Foreign ownership of American land has gained a lot of buzz lately, but senior staff attorney and professor with the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, Fran Miller says more attention should go to domestic corporate ownership. “Corporate consolidation is a big issue in farmland. Congress, I think in a … bipartisan way, has been …
Global Direct-to-Consumer Food Market Growing
The direct-to-consumer food market is becoming more popular. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. The global direct-to-consumer (DTC) food market is growing fast, according to a new report from Research and Markets. The growth of the DTC food market is driven by the rising adoption of convenience foods, growing online purchases of food products, and the increasing number …
Bill Solidifies Critical Fertilizer Minerals
The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) thanks the U.S. Senate for introducing bipartisan legislation to include phosphate and potash on the final list of critical minerals of the Department of the Interior. TFI says the legislation will recognize the importance of ensuring a strong and sustainable domestic fertilizer supply for American farmers. “The majority of the world’s phosphate and potash resources are concentrated …
National Ag Day Groundbreaking Event in Florida
Today is National Ag Day across the nation, and as Mark Oppold reports, one company chose today for a ground-breaking event in Florida.
USDA Finalizes Product of USA Label Rule
The USDA finalized a rule to align the voluntary “Product of USA” label claim with consumer understanding of what the claim means. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the rule Monday at the National Farmer’s Union annual convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. “We are now on record as being for the utilization of that label only, only, when the animal was …
House Agriculture Committee Offers Farm Labor Solution
The House Agriculture Committee laid out a roadmap to relieve labor shortages that have seriously impacted America’s farmers and ranchers. The Agriculture Labor Working Group (ALWG) released its final report on how to improve the H-2A guest worker program. It includes more than 20 recommendations to streamline the program and make labor more affordable for farmers. “We’re losing American farms …
Preparing for Various Agricultural Reports
A variety of new reports will be coming out over the next few weeks. As Mark Oppold notes, one will be released today.
Number of U.S. Farms Falls Below Two Million
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the number of U.S. farms has fallen under two million for the first time since before the Civil War. The numbers come from the 2022 Census of Agriculture. In 2022, there were 1,900,487 farms in the country, a seven percent decline from the level in the 2017 Census. A farm is defined as …
Fuel Prices See Double-Digit Increase for Gasolione
After falling last week, the nation’s average price of gasoline climbed ten cents from a week ago, according to GasBuddy. The national average is up 22 cents from a month ago but 3.2 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average diesel price fell 2.7 cents last week and stands at $4.03 per gallon—33 cents lower than …
EPA Announces New Ag and Rural Affairs Office
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is establishing a new office to expand engagement opportunities with agricultural and rural communities. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the first-ever EPA Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs during his remarks at Commodity Classic in Houston, Texas, on Friday. Commodity Classic is the largest farmer-led annual convention in the country and Regan is …