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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Jan. 5 an additional $9.6 million investment to diversify the U.S. meat supply chain, continuing the administration's efforts to expand market capacity and market opportunities, particularly in the meat and poultry sectors. Secretary Vilsack also highlighted some of USDA's accomplishments to date to support meat producers, promote competition and strengthen local and regional food supply chains. [Extracted from the article]

"The last time that December feedlot inventories were lower than November occurred in 2016", he explained. USDA released the latest "Cattle on Feed" report on Friday, revealing an inventory 3% below the same period last year. According to Peel, drought pushed more cattle into feedlots earlier this year and kept feedlot totals higher for longer. [Extracted from the article]

President Biden has signed a National Security Memorandum to strengthen the security and resilience of the U.S. food and agriculture sector. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) hailed the signing, saying it shows the Biden administration "clearly understands that food security and U.S. food production is national security.". [Extracted from the article]

The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and 192 other members of the Agricultural Transportation Working Group are urging Congress to prepare to prevent a rail strike or lockout, which would "lead to shutdowns of rail-dependent facilities resulting in devastating consequences to our national and global food security." The Biden administration successfully brokered an agreement between the National Railway Labor Conference, which represents railroads, and 12 rail labor unions on Sept. 15. [Extracted from the article]

"Producer Owned Beef's selection of Amarillo for its new beef processing plant further reinforces the Panhandle as a leader in U.S. beef and beef production and will create over 1,500 new jobs and millions in investment for the region. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced today that business cooperative Producer Owned Beef LLC (POB) will create a new beef processing plant in Amarillo. The plant, which will be the only such facility in the nation to be owned by cattle producers and operated by beef processing industry veterans, will harvest 3,000 cattle per day and sell beef and beef byproducts both in and out of Texas. [Extracted from the article]

A Bayer spokesperson told Feedstuffs it believes Corteva practiced Bayer technology in the development of E3 soybeans. According to Corteva, the AAD-1 gene used in Enlist Corn encodes a unique herbicide resistance enzyme and is part of the Enlist Weed Control System - a critical tool for farmers, enabling them to use multiple types of herbicides to control yield-robbing weeds. Corteva Agriscience has filed a lawsuit against Monsanto and its parent company Bayer CropScience LP for alleged infringement of Corteva's patented AAD-1 herbicide resistance technology. [Extracted from the article]

Per Texas statute, theft of livestock is a third-degree felony, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. A Texas County judge and a former county deputy have been arrested for their role in a cattle theft operation, along with two other individuals. [Extracted from the article]

APHIS will continue to announce the first case of HPAI in commercial and backyard flocks detected in a state but said it will not announce subsequent detections in the State. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in birds in two states - a flock of commercial broiler chickens in Fulton County, Kentucky, near the Tennessee border, and a backyard flock of mixed species birds in Fauquier County, Virginia. APHIS is working closely with state animal health officials in Kentucky and Virginia on joint incident responses. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) announced Sept. 30 that one of its African Swine Fever Virus (ASF) vaccine candidates has been shown to prevent and effectively protect both European and Asian bred swine against the current circulating Asian strain of the virus. A major step for science and agriculture, a commercial vaccine for ASF virus will be an important part of controlling ASF in outbreak areas. [Extracted from the article]

NCBA is encouraging USDA to examine Brazil and to continue implementing science-based safeguards "that ensure all imported beef meets the same rigorous science-based food safety and animal health standards as American beef". Over the weekend, the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply confirmed that two atypical cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)had been discovered at two separate meat plants. [Extracted from the article]

B U.S. safeguards in place b USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Associate Administrator Jack Shere said safeguards are already in place and will be enhanced to prevent ASF from entering the United States. As African swine fever (ASF) reaches the Americas Region for the first time in almost 40 years, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) is calling on countries to strengthen their surveillance efforts. [Extracted from the article]

"The meat industry should have focused on eliminating its cruel caging of animals rather than filing hopeless lawsuits trying to overturn extraordinarily popular, voter-passed animal cruelty laws." The Supreme Court of the United States announced Monday it had denied a petition filed by the North American Meat Institute to review California's Proposition 12, an initiative enacted in November 2018 after California voters approved it. A separate lawsuit filed by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation that requests Prop 12 be rejected as unconstitutional under the dormant commerce clause is still pending. [Extracted from the article]

U.S. red meat exports ended the first quarter on a very high note, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), with March beef and pork exports each posting the highest monthly value on record. USMEF noted that March export value to the region was $202.5 million, down 14% from a year ago but the highest in 10 months as exports of bone-in ham and shoulder cuts to China set a new monthly record. [Extracted from the article]

However, exports were consistent with USMEF's February projections and the federation still expects 2021 beef exports to increase substantially year-over-year, while pork exports are projected to narrowly surpass the 2020 record. February exports of U.S. beef and pork remained below the rapid pace established in early 2020, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). [Extracted from the article]

To combat rising pork prices and to stabilize supplies, the Philippine government announced April 7 that it will provide more market access for pork imports by lower tariff rates. NPPC has been pressing both the U.S. and Philippines governments to lower pork import tariffs since ASF outbreaks began in the Philippines. [Extracted from the article]

Then, according to the protocol, trade would resume in three, progressive phases with increasingly reduced restrictions on live swine, swine germplasm, and untreated swine commodities. As African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread and reemerge in countries overseas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced March 16 that they have developed a protocol to help ensure bilateral trade will continue if ASF is detected in feral swine in either country, while still absent from domestic swine. [Extracted from the article]

Large U.S. poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride (Pilgrim's) became the first company to plead guilty for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products, the Department of Justice announced today. Upon announcement of the plea agreement on October 13, 2020, Pilgrim's CEO, Fabio Sandri stated: "Pilgrim's is committed to fair and honest competition in compliance with U.S. antitrust laws. [Extracted from the article]

Nearly 500 dairy farmers who once sold milk to Dean Foods recently received letters threatening legal action unless they refund money legitimately earned prior to the bankruptcy filing. American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) announced Dec. 4 that it is standing up for the dairy farmers being targeted by "predatory lawyers" representing the estate of Dean Foods, which is still currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. [Extracted from the article]

Drought continues to tighten its grip, with nearly half of the contiguous U.S. currently experiencing some form of drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor. Approximately 36% of U.S. hay acreage was experiencing drought on Nov.17, up from 33% on Oct. 13, and approximately 49% of the nation's alfalfa hay acreage was experiencing drought, an improvement from 51% on Oct. 13. [Extracted from the article]

"Cattle on Feed" shows slight rise in inventory The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the latest "Cattle on Feed" report this week, showing that the inventory for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 head or more totaled 12.0 million head on Nov. 1, 2020, a 1% rise from Nov. 1, 2019. "While an 11% decline in placements is bullish for future supplies of fed cattle, this was widely expected by the industry", he noted. [Extracted from the article]

Expanding opportunities for U.S. dairy exports has become extremely important, as growing sales overseas play an indispensable role in supporting the U.S. dairy sector and rural economy, according to the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC). Even with the U.S.'s Phase One trade agreement with China, the groups said targeted tariff relief and a focused pursuit of greater dairy sourcing from the U.S. is necessary moving forward. [Extracted from the article]

JBS financial results for the third quarter of 2020 once again validate the company's strategy, JBS global chief executive officer Gilberto Tomazoni said upon revealing that net income during the quarter was 3.133 billion reals ($581.2 million), a 778% increase from 357 million reals in the third quarter of 2019. Despite a challenging scenario due to impacts from the global COVID-19 pandemic, Tomazoni said the company was able to generate revenues of 70.1 billion reals as well as reduce its leverage to 1.60x, the lowest in JBS history. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported this week that pasture and rangeland conditions continue to deteriorate. "We are seeing our lowest rangeland and pasture conditions nationally since the drought year of 2012", USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey relayed. "Ocean temperatures have cooled considerably in that area and longer-range models have been increasingly suggesting an earlier transition to La Niña conditions, possibly by the fall", the company noted. [Extracted from the article]

Highlights from the article: Tyson Foods said Monday that it will eventually rebuild its Holcomb, Kan., beef plant after it was partly destroyed by a fire Friday, causing the plant to be closed indefinitely. Tyson operates six plants in Kansas that employ more than 5,600 people.