Washington | Reuters — Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins since the pandemic started, White House economics advisers said. Financial statements of the meat-processing companies — which control 55 to […] Read more
U.S. packer profit margins jumped 300 per cent during pandemic, economists say
Increased costs don't explain higher profits, White House advisors say
Democratic contender Warren targets corporate agriculture
Washington | Reuters — Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren took aim on Wednesday at agricultural conglomerates, promising her administration would break up big agribusiness mergers that she said have hurt family farmers. Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts and a fierce Wall Street critic, released a broad plan that she said would make it easier […] Read more
U.S. EPA sends proposed new E15 rule to White House
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday it had sent a draft of its proposed rule allowing year-round sales of higher ethanol blends of gasoline to the White House Office of Budget for review. The rule expanding sales of so-called E15 was promised by President Donald Trump late last year […] Read more
U.S. government report says climate change will batter economy
Reuters — Climate change will cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, hitting everything from health to infrastructure, according to a government report issued on Friday that the White House called inaccurate. The congressionally mandated report, written with the help of more than a dozen U.S. government […] Read more
U.S. farm groups oppose Trump’s cuts to ag spending
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farm groups on Tuesday pushed back against President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash agriculture spending, viewing it as a fresh threat to a struggling farm economy. The White House on Monday proposed $46.54 billion in cuts to federal government funding for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years, including […] Read more
White House readies order to quit NAFTA
Washington | Reuters — The White House is considering a draft executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday. It was unclear whether the order would be enacted by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to pull out from the U.S./Mexico/Canada trade […] Read more
White House still weighing U.S. biofuels program change
Washington | Reuters — The Trump administration is reviewing the possibility of a key change to U.S. biofuels policy requested by oil refiners and Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor and special advisor on regulations to President Donald Trump, a White House official said Monday. The administration has no position “either way on this issue at […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soyoil climb on biofuels news
Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. corn futures rose on Tuesday and soyoil futures climbed about four per cent on prospects for changes to the U.S. renewable fuels policy that could boost demand for corn-based ethanol and soy biodiesel, traders said. Both markets pared gains following a White House statement that no executive order was in […] Read more
U.S. GMO label law clears Congress
A law for mandatory labelling of foods for sale in the U.S. with genetically modified or otherwise “bioengineered” ingredients has cleared both houses of Congress and now goes to President Barack Obama. The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved the Senate’s bipartisan bill S.764 by a 306-117 vote, sending it to the White House […] Read more
Japan, White House rule out re-opening TPP pact
Reuters — Japan and the Obama administration on Tuesday rejected calls from some U.S. lawmakers to consider re-opening a Pacific trade deal and said any renegotiation attempt could scupper the whole pact. “Renegotiation is not an option,” Caroline Atkinson, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for international economics, said on a call hosted by the Atlantic […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
