United Nations officials on Monday lamented Russia’s decision to effectively terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative by pulling out of the deal, but also said they will continue to fight to revive the UN-brokered agreement.
“The challenges are complex, they are interconnected, but they are not insurmountable. It is not too late,” a spokesman for UN General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi said Monday.
A primary complaint from Moscow, UN officials said, concerned Western sanctions on the Russian Agricultural Bank and its exclusion from the SWIFT international banking network. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he offered Moscow a proposal to work around the bank exclusion, but it was not accepted.
Heritage’s new ag policy analyst makes case for reform
The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank that has led past efforts to reform farm and nutrition programs, has a new senior policy analyst in charge of farm bill issues. The group’s message is largely the same, however.
“I say it’s time to say, ‘Mission accomplished,’” and stop spending federal tax dollars on agribusinesses, says David Ditch, who took over for Daren Bakst.
Ditch says farm-owning households are well above the national average in terms of assets, and the federal government should stop subsidizing farmers directly through the farm bill or indirectly through biofuel mandates.
What’s on Heritage’s target list? Ditch says he’s an “all-the-above person” and supports reducing subsidies for crop insurance, removing price-based financial support, ending bulk commodity purchases and reforming the many ways he says the federal government tries to “micromanage the agricultural sector.”
He says there is also “a lot more work to do” on SNAP work requirements.
Brazil’s corn harvest comes in fast despite rains
Brazil’s harvest of its second-crop corn – the “safrinha” that’s planted on harvested soybean acres – is 36% complete, as of Thursday, according to the consulting firm AgRural. That’s up from 27% the previous week.
Rains in the states of Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul didn’t slow down the harvest, and both states avoided frosts that were feared, says AgRural.
The firm raised its forecast in June for the safrinha to 102.9 million metric tons, up from 97.9 million. The safrinha is the largest of Brazil’s three corn harvests and AgRural is predicting the country’s total production will reach 132.3 million tons this year.
New monitoring requirements proposed for Idaho CAFOs
EPA is proposing new groundwater monitoring requirements for concentrated animal feeding operations in Idaho.
The revised National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit conditions include monitoring of “subsurface discharges of pollutants from production areas and dry weather surface and subsurface discharges from land application areas at these CAFOs to waters of the United States.”
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the permit in 2021, saying the lack of monitoring provisions did not justify its “zero discharge” claim.
Groups urge lawmaker support on rule requiring data collection on farm lending
More than 60 groups representing underserved farmers and communities pressed leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on Monday to protect a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule requiring financial institutions to collect data on credit applications from small businesses, including those operated by women or minorities.
Congressional Review Act resolutions have been introduced to overturn the rule.
The groups said the data could help provide more understanding of “the dramatic decline of Black representation in farming and farmland ownership” along with other demographic trends.
The groups, including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the National Young Farmers Coalition, the Rural Coalition and the National Family Farm Coalition, said in a letter that Rule 1071 will provide “more robust data” to help agricultural lenders “identify unmet credit needs and expand to new markets, especially in underserved communities.”
In addition to the CRA resolutions, earlier this year a group of House Members proposed a bill that would exempt Farm Credit System institutions from the rule. Farm Credit Council President and CEO Todd Van Hoose said the legislation would “reduce unnecessary regulatory burden on Farm Credit institutions and their customers. And it will protect the ability of farmers to decide whether to disclose their personal demographic information.”
Farmworker groups hosting congressional briefing
Groups representing agricultural and food workers are hosting a congressional briefing today on topics including worker safety, extreme heat and weather conditions, and food security for the industry’s workers.
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Organizations participating in the briefing will include the Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor (HEAL) Food Alliance, the Farmworker Association of Florida, the New York-based farmworker group Alianza Agrícola, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
AMS proposes milk marketing order changes in the Southeast
Milk production in the southeastern region of the U.S. continues to decline as population increases, and new milk marketing amendments proposed by USDA will help the Appalachian and Southeast Federal regions as they seek supplemental supplies of milk from outside their normal milksheds
In a proposed rule, the Agricultural Marketing Service asked for comment on plans to amend the transportation credit balancing fund provisions for the Appalachian and Southeast federal milk marketing orders, and establish distributing plant delivery credits in the Appalachian, Florida and Southeast Federal milk marketing orders.
The 60-day comment period will end in mid-September.
He said it: “Here we are to celebrate a remarkable woman. I will tell you, I’m a bit jealous, deputy. When I was sworn in, I barely got my family there.” – Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to new USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small Monday at her swearing-in ceremony at USDA’s Washington headquarters. Vilsack’s February 2021 ceremony was conducted virtually by Vice President Kamala Harris as the country was working its way through the COVID-19 pandemic.
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