New research by the from The Center for Food Integrity shows consumers want more information about food and how it’s produced. The research, announced last week, shows only 28 percent of consumers strongly agree they have access to all the information they want regarding food, how it’s produced and safety. Charlie Arnot, CEO of CFI says “the industry still has work to do.” The results show that consumers want transparency in very specific areas, including the impact of food on health, food safety, animal well-being and the environment. Further, the research says consumers want fair and honest information. CFI also found that third-party verification is important, particularly when it comes to animal well-being and food safety.
Legislation to expand financial protections in the Packers and Stockyards Act to transactions made electronically is headed to the White House after the Senate cleared the measure by unanimous consent last week. The bill would amend the law to include sales made using video or through an online auction house. The bill would also specify that funds can be transferred electronically, such as through a debit or credit card. Currently, the law allows only check or wire transfer to settle sales. Pro Farmer reports the bill now moves to the president’s desk, though the White House has not issued a position.
The Department of Agriculture said last week it will require meat packers to report cattle purchases made through an online auction platform. Politico reports the move is an effort to bring more transparency to pricing following the May launch of the Fed Cattle Exchange, an online cattle auction site. Starting Wednesday, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will start including these transactions in weekly price reports. The price reports are used by companies like Tyson Foods and Cargill to determine prices to pay ranchers for animals. USDA noted participation in the cash slaughter market has declined significantly since 2010, as the industry uses more forward contracts to sell cattle. That makes it difficult to determine prices, justifying the move to require online sales reporting.
A new report says China wants to incorporate the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture, but the Chinese people do not. And Bloomberg says the latest food safety scandal in China might be its most damaging scandal yet. A former doctoral student at a national testing center in China accused the testing center of scientific fraud, including claims that records were doctored extensively, among other things. China’s Ministry of Agriculture responded by suspending operations at the center. That’s just the latest in a series of scandals that is not dampening China’s public hostility towards GMOs. Opponents claim GMOs are unsafe, but that goes against the scientific consensus within and outside of China. Bloomberg suggests that until China’s government addresses the lack of confidence in its food safety programs, it’s likely to face considerable and growing opposition to a GMO program. While farmers in China do not use GM crops, the nation does, however, allow imports of GM crops to enter the country.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and others are asking the Treasury Department to withdraw the newly proposed estate tax regulations. NCBA joined more than 3,800 organizations in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew opposing the proposal. NCBA says the proposed regulations would permanently change estate planning for families that own a controlling interest in a privately-held entity. NCBA says the regulations would eliminate or greatly reduce available valuation discounts for family-related entities, which in turn would increase the tax on inheritance, such as farms. Government affairs director for NCBA, Danielle Beck, says “the Administration is causing unnecessary economic harm to family businesses,” that is because producers are often forced into selling land or cattle to pay the tax, and in some cases, are put out of business.
The National Corn Growers Association applauded House passage of the Water Resources and Development Act by the U.S. House this week. NCGA First Vice President Wesley Spurlock says the Act will play a “vital role in moving corn to export markets.” NCGA notes that a main focus of the WRDA 2016 bill is clearing the backlog of projects managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It also provides more than $10 billion in funding to the Army Corps to develop, maintain and support the nation’s port and waterways infrastructures. The next step for WRDA is a conference of the House and Senate bills, with a potential final bill ready to be signed by the President by the end of the year.
A report this week by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City shows the farm economy slumping into the fourth quarter of the year. The bank says the U.S. farm economy weakened further in the third quarter despite an upward revision to farm income projections by the Department of Agriculture. Following a brief rebound in crop prices in the second quarter, the bank says profit margins for crop producers deteriorated in August and September. Profit margins also remained poor in the cattle and dairy sectors. Agricultural credit conditions have weakened further as loan repayment problems have picked up steadily, and bankers in the Midwest have expressed increasing concerns about the softening farm economy spilling over to Main Street business activity in rural areas.