Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky doesn’t just want the Black Sea Grain Initiative to be extended before the deal expires Nov. 19 – he wants the deal to be “extended indefinitely.”
“Thanks to the strong participation of the UN, Turkey and other partners, we have demonstrated how the cooperation of a few can restore food security for the many,” Zelensky said Tuesday at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. “I believe our export grain initiative deserves an indefinite extension – no matter when the war ends.”
Zelensky also is demanding that more ports than just the three in Odesa be allowed to ship corn, wheat and other ag commodities under the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
“Since July, Ukraine has exported over 10 million tons of food by sea. We can increase exports by several million tons per month,” he said. “Thus … I propose to expand the grain export initiative to our other ports – in particular, to the ports … in the Mykolaiv region.”
Dairy farmers to demand action on labor shortages
More than 100 farmers, together with lawmakers and farm groups such as the International Dairy Foods Association will gather on Capitol Hill today to demand Congress “fix the ongoing agricultural workforce crisis,” according to IDFA.
“Labor shortages are a major pain point for the U.S. dairy industry, and right now is our best chance in years to pass meaningful immigration reform that will ensure the dairy industry has a reliable, predictable, and legal workforce while lowering food prices for consumers,” said IDFA President and CEO Michael Dykes. “We urge the Senate to move in a bipartisan manner to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.”
The House passed the bill last year.
U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., will hold a press conference with the farmers and ag groups.
Despite advent of EVs, ethanol still has pathway for growth
The increasing number of electric vehicles may have many in farm country concerned, but a new report out from Terrain Senior Grain Analyst Matthew Roberts says the transition to less liquid fuel consumption will be slow – perhaps slower than many expect – giving the corn and ethanol industries time to adjust and find new opportunities to grow demand.
Terrain launched week under the partnership of three leading Farm Credit Associations – American AgCredit, Farm Credit Services of America and Frontier Farm Credit – to offer analysis to their customers. “Ethanol vs. Electrons” is its first major report.
California continues to drive the adoption of electric vehicles, especially with the recent mandate that all light duty vehicles sold by 2035 be zero emission vehicles. But decreases in ethanol demand because of that mandate could be offset by an increase in the number of flex-fuel vehicles, Roberts says.
In addition, E85 could be “a demand driver for ethanol through this transition,” Roberts says.
Older Americans’ hunger challenges to be examined at Senate hearing
The Senate Special Committee on Aging will use a hearing today to examine the unique challenges facing older Americans who don’t have enough to eat.
One of the witnesses, Jeremy Everett of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, will push for hunger-free community coalitions, access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and innovation through pilot programs.
A Feeding America report by BCHP's Craig Gundersen estimates one in 10 Americans between 50 and 59 years old are food insecure.
“The aging Latino population is more than twice as likely, and the aging Black population is almost four times more likely to experience food insecurity than their white neighbors,” BCHP says.
Beef lawsuits consolidated in federal court in Minnesota
Price-fixing lawsuits filed by several food retailers and two agriculture industry groups against the nation's four largest beef processors will all be heard in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.
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On Tuesday, the court consolidated the complaints, which accuse the packers of conspiring to fix prices.
Take note: R-Calf USA and the National Farmers Union, two producer groups involved in one of the lawsuits, said both parties in the case have only just begun document production and expect discovery to continue across 2023.
Turkeys, the real kind, going to DC
A pair of turkeys raised in North Carolina are headed to the nation’s capital for this year’s traditional White House pardoning. The birds were raised by National Turkey Federation Chairman Ronnie Parker near Monroe, North Carolina.
After their D.C. trip, the lucky birds will live out their retirement at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
He said it: “It was still chaotic of course, because … you know, it’s Ukraine.” – Kees Huizinga, a farmer in Ukraine, explaining how the agricultural sector grew rapidly in the country over the past 20 years.
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