USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack stopped briefly at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois Wednesday to award $266 million in loans and grants for agriculture producers and rural small businesses to make investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements, made possible in part by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Vilsack used a white board to talk about funding under …
USDA Adjusts Yields in August Report
USDA’s first survey-based forecasts for the season slightly lowered yields for corn and soybeans compared to projections last month. In the August Crop Production report released Friday, USDA puts corn production for 2023/24 at 15.1 billion bushels, down 209 million from the July projection, but ten percent more than 2022 which would be the second highest on record behind 2016/17. …
New Cover Crop Survey Released
The 2022-2023 National Cover Crop Survey Report was released today the challenges assumptions on the role of incentive payments in cover crop adoption. According to the survey, nearly half of the cover crop users participating in the survey reported receiving some sort of payment for cover crops in 2022, and almost 78% of cover crop non-users said incentive payments would …
USDA Crop Report Surprises
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Planted Acreage report released Friday surprised many with an estimated 94.1 million acres of corn planted in the United States for 2023, up 6% from last year, while soybean area planted is estimated at 83.5 million acres, down 5% from last year. “You get a big surprise here I think …
USDA Under Secretary Leads Trade Mission to Japan
USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor led a trade mission to Japan this week with representatives from 11 state departments of agriculture, numerous farm organizations, and 40 agribusinesses looking to connect with future business partners in Japan. “As one of the largest world economies, Japan is one of the top and most reliable trading partners …
USDA Under Secretary Discusses Climate Strategies
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 …