Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will help President Donald Trump reach his goal of reducing agency budgets by five percent next year. Perdue has promised to cut his budget five percent, as last week Trump asked every Cabinet agency except the Pentagon to make a five percent cut. During the meeting, Trump told the leaders to “get rid of the fat, …
Federal Reserve: Farm Loan Volume Increasing
Large operating loans made by large agricultural banks led to a significant increase in farm lending in the third quarter of 2018, according to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. The total volume of non-real estate farm loans was more than 30 percent higher than a year ago. A sharp increase in the volume of loans exceeding $1 million was …
NCBA to Reiterate Unwavering Support for USDA Oversight of Lab-Grown Fake Meat
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) will highlight the food safety and product labeling expertise of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) during a two-day public meeting on lab-grown fake meat. The public meeting, hosted jointly by USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), takes place October 23-24. The meeting agenda lists a wide range of topics for consideration, …
Bankers Expect Farmland Prices to Continue Decline
Rural bankers expect farmland prices will continue to decline. In the latest Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index, Midwest lenders on average estimated that farmland prices declined by 4.0 percent over the past 12 months and expect farmland prices to fall by another 3.2 percent over the next 12 months. An Illinois lender says “more than ever,” farmland values are extremely …
EU Cleared to Start Talks on Increasing U.S. Beef Imports
The European Union (EU) late last week agreed to allow negotiations with the U.S. to increase imports of U.S. beef to the EU. The move could help ease some transatlantic trade tensions, according to Reuters, which reports the EU says “finding a mutually beneficial solution to our longstanding dispute over beef would be a major step forward in improving” trade …
USDA Announces Receipt of 136 Expressions of Interest in Hosting ERS & NIFA
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has received 136 expressions of interest from parties in 35 states interested in becoming the new homes of the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). In August, Perdue announced that most ERS and NIFA personnel would be moving to outside the …
Beagle Brigade Helping Protect Homeland Pork
When Hardy, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) trained detector dog, sniffed out a roasted pig head in traveler baggage at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International airport early this month, it underscored the efforts USDA and its partners are undertaking to keep African Swine Fever (ASF), a swine disease that could devastate the U.S. pork producers, from entering the country. USDA continues …
EPA Chief Says E15 Expansion Doesn’t Need Congress
Andrew Wheeler, Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, says his agency can expand E15 sales to year-round without Congressional approval. Wheeler also said last week that the oil industry needs to drop its lawsuit threat against the move. Last week, President Trump said he was directing the EPA to lift the ban on summertime sales of E15, a move designed …
Farm Bill a Topic on the Campaign Trail
Vice President Mike Pence made several campaign stops last week, including locations in Kansas and Iowa. Going into the trip, a spokesman confirmed that the vice president would bring up the yet-to-be-finished farm bill during his speeches. The White House message is similar to that of the House Republicans: The unemployment rate is low and a lot of jobs are …
China Has Culled 200,000 Pigs Due to Swine Fever Outbreak
China, the world’s largest pork producer, has culled 200,000 pigs from its herds due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever. A Reuters report says Chinese health officials made the announcement last week. That number represents a small part of the 700 million pigs that China slaughters every year for food consumption. However, due to restrictions on transporting animals that …