Two Georgia Congressional officials, Senator Jon Osoff and Rep. Sanford Bishop, have introduced legislation that would extend crop loss payments to seasonal and perishable crop producers. Payments would be triggered when a crop’s national average price drops below its five-year average reference price due to imports. The legislators complain that “unfair” crop imports from Central and South America are hurting their growers. It is true that U.S. imports of fruit and vegetable products have been rising sharply. But they appear to be adding to the domestic supply rather than replacing it as overall demand continues to rise.
Their complaint and proposed solution are interesting from several standpoints:
The...
What You Need to Know Today: The U.S. and Iran reportedly agreed to pause hostilities to allow vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz this week (theoretically, at least). There were some rumors of a possible Chinese blockade against Taiwan. Analysts are looking for the largest U.S. 1 June cor...
Proposition 12: The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) has advocated for a fix to Proposition 12, the California animal welfare law, in the Senate farm bill. The House version of the farm bill included a fix, but the Senate bill, based on the discussion draft released by Chairman John Boozm...
Developer's Note: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where obs...
