"A Mediocre Farm Bill," featured in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, opined on the Senate's version of the 2012 Farm Bill. Just for fun, we took a look at some of the key points made in the editorial and added some context to the issues raised. The Senate farm bill "takes a [1] disproportionate whack from environmental programs, [2] needlessly trims food stamps and [3] does not fundamentally alter the program's bias toward relatively well-off growers of big crops like corn, wheat and soybeans."
[1] According to the Grand Forks Herald, "the Farm Bill that the U.S. Senate passed Thursday has drawn positive reviews from conservation groups." Conservation spending was the fastest growing section of the farm bill. Total cuts to...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
