The Federal Trade Commission cleared Amazon to officially take over Whole Foods. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says Amazon will spend $13.7 billion to acquire the Austin, Texas-based high-end food grocery store chain. The FTC wrapped up its investigation and found no anticompetitive effects sufficient to block the deal. Acting competition bureau chief Bruce Hoffman says, “Based on our investigation, we’ve …
McDonald’s Announces Global Antibiotic Phase Out
McDonald’s Corporation announced it’ll be expanding its effort to cut back on the use of antibiotics critical to human health across the global chicken supply. The fast food giant will require its poultry suppliers to phase out drugs categorized under the highest priority category in the World Health Organization’s four categories by January of next year. Those antibiotics will disappear …
IBM Announces New Food Traceability Program
A group of companies in the global food chain announced a partnership with IBM intended to give consumers more confidence in the global food system. The group includes companies like Walmart, Nestle, Tyson Foods, and many others. They’ll work with IBM to find areas in the global supply food chain that can benefit from the IBM program Blockchain. An IBM …
Stabenow Supports Call to Withdraw Clovis Nomination
Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Brian Schatz of Hawaii called for President Trump to withdraw the nomination of Sam Clovis as USDA Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics. The Hagstrom Report says shortly the announcement, Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow says that if the Clovis nomination isn’t withdrawn, she will highlight his comments on minorities, gays, Barack Obama, and …
Brazil Slaps Tariff on U.S. Ethanol
The Brazilian Agriculture Minister announced on Wednesday that the country’s Chamber of Foreign Trade approved a recommendation to impose a 20 percent tariff on U.S. ethanol imports after a 600 million liter tariff rate quota. Brazilian media are reporting the tariff will be in effect for two years. This will make it much more difficult for U.S. ethanol to access …
AFBF, AFBIS, Others, Propose Dairy Revenue Protection Insurance Concept
A proposal submitted to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), American Farm Bureau Insurance Services (AFBIS), and others would provide a revenue-based insurance option for dairy farmers, different from the current margin-based insurance options available. AFBF Market Intelligence Director John Newton explains how the Dairy Revenue Protection insurance concept will work for dairy farmers. …
NIFA Invests $35 Million in Specialty Crop Research
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced 12 new grants totaling $35 million for science-based solutions and new technology for the specialty crop industry. Funding is made through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. “Specialty crops generally fetch high value for the farmers, but require more intensive …
Alabama NRCS Soil Quality Sign-Up Deadline is Monday
Alabama landowners are being reminded that Monday, August 28th is the deadline to apply for funding to help you improve soil quality through a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist for Alabama, Ben Malone, says this is the result of a partnership between NRCS and the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee, …
Cotton Incorporated Allocates Additional Funds for Cottonseed Marketing Campaign
An Additional $100,000 Devoted to Increasing Demand for Cottonseed in the Dairy Feeding Industry During its annual meeting in Durham, North Carolina, The Cotton Board reviewed and voted to approve a $100,000 increase to Cotton Incorporated’s 2017 Cottonseed Marketing budget line. The original cottonseed research and marketing budget of $600,000 is increased to $700,000 to fund additional cottonseed marketing efforts …
Florida NRCS Offers Conservation Client Gateway
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida wants to remind farmers, ranchers, and private landowners that many of the business issues they may need to take care of with NRCS can be done right there from their home or farm office. This can all be done through their secure online portal called Conservation Client Gateway.