Effective November 22nd, the USDA Animal and Plant
Inspection Service (APHIS) is temporarily suspending the importation of
live animals originating or transiting from Mexico based on the
confirmation of New World screwworm in cattle. The New World screwworm
was found in a cow in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, at an
inspection checkpoint close to the border with Guatemala. Mexico was
poised to ship close to 1.25 million head to the US this year, and have
ranged between 1.0-1.5 million head over the past decade.
Total pork stocks in cold storage at the end of October
were reported at 426.0 million pounds, down 3% from a year ago. Pork
belly stocks were estimated at 16.24 million pounds vs. 28.1 million
the previous year. Total beef stocks in cold storage were pegged at
431.9 million pounds (97%), while total chicken stocks were quoted at
803.6 million pounds (94%).
Troy Sander is the new president of the Kansas
Livestock Association (KLA). Sander is the chief operations manager for
Heritage Beef, which operates feedyards in Haskell and Labette
counties. Ty Breeden, an ag banker and rancher from Quinter, was
selected as the KLA president-elect.
All hay production for 2024 was reported by USDA at
126.8 million tons, an increase of 7% or 8.1 million tons from 2023.
Total acreage devoted to hay production declined 1.3 million acres from
the year before to 51.5 million acres. The all-hay yield increased 9%
to 2.46 tons per acre. Alfalfa hay yields were reported at 3.45 tons
per acre, up 8% from last year and the highest alfalfa yield in eight
years.
Tyson Foods in ending all operations in Emporia,
Kansas, by next February. Tyson currently employs over 800 people at
the Emporia facility. Over 200 workers will be shifted to the company's
plant at Holcomb, and the rest will be offered choices to transfer to
other Tyson plants. The closure will take place in two phases. First
will be closure of the company's lab on December 20th. Next will be the
closure of the processing and fabrication facility on February 14th,
2025. Tyson closed its slaughter plant in Emporia in 2008, and its cold
storage facility operations in 2020.
Grains
President-elect Trump has named Brooke L. Rollins to be
the next Secretary of Agriculture. Rollins served as the director of
the Domestic Policy Council during Trump's first term in the Oval
office, as well as director of the Office of American Innovation.
Rollins has spent the last four years at the helm of American First
Policy Institute. Rollins is a Texas native who graduated from Texas
A&M with a degree in agricultural development and earned her law
degree from the University of Texas. If confirmed, Rollins would be the
country's second female Agriculture Secretary. Ann Veneman was the
first woman to lead USDA from 2001-2005 under President George W. Bush.
David Wilcox, president of Global Processing, Inc.
(GPI), has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Iowa for bankruptcy
fraud, accused of defrauding Iowa farmers of more than $4 million for
their soybeans. GPI, based in Kanawha, Iowa, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy in October 2022 after losing its grains licenses in Iowa and
Nebraska. GPI and Wilcox caused the State of Iowa Grain Depositors and
Sellers Indemnity Fund to pay out roughly $2 million in losses to
producers who filed more than $4 million in claims, and nearly depleted
the state fund in the process.
Corteva is unveiling a non-GMO wheat seed that could
boost yields by 10% while using the same amount of land and resources.
It aims to beat out its rivals by getting its hybrid wheat into the
North American market as early as 2027. Corteva said its initial focus
will be to apply its hybrid technology to hard red winter wheat.
President-elect Trump picked former New York Rep. Lee
Zeldin to serve as administrator of the EPA. Zeldin, who lost the 2022
New York governor's race to Kathy Hochul, most recently chaired the
China policy initiative at the American First Policy Institute, a
nonprofit think tank founded to promote Trump's agenda. Zeldin opposed
biofuels and the RFS when he served in the US House during Trump's
first term. In 2017, he cosponsored an unsuccessful bill to repeal the
RFS. Also, he joined other House colleagues in sending various letters
to EPA in opposition to proposed volumes increases.