The House Appropriations Committee advanced their agriculture appropriations funding bill for Fiscal Year 2022 Wednesday, which was marked up and approved by the Agriculture Subcommittee last week. The agriculture appropriations bill plays a major role in shaping our food and farm systems as it funds many major programs and functions of USDA. For FY 2022, the bill proposes a total of $26.55 billion, a more than 10% increase from FY 2021.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) does not expect to purchase and sell sugar under the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) for crop year 2020, which runs from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021.
The CCC is required by law to quarterly announce estimates of sugar to be purchased and sold under the FFP based on crop and consumption forecasts.
Federal law allows sugar processors to obtain loans from USDA with maturities of up to nine months when the sugarcane or sugar beet harvest begins. On loan maturity, the sugar processor may repay the loan in full or forfeit the collateral (sugar) to USDA to satisfy the loan.
Read MoreUSDA, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced an interagency agreement to share information about and coordinate the distribution of broadband deployment federal funds.
In accordance with the Broadband Interagency Coordination Act, the respective Cabinet and agency leaders announced that their agencies will consult with one another and share information about the distribution of new funds from the FCC’s high-cost programs that support broadband buildout in rural areas, the USDA’s Rural Utilities Services grant and loan programs and programs administered or coordinated by NTIA.
Read MoreCorn Planted Acreage Up 20 Percent from 2020 Cotton Planted Acreage Down 29 Percent
Rice Planted Acreage Down 4 Percent
Soybean Planted Acreage Up 5 Percent
Louisiana corn planted area for all purpose is estimated at 600,000 acres, up 100,000 acres from a year ago but down 10,000 acres from March planting intentions.
Upland cotton planted acres is estimated at 120,000, down 50,000 acres from a year ago, but unchanged from March planting intentions.
All hay expected to be harvested is estimated at 390,000 acres, down 10,000 acres from a year ago but unchanged from March intentions.
All rice planted area for 2021 is estimated at 460,000 acres, down 20,000 acres from a year ago but up 15,000 acres from March planting intentions. Breakout is 420,000 acres for long grain and 40,000 acres for medium grain.
Soybeans planted area is estimated at 1.10 million acres, up 50,000 acres from a year ago but unchanged from March planting intentions.
Sugarcane for sugar and seed harvested acres is estimated at 490,000 acres, up 1,600 acres from a year ago.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture has appointed Randy Moore, a regional forester in California, as the new chief of the U.S. Forest Service.
Moore, who has served in that capacity for the Pacific Southwest in California since 2007, will become the 20th agency head and the first African American in the role, when he takes over from retiring chief Vicki Christiansen.
“Randy Moore has been a catalyst for change and creativity in carrying out the Forest Service’s mission to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations,” Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Read MoreJeanie Igl did not hesitate when asked, “What are the greatest challenges in farming going forward?”
“Taxes and government regulation,” she responded promptly and firmly. The fourth-generation Mason, Mich., farmer was looking for answers when Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited their 2,600-acre corn and soybean operation June 11 — Vilsack’s first Midwest farm visit since his appointment as secretary.
Vilsack was invited to the farm by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., to hear from growers who had questions about taxes, climate change provisions and more.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) began accepting nominations for county committee members on June 15. Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for these members who make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally. All nomination forms for the 2021 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by Aug. 2, 2021.
Read MoreChina’s 2020/21 imports are forecast at a 7-year high, driven by the highest projected consumption in 3 years, robust State Reserve (SR) imports, and attractive prices for imported cotton relative to domestic supplies.
Read MoreLandowners and agricultural producers currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) now have a wider opportunity to enroll in a 30-year contract through the Clean Lakes, Estuaries, And Rivers initiative, called CLEAR30. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding CLEAR30 – a water-quality focused option available through CRP – to be nationwide now.
Interested producers with CRP contracts expiring September 30, 2021, should sign up by August 6, 2021. CLEAR30 provides an opportunity for producers to receive incentives for a 30-year commitment to water quality practices on their CRP land, building on their original 10- to 15-year CRP contracts
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set a July 23, 2021, deadline for agricultural producers and landowners to apply for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) General signup 56. Additionally, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will accept applications for CRP Grasslands from July 12 to August 20. This year, USDA updated both signup options to provide greater incentives for producers and increase its conservation benefits, including reducing the impacts of climate change.
Both signups are competitive and will provide for annual rental payments for land devoted to conservation purposes.
Read MoreOn June 9, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a $1.6 million CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to the Water Institute of the Gulf, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to develop the Lower Mississippi SmartPort and Resilience Center (i.e., SmartPort).
Read MoreAverage spot quotations were 39 points lower than the previous week, according to the USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service’s Cotton and Tobacco Program. Quotations for the base quality of cotton (color 41, leaf 4, staple 34, mike 35-36 and 43-49, strength 27.0-28.9, and uniformity 81.0-81.9) in the seven designated markets averaged 81.29 cents per pound for the week ending Thursday, June 17, 2021.
Read MoreQuestions about the meat industry dominated a Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Tuesday at which Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appeared in person to discuss the Biden administration’s budget request for fiscal year 2022.
In an opening statement, Vilsack said, “The president’s budget for 2022 for USDA programs within this subcommittee is $192 billion, of which approximately $168 billion is mandatory funding and $23.2 billion is net discretionary funding.
Read MoreA bee-less future would sting us all. The decline of bees and other pollinator populations threatens our global food security and here’s why.
Pollinators contribute to ecosystem health and a sustainable food supply. Honeybees, native bees, birds, bats, butterflies, and other animals are all required for more than 80% of the world’s flowering plants to reproduce. This includes food crops.
Read MoreAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Col., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, met with representatives from major farm and farmworker organizations in a roundtable Wednesday, June 16, to discuss the needs of agricultural labor reform as the Senate begins to formulate its on solution ag labor.
Read More
