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The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the National Farmers Union (NFU) held a joint press conference in support of disaster assistance legislation introduced by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND). AFBF [...]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the legislation to raise the stimulus payments to $2,000 has "no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate." After objecting and threatening to veto the omnibus $1.4 trillion FY '21 appropriations, which includes the $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package, President Trump signed the 5,593-page bill last Sunday. [Extracted from the article]

Negotiations between the House and Senate leaders will continue throughout the weekend on an approximately $900 billion bipartisan coronavirus aid package. Negotiations continue on the number of weeks the assistance would last. [Extracted from the article]

USMEF Chair Dean Meyer said, "For every bushel of corn we marketed in 2022, a little over $1 was attributed to red meat exports and with soybeans, pork exports contributed $1.94 per bushel. Representative Dan Newhouse (R-WA) has introduced the "Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People's Republic of China Act" which would prohibit the purchase of U.S. public or private agricultural land by foreign nationals associated with the government of China. Foreign ownership of farmland, especially China, has become an increasing issue in Congress and several state legislatures. [Extracted from the article]

President Biden yesterday vetoed the congressional joint resolution to overturn the administration's Waters of the United States rule. B Groups support checkoff reform b Over 130 agricultural and food organizations are calling on Congress to approve checkoff reform legislation that would tighten the rules governing checkoff programs. [Extracted from the article]

Those signing are the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Sheep Industry Association, Livestock Marketing Association, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council and United States Cattlemen's Association. Labor negotiations have been stalled for 10 months between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. [Extracted from the article]

A group of over 50 agricultural and food organizations are calling on Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority which will allow the U.S. to negotiate additional free-trade agreements which are critical for U.S. agriculture. "The essential question is not only whether the U.S. is working for new market access, but also how well the U.S. is doing so relative to our economic competitors. The U.S. has not implemented a comprehensive trade agreement that opens new markets in over a decade, while our competitors continue to implement new agreements. [Extracted from the article]

Approximately 400 national, regional and state agricultural organizations are calling on Congress to provide "sufficient budgetary resources" for the 2023 farm bill. The National Farmers Union praised USDA for closing loopholes that allow meat from imported animals to be labeled Product of the USA. For too long, family farmers and ranchers have been competing in a market where imported products were fraudulently labeled as a product of the United States.". [Extracted from the article]

Stakeholders can file ideas and proposals for the 2023 farm bill or feedback about the 2018 farm bill by emailing FarmBill2023@ag.senate.gov or completing a form available at https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/farm-bill-input. He Senate Agriculture Committee is wanting to hear stakeholders' feedback on the 2018 farm bill and suggestions for the 2023 farm bill. [Extracted from the article]

The issues of concentration and competition in the meat, poultry and livestock industries continue to garner Congressional interest. Requires USDA to set minimum levels of purchases through approved pricing mechanisms that covered packers - those controlling 5% or more of fed cattle slaughter - must make. Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023 (Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT): The legislation would establish regional cash minimums and permanently authorize a cattle contract library. [Extracted from the article]

The CBO's baseline estimates the cost of the current farm bill for the next 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office released its farm bill baseline funding estimates on Wednesday. [Extracted from the article]

According to ERS, net cash farm income "encompasses cash receipts from farming as well as cash farm-related income (including government payments) minus cash expenses. The USDA's Economic Research Service is estimating that net farm income for 2023 will drop by 15.9% because of lower crops and livestock revenue, lower government payments, and high production expenses. [Extracted from the article]

"Without prompt action, there is a risk that E15 gasoline will not be available during the 2023 summer driving season and vehicle emissions will be higher than if EPA followed its obligations under the Clean Air Act." B State attorneys general request waiver for E15 b A group of seven midwestern state attorneys general are calling on the EPA to issue regulations that allow the sale of year-round E-15 ethanol gasoline in their states. B Butcher Block Act b The Butcher Block Act introduced by Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) would establish a USDA grant and loan program for new and expanding meat processors. [Extracted from the article]

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Maryland by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Food Animal Concerns Trust, NRDC and Public Citizen. A coalition of public health advocacy groups has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on its refusal to ban the use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention in livestock and poultry even when the animals are not sick. [Extracted from the article]

Those filing the lawsuit include the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Petroleum Institute, General Contractors of America, National Association of Home Builders, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Mining Association, National Pork Producers Council and U.S. Poultry and Egg Association. The House Agriculture Committee held a farm bill listening session at the Pennsylvania Farm Show last Saturday with nine members of the committee attending. Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said, "the new rule is vague and creates uncertainty for America's farmers, even if they're miles from the nearest navigable water. [Extracted from the article]

USDA announced it is considering 21 potential projects that would increase domestic fertilizer production. B House committees leadership named b House Republicans and Democrats have announced the committee chairs and ranking members for the 118 SP th sp Congress. [Extracted from the article]

The House Republicans continue to try and find enough votes to elect a speaker. This year, House Republicans are planning committee oversight hearings to hold the Biden administration "accountable." The 118 SP th sp Congress began on Tuesday with Democrats controlling the Senate by 51-49 and Republicans controlling the House of Representatives by 222-213. [Extracted from the article]

B USDA mails 2022 ag census b The USDA recently mailed the 2022 Census of Agriculture paper questionnaires to producers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. FMD funds are used by non-profit commodity or trade associations to create, expand and maintain long-term export markets for U.S. agricultural products. The USDA and USTR are accepting applications for new members to serve on the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee and the six Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees. [Extracted from the article]

B Organic dairy, poultry producers need aid b A group of 27 Senators and Representatives have written to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking to provide emergency assistance for organic dairy and poultry producers. Congress passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill to avoid a government shutdown and to fund the federal government through the remainder of fiscal year 2023 (Sept. 30, 2023). Price transparency - The USDA and the Department of Justice are to analyze issues regarding transparent meat pricing and price discovery for cattle producers. [Extracted from the article]

The bill would ease permitting restraints on domestic fertilizer production, lower producer's cost-share requirements under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and ease producers to access funds from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Representative G.T. Thompson (R-PA) will serve as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee during the 118 SP th sp Congress. [Extracted from the article]

Over 50 agricultural organizations are calling on the Senate to confirm the nominations of Doug McKalip to serve as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Alexis Taylor to serve as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. Ag groups call on Senate to confirm trade nominees With continued pressure on energy security and costs and the need to accelerate carbon emissions reductions, biofuels can contribute even more, and will make that case to EPA for the final volumes.". [Extracted from the article]

The House of Representatives and the Senate on strong bipartisan votes approved legislation adopting the tentative rail agreement to avert a nation-wide rail strike. House Republicans have said they plan investigations into President Biden, the administration and especially Hunter Biden. B New House Democratic leadership team b The House Democratic Caucus elected Representative Hakeem Jeffries as House Minority Leader and Representative Katherine Clark as House Minority Whip for the 118th Congress. [Extracted from the article]

B Latest House election results - b As of Wednesday, Republicans have won 220 House seats and the Democrats have won 212 seats. USDA announced it is extending the comment period on the proposed Packers & Stockyards rule, "Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act", for 45 days. [Extracted from the article]

B House Republicans nominate McCarthy for speaker b House Republicans nominated Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to be Speaker of the House. The Democrats are guaranteed to maintain control of the Senate with their wins in Arizona and Nevada. [Extracted from the article]

Over 95% of Democrats say Biden legitimately won the election, while 67% of Republicans express skepticism about his victory. Depending upon the outcomes of the Arizona and Nevada races, Senate control could be decided Dec. 6 when Georgia holds its runoff election between Senator Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R). As of this morning there are still races that have yet to be called that will determine which party has control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. [Extracted from the article]

In addition, $75 million was awarded for eight projects through the Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program and more than $75 million for four meat and poultry-related projects through the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program. A coalition of over 300 national, state and local trade associations is urging President Joe Biden to engage with railroads and unions to avoid a national rail strike during the holiday season. [Extracted from the article]

B 2022 voter attitudes b Voter attitudes are key items both parties are following as we head into the November election. With 18 days until the election, both parties are increasing their efforts to determine which party will control the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Most election experts are predicting the Republicans will gain control of the House. [Extracted from the article]

The last time MAP received increased funding was 2006 and FMD funding was increased in 2002. Robbie Minnich, chairman of the coalition, said, "Global competitors keep spending more to promote their exports, but MAP funding hasn't been increased since 2006 and FMD funding hasn't changed for two decades." The Expanding American Agricultural Trade and Exports Act of 2022 introduced by Senators Angus King (I-ME), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tina Smith (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) would double the funding for USDA's Market Export Program and Foreign Market Development Program. [Extracted from the article]

Yet, meat represents just 1% of food distributed by food charities, in part due to limited capacity to limited infrastructure for cold storage, packing, and distribution. President Joe Biden convened the White House Conference on Hunger with the goal to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030. [Extracted from the article]

The Senate Agriculture Committee held a long-awaited hearing on the nominations of Alexis Taylor for Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs and Jose Emilio Esteban for Under Secretary for Food Safety. The group said, "Director Taylor is a widely recognized leader on agriculture policy and has the domestic and international experience to shepherd U.S. agriculture through growing global changes of protecting food security, tackling inflation and expanding markets for U.S. agricultural products. [Extracted from the article]

The USDA announced it was investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 projects in the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. B USDA lowers corn, soybean crop estimates b USDA's latest crop production report lowers its estimates for corn, soybean and cotton production for 2022 compared to 2021. The USDA said the projects selected will expand markets for climate-smart commodities, leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including small and underserved producers. [Extracted from the article]

USDA defines net cash farm income as "cash receipts from farming as well as farm-related income (including government payments) minus cash expenses." The latest USDA's "Farm Income Forecast" is forecasting net farm income, a broad measure of farm profitability, at $147.4 billion for 2022, an increase of $7.3 billion (5.2 %) compared to 2021. [Extracted from the article]

In the latest study on U.S. hog production, USDA's Economic Research Service found that since the 1990s, the number of hog farms has declined while the typical hog farm has grown, and the hog industry has moved to more specialized operations. B USDA expects ag imports to be higher than exports in FY '23 b Fiscal year 2023 agricultural imports are forecasted to be higher than agricultural exports according to USDA's "Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade.". [Extracted from the article]

According to USDA's Foreign Agricultura Service, Taiwan in 2021 was the seventh largest export market for U.S. agriculture at $3.9 billion. The United States Trade Representative and Taiwan have announced the two countries have reached a consensus on the negotiating mandate for the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21 SP st sp -Century Trade. [Extracted from the article]

Allowing livestock auction owners to invest in local and regional meat packers will expedite the safe processing of meat, increase competition within the industry, and, ultimately, lower meat costs for consumers." The "Expanding Local Meat Processing Act" introduced by Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) would allow livestock auction market owners to invest in small meat processing operations. [Extracted from the article]

The bill provides $40 billion for agricultural programs, with major increases in overly subscribed USDA conservation program. The Senate passed, on a party-line vote, the $740 billion "Inflation Reduction Act" that addresses climate change, lower health-care costs, increases taxes on some billion-dollar corporations and reduces the deficit. [Extracted from the article]

The Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act introduced by Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Elise Stefanick (R-NY) would blacklist China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying U.S. agriculture companies. The agriculture appropriations bill, which funds USDA and the Food and Drug Administration, provides discretionary funding of $27.072 billion, an increase of $2.3 billion or 9% over fiscal year 2022. The House passed FY '23 agriculture appropriations bill would prohibit companies from China, Russia and Iran from buying U.S. farmland. [Extracted from the article]

The Republican Study Committee has released the RSC Blueprint to Save America budget which proposes deep cuts in farm programs. Producers forced into spot market hog sales are still challenged by the market disruptions of COVID-19, and these funds will contribute to the ongoing recovery of the U.S. pork industry.". [Extracted from the article]

B U.S.-Kenya trade negotiations launched b The United States and Kenya have launched negotiations on the United States-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership. The House of Representatives passed a $405 billion package of six fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills including agriculture. [Extracted from the article]

After years of declining, the number of farms raising hogs increased from 2012 to 2017 (63,246 to 66,439). The majority of U.S. hog inventory (73%) is from farms raising 5,000 or more head; 7% of U.S. hogs are on farms with less than 2,000 head in inventory; and 20% of the inventory is on farms with 2,000 to 4,999 head. Approximately 100 agricultural and food organizations are calling on the Senate to confirm Doug McKalip as USTR's Chief Agricultural Negotiator. [Extracted from the article]

B National Hot Dog Month b July is National Hot Dog Month with July 4 being the single largest hot dog consumption day of the year with Americans eating an estimated 150 million hot dogs. The associations asked the administration to: Extend the current contract until a final contract is reached. Over 150 agricultural associations wrote President Joe Biden urging the administration to continue to work with the International Longshore Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association to reach a new labor agreement and avoid port disruptions on the west coast. [Extracted from the article]

Representatives John Garamendi (D-CA) and Jim Costa (D-CA) have introduced legislation to give preference to ocean shipping vessels that ship U.S. goods. B Meat exports benefit corn, soybean producers b The 2021 red meat exports of $18.7 billion benefited the nation's corn and soybean producers according to a recent study by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Pork exports accounted for 99.3 million bushels of soybean usage nationwide (the equivalent of 2.36 million metric tons of soybean meal), which equated to $1.3 billion (at an average soybean price of $13.13/bushel). [Extracted from the article]

The Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act and the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act to address transparency in cattle pricing and address complaints of anticompetitive practices. Sponsors argued the bill would ensure transparency in cattle pricing and cut down on contract sales. Opponents stated that economists have indicated the bill will cost cow-calf producers as much as $50-$85 per head and will limit how producers can market their cattle. [Extracted from the article]

President Joe Biden signed the recently passed Ocean Shipping Reform Act to increase oversight of international shipping companies and make it more difficult for shipping lines to refuse export cargoes. Earlier President Biden said, "This bill will make progress reducing costs for families and ensuring fair treatment for American businesses-including farmers and ranchers.". [Extracted from the article]

According to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, Taiwan was the sixth largest foreign market for U.S. agriculture commodities last year. The United States and Taiwan have started discussions on the "US-Taiwan Initiative on 21 SP st sp Century Trade" to facilitate more trade between the two nations. [Extracted from the article]