…processing, meatpacking and agricultural production.” Johnson pointed to the Chinese meat processing company Shuanghui (now known as WH Group) purchase of Smithfield Foods in 2013. Just two years later, Smithfield’s…
International Trade and Deforestation: Potential Policy Effects via a Global Economic Model
…wood products. ERS researchers first track the history of production and international trade of forest-risk commodities from 1991 to 2013. The key findings are as follows: Although soybean production has…
Bill Introduced to Reform Biodiesel Tax Credit
…would ensure that the tax credit would incentivize domestic production and taxpayers wouldn’t be subsidizing imported fuel. Biofuel imports have increased from 510 million gallons in 2014 to approximately one…
Possible Changes in Cotton and Dairy Policies Ahead
…with congressional appropriators for some time. Adjustments to the programs in the 2014 farm bill through the appropriations process now mean a Congressional Budget Office score of the 10-year price…
Productivity Growth and the Revival of Russian Agriculture
…use continued to drop until 2005. Once input growth resumed, on average across Russian districts, national TFP showed modest growth through 2013. While overall TFP growth improved nationwide, the pattern…
Rural Economy Index Lower Again
…2013 have been mixed according to Creighton’s April survey. While the percent of bank rejecting loan applications was a high 30.6 percent, this is down from 35.3 percent recorded last…
Syngenta Corn Lawsuits Underway
The first of several lawsuits filed against Syngenta is underway. Syngenta is facing dozens of lawsuits that claim a move by the company depressed corn prices in 2013. The farmers…
Renewable Fuels Standard Heads to Court
The Environmental Protection Agency will be in Washington D.C. Circuit court starting Monday (April 24) as the court hears oral challenges to the 2014-2016 Renewable Fuels Standard Volumes. Politico’s Morning…
Funding to Educate the Future Agricultural Science Workforce
…made through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. “There is a significant shortfall in the number of qualified applicants for jobs in agriculture-related…
Idaho Researcher: Farmers Benefit from Drought
…period in the United States, the value of crop production in the U.S. set records in 2012 and 2013. He made the comments during a joint meeting of the Western…
The Potential Effects of Increased Demand for U.S. Agricultural Exports on Metro and Nonmetro Employment
…for U.S. agricultural exports results in a 6.7-percent increase in the volume of U.S. agricultural exports, worth $9.7 billion at 2013 prices. (This increase in export volume (6.7 percent) is…
Animal Rights Groups Want Dead Animal Payments Stopped
…Indemnity Program paid out more than $134 million to cover the deaths of 2.5 million poultry and 200,000 livestock from 2013-2015. The group thinks the USDA is giving out the…
Commerce Department Investigating Argentina and Indonesia Biodiesel Imports
…has been flooding the U.S. market since 2014. The industry claims the subsidized biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia forced U.S. producers out of their home market. The Commerce Department says…
Deadline to Apply for Funding to Grow the Bioeconomy June 28th
…biomaterials from renewable sources such as crops, trees, and waste materials from farmland and forests. Funding is made through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), authorized by the 2014…