Agriculture in Indian Country generated almost $6.5 billion in 2022, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture that’s up about $3.5 billion from 2017. Cattle ranching was the most common form of agricultural production, occurring on 39% of farms operated by Native Americans, according to Erin Parker, executive director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He also pointed out that poultry production and fruit and nut farming also continued to grow in popularity among Indigenous producers. Click on the link below for more information.
https://www.agriculture.com/agriculture-continues-to-grow-in-tribal-nations-8611543
During the past two years, highly pathogenic avian influenza, also called HPAI, has led to infections and depopulation of more than 115 million chickens and turkeys in commercial and backyard poultry flocks. Now HPAI appears to have jumped species to affect a small number of dairy herds in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. The Texas Department of Agriculture initially reported that "a mysterious disease has been working its way through the Texas Panhandle." Last week, U.S. and state government health agencies identified the illness as a strain of HPAI, which has mainly affected older cows on dairies in in these three states, causing decreased lactation, low appetite, and other symptoms.
Last week’s collapse of the Baltimore Key Bridge has shut down the Port of Baltimore, which is the largest U.S. port by volume for handling farm and construction machinery. According to Maryland state data, the port handled 1.3 million tons of roll-on and roll-off farm and construction machinery in 2023, which included tractors, combines, hay balers and more. The port is also important in the export of soybeans, wheat and corn and the import of sugar, coffee and other grocery items.
The closure of the Port of Baltimore is the latest event of concern to agricultural shipping, because for third straight year, warm, dry spring weather and a low winter snowpack are limiting the amount of water feeding into the Mississippi River. More than a trillion pounds of freight per year travel on the Mississippi and the rivers that flow into it. The Mississippi is a critical transport route from the upper Midwest region that produces 92% of U.S. agricultural exports. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. will get warmer-than-average spring temperatures from April through June this year, and for the first time since 2021, there is no region in the U.S. that is at risk of major flooding, while drought conditions continue to affect much of the upper Mississippi watershed.
U.S. farm income is falling from record highs as low commodity prices, trade headwinds and higher costs squeeze profits, according to the 2024 U.S. Agricultural Market Outlook Report from the University of Missouri Food and Agriculture Policy Research Center. The report is a 10-year projection of the agriculture economy that examines production trends and pricing for commodity and specialty crops and livestock, and it also discusses how interest rates, consumer prices, and biofuel production impacts farming. Pat Westhoff, agricultural economics professor and Institute Director, points out that farmers can expect lower commodity prices across the board, except for cattle this year.
FPARI report: https://www.agriculture.com/university-of-missouri-report-warns-falling-prices-could-squeeze-farmers-8612826
Greek philosopher Plato wrote, “Wise men talk because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
