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12Feb

Cotton Acres Will Grow in 2018

The National Cotton Council (NCC) found growers intend to plant 13.1 million acres to cotton in 2018-up 3.7% over 2017, according to a recent planting intentions survey. Upland cotton will likely see the bigger jump by 3.8% over last season to 12.8 million acres. Extra-long staple will grow, too, up to 254,000 acres for a 1% increase. While this could mean a larger cotton crop, there is still a long season with weather and other obstacles ahead. "Planted acreage is just one...

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07Feb

U.S. Farm Income to Hit 12-Year Low

Crop prices may be showing some recent signs of life, but that' s of little comfort for American farmers who are forecast to see their incomes fall to a 12-year low. Farmer profits will drop 6.7 percent this year to $59.5 billion, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday in its first forecast for 2018. That’s the lowest since 2006 and would be down 52 percent from a record $123.8 billion in 2013. "This may now be what we consider a normal...

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22Jan

Senate Votes To Reopen the Government

The Senate voted to reopen the government on Monday, the third day of the shutdown. Under the bill, the government will be open until February 8. "McConnell and I have come to an arrangement," Sen. Chuck Shumer says. That "agreement" was a commitment from GOP leaders to immediately consider immigration legislation on the floor if no immigration agreement is reached by February 8, according to ProFarmer's Washington policy analyst, Jim Wiesemeyer. "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised to take up an immigration...

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22Jan

Understanding the Tax Overhaul

Just before Christmas, President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law. This is the first major tax overhaul since 1986 when President Ronald Reagan was in office. Many agriculture groups say the new law is a “net benefit” for farmers and ranchers. “In addition to lowering the tax rate, almost all of the important deductions and accounting methods farmers use stayed in the bill,” says Pat Wolff, senior director of congressional relations at American Farm Bureau Federation....

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10Jan

FDA Sets Aside Enforcement For Some FSMA Rules

The Food and Drug Administration will not enforce select food safety regulations during what it calls an "enforcement discretion period" drawing the ire of consumer groups who charge the move is undermining food safety measures. The FDA, which plans to keep the discretion period in place until it resolves issues with specific Food Safety Modernization Act provisions, says the move is to ensure the rules are clear for a long-term solution. "The provisions the agency does not intend to enforce relate to...

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