Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that their agriculture specialists seized prohibited meat products at the U.S.-Mexico border. Customs agents seized 243 pounds of prohibited pork bologna in two separate and unrelated incidents. Officials seized 55 pounds of pork products on January 13 and another 188 pounds of bologna on January 21. “Pork products have the potential to …
Feral Swine Control Program Progressing Well in Alabama
We told you last April that funding through the 2018 Farm Bill allowed the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee (ASWCC) to launch a program to help property owners in certain areas of Alabama control feral swine. The Alabama Feral Swine Control Program, funded by a grant through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), allowed the ASWCC to launch a three-year program to help farmers …
Growers Discuss Priorities for 2023 Farm Bill
The 2018 Farm Bill is set to expire in 2023, so preparations are underway to craft the behemoth legislation into law sometime next year. However, it is common for negotiations to extend into the following year. Whether the new farm bill is passed in 2023 or 2024, there’s a lot of work ahead. The farm bill was the focus of …
Secretary of Transportation on HOS Regulations for Livestock Haulers
Back in late November of last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced they had extended the waiver for commercial truckers from the Federal Hours of Service (HOS) regulation until Feb. 28, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 the FMCSA included livestock haulers in an initial emergency declaration that provided an exemption from the HOS regulation for …
African Swine Fever One Reason for Stopping Food Smuggling
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported last week that Federal agents had seized and destroyed more than 1,900 pounds of prohibited pork, poultry and ruminant products from New York City-area retailers in the past three months. Smuggling of prohibited foreign food products into the U.S. does pose a threat to U.S. agriculture, but USDA and other agencies are …
Pork Exports May Top 2020’s Record Amount
Numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce say exports of U.S. pork are on pace to top 2020’s record total of $7.7 billion. From January through November, the U.S. pork industry shipped more than $7.5 billion worth of products to foreign destinations, compared to just over $7 billion from the same period in 2020. The top five markets for American …
India Agrees to Allow Imports of U.S. Pork
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Monday that the government of India has agreed to allow imports of U.S. pork and pork products into India, removing a longstanding barrier to U.S. agricultural trade. This news follows the successful revitalization of the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum held in New Delhi in November 2021. The National …
November Beef Exports Set New Value Record
According to data released late last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that was compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), beef export value reached another new high in November. It actually topped the $1 billion mark for the second time in 2021. November pork exports, while a bit lower than a year ago, saw year-to-date export values …
China’s Pork Production Increases Mean More Grain Imports
A recent Bloomberg report says China, which consumes half the world’s pork, has a goal to be mostly self-sufficient in pork production. That means it will need more grain imports to feed the world’s biggest pig herd. China’s agriculture ministry says the country will maintain a target to produce 95 percent of their protein at home by 2025. It wants …
Hog Inventory in the U.S. Drops Four Percent
According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the U.S. hog inventory dropped four percent. As of December 1st, 74.2 million hogs and pigs were found on U.S. farms, which is down 4% from December 2020 and down 1% from the September Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. Of the 74.2 million hogs and pigs, 68.0 million were market hogs, while 6.18 million …