The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, a diverse package of initiatives from meat packing plants to year round E15, despite opposition by the majority of Republicans. The final vote was 221-204, with seven Republicans siding with the majority and five Democrats voting against the bill. The act includes a package of ag-related …
House to Vote on Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote Thursday on the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act led by Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), a package of legislation designed to address supply chain issues for the American energy and agriculture sectors, combat rising fertilizer prices and increase the availability of higher ethanol blends and other biofuels. The legislation includes Spanberger’s …
NCBA Opposes Mandate on Cattle Sales
Two bills designed to address transparency and oversight within cattle marketing were the subject of a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Tuesday where the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association expressed opposition to a “government mandate on cattle sales.” The hearing was specifically on the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act sponsored by Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and …
Agri-Pulse Newsmakers Spotlights Cattle Price Discovery Bill
The newest episode of Agri-Pulse Newsmakers is now live and the focus this week is on cattle price discovery bill. An updated piece of legislation seeks to reform the way cattle are bought and sold across the country, but the new bill includes a provision that caused two major farm groups to oppose the initial version. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., …
New Holland Methane Power Tractor Debuts
New Holland Agriculture North America has announced the U.S. launch of the world’s first production T6 Methane Power tractor, which is making its public debut this week at the 2022 World Ag Expo in Tulare, California. The T6 Methane Power tractor is a key element in New Holland’s Energy Independent Farm concept, closing the loop of a true circular economy, …
Passing of Ed Czerwien
Well-known cattle market analyst Ed Czerwien, 70, Amarillo, passed away January 3 after fighting ALS for more than three years. Ed is an emeritus member of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) and was a Livestock & Grain Market News Reporter for the USDA in Amarillo, TX until he retired. After retiring, he started up CZ Cattle Market Analytics …
NCBA 2021 Policy Update
2021 has been a busy year for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association working for the nation’s one million cattle farmers and ranchers. Members of the NCBA policy team took some time to update reporters on wins and losses this year and where the industry stands going into 2022. Here are a few of the highlights: Ethan Lane, NCBA Vice President …
Syngenta Partners With Dairy Industry and Nature Conservancy
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy has announced a partnership with Syngenta and The Nature Conservancy to help dairy producers “reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality and strengthen farm resilience.” You can listen to an interview with Chris Cook, Head of Enogen, and Liz Hunt, Head of Sustainable & Responsible Business for Syngenta, who explain more about the initiative: …
Cattle Contract Library Act Introduced in House
Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX) this week introduced the bipartisan Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021 to create a library for cattle contracts within the USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service Department equipping cattle producers with market data to make informed decisions in negotiations with meatpackers. Currently, USDA maintains a pork contract library, and following significant volatility in the …
House Ag Committee Hearing on Livestock Industry
The House Agriculture Committee held a hearing Thursday to address the current state of the livestock industry, meat processing, production and supply. Among the witnesses testifying were Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President Todd Wilkinson of South Dakota, and François Léger of FPL Food, on behalf of the North American Meat …