips, taxidermy and paying his personal Cabela’s credit card. Initial investigations show Hennessey had been siphoning off funds while inflating grain inventories from the single-location grain co-op for at least a decade. But the issue came to head earlier this month and forced the co-op, which was established 110 years ago, to stop taking grain deliveries and close for business. The co-op’s board is now actively seeking acquirers for the facility and business.