USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie spent an hour with members of the American Coalition for Ethanol last week, answering questions on various climate and conservation topics and stressing the administration’s support for biofuels. “I hope you know this administration has a strong commitment to ethanol,” Bonnie began. “There’s a lot of alignment between things that …
USDA Releases 2023 Prospective Plantings Report
The 2023 Prospective Plantings report finds farmers expect to plant more corn and soybeans this year than last year. According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant 92.0 million acres of corn in 2023, up 4% from last year, and 87.5 million acres of soybeans this year, up slightly from last …
Happy 50th Anniversary to National Ag Day
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack celebrated the 50th anniversary of National Agriculture Day Tuesday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but he said he wasn’t really that interested in celebrating it. “Why today? Why just one day? Why not every day?” asked Vilsack. “I think we let the country get off the hook a little easy by having only one day. …
Secretary Vilsack Addresses Agri-Pulse Summit
Agri-Pulse hosted its most successful Ag and Food Policy Summit ever on Monday with some of the biggest newsmakers in the agricultural space, including Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The agricultural policy news organization has been holding an annual summit in conjunction with National Ag Day since 2012, with the exception of 2020. This year was the first time they …
Secretary Vilsack Makes 10th Appearance at Classic
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addressed the Commodity Classic for the 10th time last week, counting the virtual event in 2021. Vilsack took the opportunity to sign memorandums for two of USDA’s new Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities programs – Farmers for Soil Health (FSH) and the Midwest Climate Smart Commodities Project. “It is the beginning of a process of a …
CattleCon Session on Pilot Cattle Contracts Library
Just as the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show was getting underway last week, USDA launched its pilot Cattle Contracts Library on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Cattle Contract Library webpage. That provided a timely opportunity for USDA AMS Administrator Bruce Summers and Associate Deputy Administrator Taylor Cox to update the cattle industry during an early morning session at …
Outgoing USDA Deputy Secretary Visits #CattleCon23
Despite her imminent departure from USDA, Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh addressed the 2023 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show last week in New Orleans. Bronaugh announced on January 26 that she is leaving the Department in the weeks ahead to spend more time with her family. As a part of the third general session of the 2023 Cattle Industry …
Corn, Soybean and Cotton Production Down in 2022
Production for corn, soybeans and cotton all declined in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the 2022 Crop Production Annual Summary from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. U.S. corn growers produced 13.7 billion bushels, down 9% from 2021. Corn yield in the United States is estimated at 173.3 bushels per acre, 3.4 bushels below …
USDA Announces Value Added Producer Grants
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday announced the awarding of $9.6 million across the country and taking several other steps to help farmers, ranchers, processors and rural businesses diversify the nation’s meat supply. The Department is awarding 23 Value Added Producer Grant program grants totaling $3.9 million to help producer-owned companies process and market new products. USDA is also providing guarantees …
Corn and Soybean Crop Down from September
Corn and soybean production took another step down this month compared to September 2022, according to USDA’s latest Crop Production report. Based on conditions as of Oct. 1, corn yields are now expected to average 171.9 bushels per harvested acre, down 0.6 bushel from the previous forecast and down 4.8 bushels from 2021. Area harvested for grain is forecast at …