Agriculture

Opponents of a House bill that would limit authority to inspect animal farming operations say local control is necessary, while supporters say it would protect farmers from animal rights activists and other entities want to put them out of business. The bill allows the state departments of agriculture and natural resources, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “and any other federal or Missouri state agency with statutory or regulatory authority” to inspect operations with livestock, poultry, dairy, egg production or dog breeding. [node:read-more:link]

If Rob Cohen knew that aid was on its way from Washington, circumstances would be different on his devastated pecan farms, which once spanned five counties and 1,400 acres. He and his brother would not have purchased an excavator and a bulldozer, expensive equipment they most likely will not need again to harvest pecans. [node:read-more:link]

A deadly disease sweeping China’s hog barns is reinvigorating the fortunes of U.S. meat companies. Outbreaks of African swine fever have led to the culling of millions of hogs in the world’s top pork market. That is shrinking global meat supplies—and boosting prices. The shift is a welcome one for U.S. meatpackers and farmers, whose hogs remain free of the disease, after a tough patch of low prices driven by record U.S. meat production and China’s tariffs on U.S. meat.
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After the devastating floods that hit in March, the US Department of Agriculture will not collect information on harvested grain that was lost. [node:read-more:link]

Purchases of farm equipment plunged by an annualized $900 million in the first quarter, the sharpest drop in three years, as U.S. producers struggle with falling commodity prices and collateral damage from President Donald Trump’s trade wars. The Commerce Department cited the drop in agricultural machinery purchases as a contributor to the paltry 0.2 percent quarterly rise in overall business spending on equipment, also the weakest performance since 2016. [node:read-more:link]

Airplanes don’t fart. But cows? Exasperated by merciless mocking from Republicans on this matter, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan lectured the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, on the floor of the chamber last month.“The Republican majority leader said that we want to end air travel and cow farts,” Stabenow said. “By the way, just for the record, cows don’t fart. They belch.”The Associated Press surveyed global experts on global warming on this question, as well as an author who wrote the definitive science book on gassy animals, which comes with funny pictures. [node:read-more:link]

An expanding list of Canadian farm exports is hitting obstacles at Chinese ports, leaving sellers of soybeans, peas and pork scrambling amid a bitter diplomatic dispute. China has already blocked Canadian canola from Richardson International and Viterra, two of Canada's biggest farm exporters, saying that shipments had pests. [node:read-more:link]

Wisconsin is known as “America’s Dairyland,” but the milk makers who gave the state its moniker are vanishing, falling prey to a variety of impediments, including President Trump and his global trade war.Over the past two years, nearly 1,200 of the state’s dairy farms have stopped milking cows and so far this year, another 212 have disappeared, with many shifting production to beef or vegetables. The total number of herds in Wisconsin is now below 8,000 — about half as many as 15 years ago. [node:read-more:link]

Corn plantings are off to another slow start but that did not seem to provide much support to corn futures on Monday as all contracts lost ground. The nearby May corn futures closed at 3.695 $/bu, 6.6 cents lower than the close on Friday. December '09 and 10 March futures contracts fell 8.9 and 9 cents, respectively.  [node:read-more:link]

As the Midwest continues to recover from the historic flooding, more information is being revealed on the aftermath. The Midwest flooding crisis has already damaged grain and potentially many grain bin structures and is expected to present problems into July, impacting the current planting season. A geospatial intersection of Farm Market iD’s land data with a flood map from March 16 to 24, 2019, showed that Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas are experiencing significant impacts from the flooding. [node:read-more:link]