Did you miss some news this week? We’ve got you covered. Here’s a collection of the top headlines in agriculture.
Bullish WASDE report surprises markets
Grain prices faced a mixed reaction following the release of USDA’s latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report on Thursday. Corn prices saw a modest improvement after the agency slashed production estimates by 200 million bushels. Soybean prices were also firm following a 69-million-bushel production reduction. Read the full report recap. – Farm Futures
John Deere signs right-to-repair agreement
The American Farm Bureau Federation announced a new memorandum of understanding with John Deere during the group’s annual convention. Under the agreement, John Deere will ensure that farmers have electronic access to its tools, specialty tools, software and documentation. Farmers and independent repair facilities will also be able to access and obtain those items on “fair and reasonable” terms. – Farm Industry News
Vilsack announces more funding for ag programs
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced several new programs for farmers intended to keep their operations profitable. Funding includes 21 projects to increase fertilizer production, $12 million in grants under the Meat and Poultry Processing Program, additional disaster aid, and more. – Farm Progress
Planet Labs, NASA Harvest partner for food security
A new partnership will combine Planet’s satellite data with the analytics expertise of the NASA Harvest team to create a tool to anticipate and avoid food shortages and famines. The work was piloted in 2022 to monitor fields in Ukraine and assess the impact of war on crop production.
Rail delays stall crucial feed shipments
Foster Farms, which processes about 1 million chickens and 12,000 turkeys every day, says it’s had to pause some operations because of delays from Union Pacific Corp. Correspondence in December marked the second time in the past year Foster Farms asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to intervene directly because of Union Pacific’s failure to deliver animal-feed trains on time. – Bloomberg
Alphabet launches ag ‘moonshot’ subsidiary
X, the moonshot factory, has graduated its ag innovation project, “Mineral,” as a subsidiary of Alphabet aimed at boosting global farm sustainability. Mineral’s analysis tools will be licensed to industry partners and used on everything from 10,000-acre row crop operations to half-acre smallholder farms. Learn more about the new technology for agriculture. – Farm Progress
2023 farm dog of the year
The winner of the 2023 Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year award is Tough, a border collie owned by Kansas Farm Bureau members Denny and Donna Ashcraft. The American Farm Bureau Federation, with support from Nestlé Purina PetCare, recognized Tough, four regional runners-up and a people’s choice pup at its convention in Puerto Rico. – American Farm Bureau