…be full employment. December 2018 data from the Department of Labor announced that job openings reached 7.3 million and that just under 6.3 million Americans were unemployed. USDA’s proposal would…
Planted Cotton Acreage Expected to Increase
…14 million acres of upland cotton nationally, a nearly three percent increase from the estimate from the U.S. Department of Agriculture back in December. “The Cotton Council release looks like…
Romaine Lettuce Outbreak Report Confirms One Source, Others Undetermined
The Federal Drug Administration made their romaine lettuce investigation records public this week, confirming only one source of the E. coli outbreak was identified. In December, the FDA identified a…
Central Valley Citrus Growers Manage through Mid-Season Freeze
…to raise grove temperatures as much as 3-5 degrees to prevent freeze damage. While the temperatures were within manageable ranges, there is some concern that rain on Saturday and Sunday…
China Makes Another Significant Soybean Purchase
…as of February 4. China had previously made a significant soybean purchase of more than 1.5 million tons back in December. That first purchase since the trade relationship soured in…
Farm Bureau Sues to Block Flows Plan for Lower San Joaquin River
…which filed suit to block the plan. Adopted last December by the State Water Resources Control Board, the plan would redirect 30 to 50 percent of “unimpaired flows” in three…
Bay-Delta Plan Lawsuits Continue to Be Filed
…water board’s decision back in December. The lawsuit claims that the plan will end up costing the local economy more than $230 million and nearly 1,000 jobs without providing the…
EU Won’t Include Agriculture In Trade Talks With U.S.
…non-tariff barriers to U.S. farm products. The organization and 52 other food and farm groups in mid-December sent a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, urging the…
HLB Detections Increased in 2018 as Monitoring Efforts Intensify
…ACP quarantine after a psyllid was discovered in December 2018 on a residential tree in Novato, California. Breeding populations of ACP were also found at multiple residential properties in Soledad…
Longest Recorded Government Shutdown Impacting Key Ag Programs
…stopped producing several important informational reports, with farmers working in the dark since the last data report was released on December 22. Agricultural Export Sales, Cold Storage and Cattle on…
FSA Offices Reopen for Three Days While Government Shutdown Continues
…been received to identify priority items. Other services that can be performed include the processing of payments made on or before December 31, 2018, as well as continuing expiring financing…
Chinese Trade Conditions May Be Poised to Improve
…any further tariffs was agreed to back in December. While neither country elaborated on any particular details pertaining to the trade conditions, both sides are reporting that the negotiations are…
Navigating the H-2A Guest Worker Program
…fallen short. A Department of Labor proposal to “streamline” the system was due in December 2018 but has not materialized. The other major change in 2018 was an Agriculture Department…
More Virulent Newcastle Disease in Commercial Poultry
…December 2018 discovery, virulent Newcastle disease had not been identified in commercial poultry since 2003. APHIS reports that the detection of more virulent Newcastle disease is related to the outbreak…