Individual Weekly Newsletter

The House Agriculture Committee is preparing to debate a Republican farm bill as early as next week, but the legislation’s future on the House floor remains up in the air as Democrats show no signs of backing off their opposition. 

In a sign of how divided the committee is as the markup nears, the top Democrat, Collin Peterson, says he is getting cost estimates for increasing commodity reference prices in the Price Loss Coverage program, a change that would increase payments to farmers. 

Speaking Tuesday at a meeting of the North American Agricultural Journalists, Peterson stopped short of saying for sure that he would offer the PLC amendment, which could deepen the partisan split over the legislation when the expiration of the 2014 farm bill is less than six months away. 

“We haven’t decided what to do,” he said, speaking for fellow Democrats on the committee. “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.”

The committee’s chairman, Mike Conaway, already is concerned about whether committee Democrats, angry about the bill’s reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, may vote for amendments on the House floor that target crop insurance and commodity programs. Conaway has said he hopes that Democrats will oppose those amendments, even if they plan to vote against the bill on final passage. 

But Peterson said he’s worried that committee Democrats are so angry about the bill’s nutrition title that they will refuse to protect the sugar program and crop insurance. Once lawmakers vote for an amendment, it’s difficult to get them to switch sides and vote against the amendment at a later time, he noted. 

“I just think it’s dangerous business to go down that road,” he said. Democrats “are so ticked off about this that I don’t know what they’re going to do. They’re representing their people, and they’re not happy.” 

In a letter to House Democrats on Monday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi included the farm bill in a list of bills that they should oppose. "Ranking Member Collin Peterson and 100 percent of the House Agriculture Committee Democrats oppose the unfair SNAP provisions in the GOP proposal and have said they won't support a bill that includes these cruel provisions."

Conaway is expected to release his draft bill later this week. In a statement Monday, Conaway tied the fate of the farm bill to farmers' concerns about the trade dispute with China. "Given the extraordinary circumstances, I ... hope that members of Congress will put aside any partisan rancor and join forces to deliver a strong, new farm bill on time," he said. 

The partisan impasse makes it less likely that a new farm bill can get passed this year, but dairy producers and cotton growers can take heart that they got new program benefits included in a budget agreement enacted in February. The budget deal made seed cotton eligible for the Price Loss Coverage program and slashed premiums for dairy’s Margin Protection Program. 

New cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday illustrate how much the provisions will help producers. CBO projects that the improved MPP will cost taxpayers $1.8 billion over the next 10 years after taking into account $1.1 billion in premiums that will be paid by producers. The program is projected to provide producers with $312 million in payments in fiscal 2018 and $277 million in 2019. 

Last year, CBO estimated that MPP would provide just $114 million in payments in 2018 and $143 million in 2019, with a 10-year cost of less than $800 million.

CBO expects the first PLC payments for seed cotton to go out in fiscal 2020 and total $330 million. From 2020 through 2028 the payments are expected to total nearly $3.1 billion. 

CBO also confirmed its analysts' previous projections that grain and oilseed producers will move sharply from the Agriculture Risk Coverage program to PLC under a new farm bill. CBO projects PLC payments will hit $5.7 billion in fiscal 2021, compared to just $448 million for ARC under the county coverage option. PLC payments are expected to total $2.7 billion for 2019, compared to $2.6 billion for ARC-CO. 

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Chairman Pat Roberts and ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow, continue to insist that they will move a bipartisan farm bill, but they have not given a timetable for acting on the legislation. Roberts has said he wants to get at least 70 votes on the Senate floor. 

Stabenow said that “hopefully by May” the committee will act on a bill. “We certainly want to do it as soon as we can,” she said. 

Roberts said that six or seven Democrats who are up for election this year have expressed interest in seeing a farm bill considered this year, and there also is interest on the Republican side. 

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.

If you followed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, you know that he talked tough on trade – especially when it came to countries he believed were giving the U.S. a raw deal. He pledged to either kill or renegotiate existing trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement.

He saved some of his harshest words for China. At one point during the campaign, candidate Trump declared that “we already have a trade war” with China and vowed to slap tariffs on Chinese products and label the Asian giant as a currency manipulator.

So the escalation in what appeared to be a brewing trade war over the last couple of weeks – with President Trump threatening to slap $150 billion in tariffs on China, and Chinese leaders proposing another $50 billion on products like soybeans, pork and nuts - understandably had farmers and financial markets on edge.

But on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to be stepping back from the brink and addressing some of Trump’s demands – albeit in a way that Chinese media portrayed as previously planned “next steps” in the country’s ongoing economic reforms.

In his keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia, Xi did not mention the U.S. or Trump. However, he pledged to open China’s doors “wider and wider” to the world. Xi said that China was not seeking to run a trade surplus, and he announced plans for the easing of foreign ownership limits in the financial and automotive industries. He said China would “significantly lower” tariffs on imported cars this year. Currently, China charges total duties of 25 percent on most imported cars.

Xi also said China will step up enforcement of intellectual property rights protection and significantly raise the cost for offenders.

"We encourage normal technological exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and protect the lawful IPR owned by foreign enterprises in China," he said.

A few hours after Xi’s speech, Trump praised the comments in a tweet:

While Xi’s comments seemed to temporarily calm a lot of nerves, analysts pointed out that this is not the first time that China has made promises to open up its economy – and not delivered. So, there was plenty of speculation that this was just another tactic to further delay actual changes.

For example, the Chinese government promised last November to "gradually and properly" reduce tariffs on imported vehicles.

"President Xi's remarks do not represent a dramatic departure from existing Chinese policy, but rather a reiteration of the same themes Xi has promoted throughout his tenure atop China's policy making system," said Chaoping Zhu, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, in an interview with CNN Money.

For more news go to:www.Agri-Pulse.com

U.S. almond farmers were just starting to put behind them a port strike three years ago that decimated exports, and now they are bracing for the impacts of a new 15 percent Chinese tariff - just one aspect of the burgeoning U.S.-China trade war.

Most of the 2017-18 almond crop has already been sold and shipped, and farmers are still a few months away from the start of the harvest for the 2018-19 marketing year, so the Chinese tariff hasn’t had a chance to impact the sector.

That could change very soon, said Paul Wenger, a California almond grower and former president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. Farmers in California, which produces 80 percent of all the almonds grown in the world, are just starting to assess the size of this year’s crop before contracts are made.

“I wouldn’t think you’re going to see too much impact on the markets for another 30 or 60 days,” Wenger told Agri-Pulse. “It’s too early to see what the fallout is going to be.”

Even a small impact would hurt California almond farmers, said Julie Adams, vice president for global technical and regulatory affairs at Almond Board of California. China – the third largest foreign market for almonds behind Spain and India – imported about 150 million pounds of almonds worth roughly $500 million in the 2016-17 marketing year that runs from August through July.

The Chinese market has been expanding for U.S. producers, making it more valuable to U.S. farmers, Adams said.

“The Chinese domestic consumption of nuts is expected to increase in tandem with income growth and increased awareness of health foods,” USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service says in an analysis. “An industry survey indicates that the proportion of China’s middle class … has increased from 7 percent of the population in 2010 to 17 percent in 2015. The survey also suggests that the salty snacks market in China is expected to continue to $75 billion by 2020, of which nuts and seeds comprise more than 80 percent of the total salty snack consumption."

But it’s unclear if the Chinese will continue to increase consumption if prices jump as a result of the 15 percent tariff, which comes on top of an existing 10 percent Chinese tariff. A lot of the nuts China imports go into baked goods and other food products, but the snacking industry is the biggest area of growth, said Adams. Chinese importers and roasters – vanilla and chili-flavored almonds are some Chinese favorites – are loath to increase prices to consumers, so it will likely be U.S. farmers who take the biggest loss in the form of lower prices.

“I would expect for Chinese buyers and ultimately consumers, this will have an impact on their purchasing decisions,” Adams said.

But the biggest loser will be the U.S. farmer, Wenger said, stressing that it won’t just be Chinese buyers that demand lower prices. Customers from around the world will soon start to try to use the new tariffs as leverage to push down prices, predicting a supply glut after shipments to China decrease.

“Everybody we sell to in the Pacific Rim and the Middle East and in Europe will use this to their benefit, saying, ‘Hey, there’s going to be less product going into China, so we’re going to pay a little bit less,' and that means growers suffer the consequences,” Wenger said.

The almond tariffs are just one part of the ongoing trade spat between the U.S. and China. On April 2, China announced $3 billion worth of tariffs on 128 U.S. commodities, including a new 25 percent tax on U.S. pork and a 15 percent tariff on a long list of other commodities that included almonds, oranges, lemons, plums, pistachios, walnuts and more. All of those tariffs were a direct retaliation by China because of the Trump administration’s 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum.

Subsequently, the Trump administration announced plans to hit China with $50 billion in separate tariffs to punish the country for intellectual property theft. China responded with a new threat of its own to hit the U.S. with tariffs on soybeans, wheat, cotton, corn and other commodities.

“My hope is that calmer minds come to the table in the next couple of months,” said Wenger.

Any disruption can have a long-term effect, according to a new analysis by Rabobank. The study, titled “If China Strikes Back,” predicts that the tariffs will give Chinese importers a strong reason to look elsewhere for the nuts, fruit and other U.S. commodities.

“In short, once a market is compromised – potentially lost – it can be challenging to get back,” according to the report. “Hence, even if retaliatory tariffs are relatively short-lived, they can result in negative consequences that have a lasting effect.”

There isn’t any country that can replace the U.S. as a primary almond supplier, but China could begin to buy more from countries like Australia (the world’s second-largest producer), and that would just add to the pain of California farmers.

U.S. farmers were already seeing the threat of competition from Australia rising thanks to the country’s free trade agreement. The base 10 percent tariff on U.S. almonds in China is just 4 percent for shipments from Australia, and that is scheduled to drop to zero in 2019.

“Our growers are some of the best … but in the end you can only control so much when you’re involved in agriculture,” Adams said. “That’s really the challenge.”

(This story corrects the marketing years for California almond farmers0

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com

Ag groups are calling into question a number of practices employed by the nation’s rail carriers and the Surface Transportation Board is taking action in an effort to hold companies accountable.

The problems have been building up for several weeks. In March, the National Grain and Feed Association sent a letter to the STB, asking the agency to shed light on what it said were “severe rail service problems and excessive charges” facing its members trying to ship grains, oilseeds, and processed grain products using Class I railroads.

Aside from issues with specific individual carriers, NGFA noted a “fundamental concern among rail customers that the underlying root cause of these service and accessorial charge-related issues is Class I railroads’ aggressive effort to reduce their operating ratios to impress Wall Street investors and shareholders.”

NGFA surveys conducted among member companies in early March turned up several issues ranging from Canadian National Railroad cars waiting four to six weeks to be pulled, “significant transit delays” on BNSF trains headed to the Pacific Northwest, and a litany of new charges such as a $1,000-per-car fine imposed by Canadian Pacific Railway “if stenciling is faded.”

Service, NGFA contends, has been degraded “to unacceptable levels, and resulted in virtually non-existent surge capacity to meet rail customers’ needs.”

Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, tells Agri-Pulse the problems have been particularly bad in the eastern United States. Rates continue to be high, but rail customers say service is not of the quality they expect.

“Some railroads, it would be more chalked up to bad weather,” Steenhoek said. “Other railroads, they’ve just really gotten caught flat-footed and they didn’t have equipment mustered in anticipation of the harvest.”

In response to the letter from NGFA – and similar correspondence from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers – the STB wrote to a number of railroads asking for clarification of some of the stated claims. STB also requested a ”written response regarding the outlook for rail operations across your network.”

“In recent weeks, the Board has become increasingly concerned about the overall state of rail service,” STB leaders said, citing data collected every week. “Although there are exceptions, most Class I railroads’ data indicate that service is deteriorating.”

Some providers were willing to acknowledge fault, such as Canadian National, which noted that the company has “apologized publicly for not meeting the service expectations of our customers, nor our own high standards for service excellence.” BNSF mentioned “seasonal challenges to service performance in 2018,” but also said the company has “seen recent improvements as winter conditions abate and we expect that momentum to continue.”

In a March 29 letter to Chris Jahn, president of The Fertilizer Institute, STB Chair Ann Begeman and Vice Chair Deb Miller said STB staff is “scheduling weekly calls with certain carriers to better understand their service challenges and their plans for improving service.”

Agriculture has been particularly sensitive to rail service challenges since 2014, when grain elevators in the upper Midwest frequently had to wait for trains that could show up more than a month past their scheduled arrival date. The combination of bad weather and the need to ship oil out of western North Dakota created a “perfect storm” of demand issues, Steenhoek said.

However, the current issues don’t look to be headed in a similar direction.

“The best time to react to a problem is not when its fully unfurled, it’s when it’s in the process of being unfurled,” Steenhoek said. “I think we saw that in 2014, and you don’t want to have that repeated, so I think you’re seeing a lot more willingness to get engaged when we start seeing these problems manifest and materialize.”

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com

Florida citrus growers should not expect to receive a silver bullet in their fight against citrus greening, a new National Academy of Sciences report has concluded.

“A single breakthrough discovery for managing (Huanglongbing) in the future is unlikely, since intensive research efforts over almost 20 years have not led to this result,” said the report, which reviewed efforts to date by the state- and industry-funded Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) in Florida. Huanglongbing (HLB) is the disease spread by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), a tiny pest that has caused massive damage to the citrus industry in Florida since it was detected in the state in 1998.

CRDF President N. Larry Black Jr., when contacted by Agri-Pulse, said he had not had time to review the full report. “It’s going to take a few days to get our arms around it,” he said, while thanking NAS for its work.

The report was released the same day that USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service predicted a smaller harvest of oranges for the 2017-2018 season. For all oranges in Florida, NASS predicted a harvest of 45 million boxes, unchanged from last month but down 35 percent from last year's number. Early, midseason, and Navel varieties in Florida are forecast at 19 million boxes, down 42 percent from last season. The Florida Valencia orange forecast remained at 26 million boxes, down 27 percent from last season's revised final harvest figure.

Before it began wreaking havoc in Florida's citrus groves, the psyllid was not considered a major threat, but now, “essentially all citrus groves are infected,” and most psyllids carry Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), the bacterium transmitted to the trees by the bug, the report said.

“The infection results in blotchy mottling of leaves, stunting of shoots, gradual death of branches, and small, deformed fruits with bitter juice,” the report says. “Although infected trees do not die right away, they can remain in a steady state of decline for several years.” 

Citrus production volume in the state has declined by 58 percent since 2005, the report said, adding that between 2007 and 2014, the disease has lightened growers’ bank accounts by $2.9 billion, or $374 million per year.

CRDF has invested $124 million in 398 projects between 2010 and 2017, about 90 percent of which address HLB. But HLB is “among the most complex of plant diseases, so it is among the most difficult to effectively manage,” the report said. “Intensive research and development efforts funded by CRDF and other agencies have yet to result in a robust set of strategies for managing HLB in Florida citrus groves and nurseries.”

Almost all that has been learned in the past decade of research about the insect’s relationship to its citrus hosts “has served to underscore the biological recalcitrance of the system to management,” NAS said.

The biggest impediments to finding a solution are “the inability to culture the bacteria in the laboratory, the lack of advanced diagnostics for early disease detection, and the absence of standardized research methodology that would improve the comparability of results across studies,” NAS said. “Resolution of any one of these issues would constitute a significant step.”

In Florida, the spread of the disease has “outstripped the pace of research aimed at managing psyllids,” the report said. “Reducing psyllid numbers by any available means is best considered a stopgap, delaying the spread and reducing multiple infections until the disease can be cured or until disease-resistant citrus trees become commercially viable.”

In a 2010 report, NAS recommended developing transgenic HLB-resistant and ACP-resistant citrus. While that remains a goal, and research has identified genetic traits for ACP resistance in citrus and related genera, “neither traditional plant breeding nor cutting-edge techniques for citrus germplasm improvement has advanced to the point of practicality,” the report said.

The NAS report recommended that CRDF consider “specific funding for the development of sets of management approaches that can be combined in different ways, optimized and validated for use in different locations and conditions.”

Among the report’s other recommendations:

• Establish citrus orchard test plots for evaluation of new scouting and therapeutic methods;
• Conduct new research to improve the ability to extract DNA of the psyllid from trap samples;
• Explore affordable ways to protect trees physically against insect access, “including ACP repellence formulations or mulches and screening structures.”

CRDF also should consider funding research “to assess consumer attitudes toward GM technologies for producing HLB-resistant citrus cultivars and their willingness to consume genetically modified citrus, as well as how targeted advertising campaigns could be effective outreach strategies.”

Online surveys cited in the report found that most consumers “were willing to purchase GM foods if they were priced at a significant discount.”

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association wants the Food and Drug Administration to act without delay on “improperly labeled imitation products,” noting a difference in approach from the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association’s desire to have the Department of Agriculture address the issue, in part, through enhanced labeling requirements.

On Tuesday, NCBA President Kevin Kester sent a letter to leadership at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, asking the agency to push for FDA action on imitation products being referred to as beef or meat. The letter also requests USDA leadership in oversight of lab-grown and cell-cultured products.

The letter follows USCA’s petition to FSIS in February, which Kester said NCBA does not support “because we do not believe it will adequately provide meaningful protection for beef nomenclature.”

USCA’s petition requested FSIS “limit the definition of beef to product from cattle born, raised, and harvested in the traditional manner” rather than “coming from alternative sources such as a synthetic product from plant, insects, or other non-animal components and any product grown in labs from animal cells.”

NCBA, on the other hand, doesn’t see the benefit of an enhanced definition.

“Rather than expending time and resources to develop a standard of identity which we know FDA will blatantly ignore,” Kester said, “NCBA believes it would be a more prudent use of time and resources for USDA to engage with FDA to facilitate immediate, appropriate enforcement actions against imitation meat product labels in clear violation of the law.”

NCBA is also calling on FSIS to “assert jurisdiction over lab-grown meat products.” Kester’s letter notes concern that the policy USCA proposes “could result in meat food product entering interstate commerce without the benefit of FSIS oversight.” Abiding by USCA’s suggested interpretation of meat as “limited to the tissue or flesh of animals” harvested traditionally could lead to lab-grown or cell-cultured meat products being exempted from FSIS oversight, NCBA contends.

“NCBA believes that the petitioners have conflated issues related to marketing lab-grown meat derived from cell or tissue culture with other synthetic products derived from plants, insects or other non-animal sources being marketed as meat,” Kester added.

The beef sector has been discussing the right approach to nomenclature issues with alternative protein for some time. Earlier this year, NCBA leaders and lobbyists sought to get out ahead of the issue at their annual convention. Part of that effort stems from lessons learned as the dairy sector wages a plant-based alternative fight of its own, says NCBA’s Danielle Beck.

“If you look at what’s happened with dairy products at FDA, that is a perfect example of why we don’t want these lab-grown meat products to be under FDA jurisdiction,” Beck said on the group’s Beltway Beef podcast. “If (meat alternatives) are allowed to be regulated under FDA, they’ll be allowed to call themselves clean meat, and we’ll have lost the battle.”

Beck added that the products should be labeled “in a way that is legally and scientifically defensible” and does not disparage traditional beef.

NCBA isn’t alone in commenting on the petition on this week: The National Farmers Union on Monday sent a letter to FSIS supporting the USCA petition. In March, the American Farm Bureau Federation submitted a letter that didn’t discuss FDA’s role in the matter, but did note the organization’s opposition to “the use of commonly known and industry recognized ‘meat’ terms in the labeling and advertising of all lab-grown and plant-based alternatives.”

In a statement, Jess Peterson, senior policy advisor for USCA, said the beef sector and agriculture more broadly will need “teamwork and coordination to advance this issue via the proper channels.

“There will be both an FDA and USDA-FSIS component to this issue,” he said. “The U.S. livestock industry will then need to work with Congress to finalize the needed definitions of these various products, which will most likely take place through the Farm Bill.”

Peterson added that USCA “looks forward to working with all livestock and agriculture groups in carrying out this effort.” The deadline to submit comments on the group’s petition expires April 17.

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.

The Southwestern United States is bracing for the daunting reality of more drought this year.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s recently released U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook, persisting and additional drought is forecast through June in California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. The impact is forecast to be especially strong in Arizona and New Mexico, both of which are already almost entirely in the grip of drought.

In California, the biggest agricultural state in the U.S., there appears to be little respite from the dry conditions that have afflicted the state for years. As of April 3, abnormal dryness or drought was affecting nearly 30 million people in the Golden State, or about 80 percent of the state’s population, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Similar conditions are prevalent in much of the Southwest.

“Drought conditions in Arizona are pretty rough as we enter into our normally dry spring,” said Michael Crimmins of the University of Arizona’s Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science. “These are the worst conditions for this region since spring of 2014.”

He said that all of Arizona is impacted by some level of drought and about the half of the state is already at the level of Extreme Drought (D3) on the latest drought monitor.

“Snowpack levels in Arizona are less than 25 percent of average for this time of year, pretty much zero in many locations, and we are bracing for a busy fire season,” Crimmins said. “Rangelands are poor across much of the state, especially central and western Arizona, which is impacting livestock operations.”

Crimmins also expressed concern for the future of the Colorado River watershed, which is experiencing one of its driest winters ever.

“All eyes are on the Colorado River as well with projected streamflows into Lake Powell and Lake Mead at near record low levels,” he said. “This ups the odds of a shortage declaration on the river in the next couple of years, which would impact agricultural water deliveries to central Arizona.”

The USDA has already designated most of Arizona as a primary natural disaster area as a result of losses and damages from the drought. Farmers and ranchers in Arizona, along with a handful of counties in neighboring Southwestern states, are already qualifying for natural disaster assistance.

Here is a breakdown of current drought summaries for the Southwestern states as of April 3, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS):

• Arizona: 6.39 million people, or about 100 percent of the state’s population, has been affected by abnormal dryness or drought;
• California: 29.9 million people, about 80 percent;
• Colorado: 4.25 million people, about 85 percent;
• Nevada: 2.46 million people, about 91 percent;
• New Mexico: 2.06 million people, about 100 percent;
• Utah: 2.76 million people, about 100 percent.

Paul Gutierrez, professor and extension specialist for New Mexico State University, has been involved with livestock economics in the state for about 30 years and is no stranger to drought in the “Land of Enchantment.”

“In New Mexico, we’re quite accustomed to droughts,” he said. “Without the snowpack in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, we’re not expecting any kind of runoff to recharge the reservoirs, so that’s definitely going to be a factor.”

He said that everyone is anticipating a lot less surface water, so they’ll need to use more well water for irrigation.

“It definitely makes the cost of farming go up significantly,” Gutierrez said. “The quality isn’t as good either and it impacts the yields of some of your specialty crops.”

The beginning of 2018 was promising for New Mexico in terms of rainfall and forage production, he said, so many ranchers are now trying to extend the dry grass and feed that they already have.

“It’s been such a long time since any measurable amount of precipitation in some areas of the state, so of course that exacerbates things,” he said. “In the desert, timing is everything when it comes to rain. I think just in terms of previous droughts, the prolonged period between the last significant rainfall in some areas is really an issue.”

But with drought comes scarcity, and with scarcity comes demand. The last drought was followed by record cattle prices, Gutierrez said.

“The old saying is, ‘You can’t feed your way out of a drought,’ but many producers did because the cattle market was so strong,” he said. “So everybody is really watching the cattle market to see what kinds of culling decisions they want to make.”

During the last drought, many ranchers thinned their herds due to lack of feed or increased feed costs, but they may have regretted it.

“When the cattle market was at record highs, everybody was like, ‘Whoa, I might need to get back in this game!’”

He said that the current market “isn’t terrible,” and that international demand for beef plays a large role. Time will tell if Southwestern cattlemen decide to build the herd again this year.

“I think the whole production and marketing equation has just gotten more and more complicated for many producers because we’re operating in such an uncertain marketing environment,” he added. “The traditional cattle cycles as we used to know them just don’t exist that way anymore.”

That can certainly be said for many agricultural industries adapting to abnormal weather patterns, not just the beef industry.

For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.

The Better Business Bureau does not currently list the Humane Society of the United States as an accredited charity, but the animal rights organization hopes to change that. In February, the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance replaced a notice of accreditation with one noting a review of the group was in progress. Bennett Weiner, BBBWGA’s chief operating officer, told Agri-Pulse the decision was in relation to workplace harassment allegations that eventually forced the resignation of former president and CEO Wayne Pacelle. (In January, Paul Shapiro, a top official of the organization, also left HSUS, shortly before sexual harassment allegations against him were made public.) The review, Weiner said, is not tied to concerns about the amount of money the organization gives to pet shelters, a frequent critique from ag groups upset with the HSUS’s efforts. Instead, the BBBWGA wants to be sure HSUS meets the 20 standards used in charity evaluation. In a statement, HSUS said they will “provide additional information as required concerning the steps we have taken to make our workplace a better, safer, and kinder one for all.” Regaining accreditation “is a priority for our donors and our leadership team, and we hope and expect to regain the right to display the BBBWGA seal in the near future.” Weiner said he anticipates BBBWGA will provide a final report “in the next several weeks.”

Smithfield Foods Inc. and Florida startup Anuvia Plant Nutrients are partnering to create sustainable fertilizer from renewable biological materials collected from manure treatment systems at Smithfield’s hog farms. Operations in North Carolina, where Smithfield is being sued by environmental groups for creating health problems and odor issues, will participate in this project. Smithfield will collect and begin de-watering the waste solids, which are usually kept in large lagoons, before providing the remnants to Anuvia processing plants to create the fertilizer, which is higher in nutrient concentration than the original organic materials. The project is part of Smithfield Renewables, the company’s new platform dedicated to unifying and accelerating its carbon reduction and renewable energy efforts. “Through Smithfield Renewables, we are aggressively pursuing opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint while creating value,” Kraig Westerbeek, senior director of Smithfield Renewables, said in a release. “Along with projects that transform biogas into renewable natural gas, this is another example of how we are tackling this goal on our hog farms.”

USDA’s Farm Service Agency says 2017 was another year of high activity in its farm loan programs, with farm families accessing nearly $6 billion in new credit, either directly or guaranteed through commercial lenders. FSA says that at year end, it was assisting more than 120,000 family farmers with loans totaling just over $25 billion. “FSA loan funds have been in high demand the last few years,” said Rob Johansson, USDA's chief economist and acting deputy undersecretary for the Farm Production and Conservation mission area. He noted that the loan programs help small, beginning and underserved farmers who are unable to obtain commercial credit. “Family farmers across America also come to us for credit when they face challenges to stay in business,” Johansson said. “We’re proud to support rural prosperity by providing credit to those who need it most.” FSA provides a variety of loan assistance, including direct and guaranteed farm ownership loans, operating loans and even direct Microloans up to $50,000 and EZ Guarantees up to $100,000 with streamlined application processes. Information about the various types of farm loans available can be found in Your Guide to FSA Farm Loans or by contacting your local FSA office.

The Government Accountability Office says USDA offices need to be able to share data with each other to better monitor the beef cattle market, but the Department doesn’t necessarily agree. That’s the message from a GAO report on data analysis and the monitoring of the U.S. cattle market, released on Tuesday. GAO noted that USDA’s Packers & Stockyards program (P&SP) does not currently have “routine access to daily data for transactions between feedlot operators, which produce feed cattle, and meatpackers. Those data are collected by the Agricultural Marketing Service's price reporting group, which does not routinely share them with P&SP because officials said it is prohibited by statute from doing so.” GAO noted that legislation passed in 1999 says the Secretary of Agriculture may authorize sharing these data for enforcement purposes, but not market monitoring. “Determining whether it is advisable to request additional exceptions from information disclosure restrictions from Congress would help USDA strengthen its oversight,” GAO noted, recommending USDA review whether such data can be shared and if it would be worthwhile to ask Congress to amend the statute in question, if that proved not to be the case. USDA, GAO said, “determined that the act does not allow for such sharing and it would not be advisable citing concerns about the public’s trust in the program.”

Former congressman Mike Espy, who served as Agriculture Secretary during the Clinton administration, has made it official. The Democrat announced last week that he’s running for the U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi recently vacated by Republican Thad Cochran. The state's Republican governor, Phil Bryant, appointed state Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to replace him. A non-partisan special election for the seat will be held on Nov. 4. Besides Hyde-Smith, Espy will be running against GOP state Sen. Chris McDaniel and Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton, a conservative Democrat. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will compete in a run-off election. If elected, Espy would be the first African-American to represent Mississippi in the Senate since Reconstruction.

Newly sworn-in Sen. Hyde-Smith, meanwhile, has been busy selecting her senior staff. Brad White, who served as Cochran's chief of staff, will continue in that position under Hyde-Smith. John G. Campbell was named deputy chief of staff for administration, while Daniel Ulmer is deputy chief of staff for policy. Campbell previously was Hyde-Smith's deputy ag commissioner in Mississippi, while Ulmer was Cochran's deputy legislative director. Tim Wolverton, who was Cochran's military legislative assistant and senior policy adviser, is now Hyde-Smith's legislative director, and Umesh Sanjanwala, a special assistant to Hyde-Smith since 2012, is now her state director.

So who's going to fill Cochran's position on Senate Appropriations? It's Richard Shelby of Alabama, who was confirmed Tuesday as the panel's new chairman. Shelby, currently head of the Rules Committee, is the first senator from Alabama to head the Appropriations Committee, which was formed in 1867. 

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld joined the Board of Advisors for Acreage Holdings, one of the nation's largest, multi-state actively-managed cannabis corporations. In a joint statement, the men said, “we both believe the time has come for serious consideration of a shift in federal marijuana policy,” citing conflicts between state and federal policy and “increased awareness of marijuana's many medical applications,” especially for veterans.

The White House says President Trump will appoint Deputy Ag Secretary Steve Censky as vice chairman of the Commodity Credit Corporation’s board of directors. Censky’s boss, Sonny Perdue, is the ex-officio board chairman. USDA’s top lawyer, Stephen Vaden, is also being appointed to the board, as are USDA undersecretaries Ted McKinney, Greg Ibach and Bill Northey. The CCC is managed by a seven-member board, in addition to the USDA secretary, and all members must be USDA officials. The government-owned entity was created to stabilize, support and protect farm income and prices. It also helps maintain balanced and adequate supplies of agricultural commodities and aids in their orderly distribution.

Chris Hogan has joined the Sugar Association as its vice president of communications. Most recently, Hogan was vice president of communications and public Affairs for Growth Energy, representing America’s biofuel producers and supporters as an industry thought leader. He held similar communications leadership positions with the International Bottled Water Association and the American Gas Association.

Bryan Jernigan was named director of communications for the U.S. Grains Council. He previously worked for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools and the Sugar Association. Jernigan succeeds Melissa Kessler, who was promoted to USGC’s director of strategic relations.  

Kaitlin Carpenter is the new marketing and communications manager for the American Seed Trade Association. Previously, Carpenter worked as social media and communications planner for the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau in California.

Jamison Cruce has joined the USA Rice Federation as a manager of government affairs. The University of Georgia grad is a former employee of the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Georgia Peanut Commission.

U.S. Wheat Associates has hired a new technologist to work out of its South Asian Region Office in Singapore. Kong Song (Ivan) Goh, who specializes in biscuits, baking and noodles, joined USW from FFM Berhad (Federal Flour Mills) in West Port Klang, Malaysia.

The National Bison Association (NBA) hired Karen Conley on a part-time basis to fill the newly created position of director of communications and outreach. Conley, of Box Elder, S.D., recently completed nearly two decades as the executive director for the Dakota Territory Buffalo Association and served on the NBA board of directors for five years, first as a director for her region and the last two years as the secretary/treasurer.

Bill Whitacre, CEO of the Boise, Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Co., says he’s retiring at the end of August. He’s stepping down following an 18-year career with the privately held agribusiness, the past nine as chief executive, during which time he oversaw an increase in revenues from approximately $4.5 billion to $6 billion today. The company says it expects to select its next CEO from internal candidates.  

Congratulations to Mary Holz-Clause, who was officially inaugurated last week as chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Crookston. Holz-Clause has actually been running the campus since last spring following the retirement of Fred Wood. She came to UM-Crookston from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, where she has served as dean of the Huntley College of Agriculture and as a tenured professor in the Department of Agricultural Business Management and Agriculture Science.

Allen Merrill, a dairy farmer from Parker, S.D., was reelected recently as chairman of the Midwest Dairy Association, which administers a dairy checkoff program. Charles Krause of Buffalo, Minn., was reelected as vice chair. Dairy farmers in the Midwest invest 15 cents for every 100 pounds of milk they sell, and Midwest Dairy receives 10 cents of this mandatory funding for regional programs. The remaining 5 cents goes to the National Dairy Board to fund national promotional, research and export programs.

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