Members in the News: January 29, 2024

Joseph Glauber, International Food Policy Research Institute “March CR Plan Puts Farm Bill At Risk” By: Politico – January 16, 2024 “Red Sea Attacks Reverberate in Food And Ag Trade” By: Successful Farming – January 18, 2024 “Ag Report: Consumers' Thoughts on Food” By: Spectrum One News – January 22, 2024 Daniel Sumner, University of California, Davis Joseph Glauber, International Food Policy Research Institute Parke Wilde, Tufts University “Billions Spent on Farm Subsidies Don’t Lower Food Prices or Reduce Hunger” By: EWG – January 11, 2024 “Farm subsidies and crop insurance don’t lower food prices. On average, only about one dime out of each dollar Americans spend on food is attributable to the cost of producing crops.” “Subsidies do boost farm families’ incomes, but most farming households are not poor. In fact, median farm household income has exceeded U.S. household income every year since 1997. And EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database shows that most subsidies go to wealthy farming households anyway.” “Subsidies don’t help farm workers either. The most labor-intensive crops like fruits and vegetables receive the smallest amount of subsidies. Finally, subsidies don’t really boost the the rural economy. On average, only 6 percent of jobs in non-metro areas come from farming.” (Continued...) Read more on: EWG Wendong Zhang, Cornell University “Changing Environmental Policies Impacting Farmland Values” By: Agrinews – January 21, 2024 “In general, we see positive evidence that a better internet connection and higher download speeds are reflected in farmland sale prices and to a lesser extent on cash rents, as well. All the data that needs to be loaded to your system from your combine benefits from a better access to the broadband.” (Continued...) Read more on: Agrinews Paul Goeringer, University of Maryland “PA Farm Link Succession Webinar” By: Lewistown Sentinel – January 22, 2024 “The speaker will be Paul Goeringer, a Senior Faculty Specialist and the Extension Legal Specialist at the University of Maryland. Goeringer joined the University of Maryland’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in 2012. His research and extension program is focused on agricultural leases, energy leases, landowner liability, production contracts, agricultural nuisance issues, environmental law and estate planning issues impacting agricultural producers in Maryland. He has authored over two hundred articles and is a sought-after speaker on agricultural law issues.” (Continued...) Read more on: Lewistown Sentinel Aaron Smith, University of California, Davis “Cow Poop Is Now a Big Part of California Fuel Policy” By: Energy Institute – January 22, 2024 “Every day, California farmers milk 1.7 million cows. Each cow generates about 7 gallons of milk and 100 gallons of waste. Most farmers process the waste (mostly manure) by washing it into lagoons where microbes break it down and, in the process, emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. These facts raise two questions. First, can we prevent the manure-eating microbes from sending methane into the atmosphere? Second, can we capture the methane and use it for energy?” (Continued...) Read more on: Energy Institute Paul Mitchell, University of Wisconsin-Madison “The Economics of Sustainable Corn Growing” By: Wisconsin Ag Connections – January 23, 2024 “It’s hard to measure ‘safe driving’ but easy to measure driving below the speed limit. Both ‘safe driving’ and ‘sustainability’ are complex umbrella terms, so we need to define specific practices to study their value.” (Continued...) Read More On: Wisconsin Ag Connections Amy Ando, Ohio State University Margaret Jodlowski, The Ohio State University “2024 Farm Bill” By: County Journal – January 25, 2024 “Discussing the general policy context — Amy Ando, Professor and Chair, and Margaret Jodlowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, CFAES.” (Continued...) Read More On: County Journal Amit Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology “Online Shopping And Easy Returns Are A Big Problem” By: Rochester Business Journal – January 25, 2023 “Existing research demonstrates that, in 2020, returned inventory created 5.8 billion lbs. of landfill waste and the shipping of returns emitted 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The New York Times reports that emissions of this magnitude are equivalent to having 3.5 million cars on the road for an entire year. If we want to be serious about addressing the serious problem of climate change then we need to also understand that we all pay a price for indiscriminate online shopping accompanied by easy or free returns.” (Continued...) Read More On: Rochester Business Journal James Mintert, Purdue University Chad Hart, Iowa State University “Grower Level Concerns And Stories for 2024” By: Southern Farm Network – January 25, 2023 “They’re starting to make some changes and the changes they’re making are pretty much across the board. They’re using some technology that they can purchase every winter or every crop season and they’re also looking at making some longer-term investments.” “So they had something off the farm in town and then they said even though we’re in a semi-rural part of Indiana, maybe we could get into the food delivery business as well. Over time, they’ve been able to dramatically expand the operation in terms of gross revenue.”   (Continued...) Read More On: Southern Farm Network