Good morning.
With the end of Thanksgiving, it's officially time for holiday party season... and one food company has the goods to help you get all doled up.
Dole has released an ugly Christmas sweater, complete with Christmas light-adorned pineapples.
Sounds like a pretty sweet gift for any of your pineapple-loving friends.
More news on the scroll...
Stories:
- Railroad Resolution Off the Rails
- Framing the Farm Bill
- MyLand Company + $12M = Scale Up
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Railroad Resolution Off the Rails |
A tentative railway resolution intended to stop a strike in its tracks seems to be approaching a diverging point… dimming the light at the end of the tunnel for ag.
Railway union members are split on a tentative agreement between unions and railroads brokered by the Biden administration in September. Seven have voted to approve it. Four, including the largest union, have voted it down. It just takes one walking off the job to spur a strike.
Lack of locomotion toward paid sick days is a major contributing factor to union displeasure with the agreement.
Collision course: The cost of a strike on the American economy is projected at $2B per day. It could freeze nearly 30% (by weight) of U.S. cargo shipments.
Shipments of farm inputs would be stopped as part of strike prevention measures as early as this week.
Insult to injury: The strike comes amidst transportation woes plaguing the ag economy, including tracking shortages and barges stalled in low water levels on the Mississippi River.
Where this goes: Labor unions have a deadline to ratify the proposal by the second week in December.
Congress has two options to force their hand: pass a law requiring unions to follow the presidential emergency board agreement, or send both parties back to arbitration. President Biden has said his administration is involved in negotiations.
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→ Bean counting. The USDA Ag Census is officially live—and will collect data on a variety of ag topics, including (for the first time) data on precision ag and growing hemp.
→ Fueling up for E98? As big truck fleets look to more environmentally friendly fuel options, some say the E98 blend of diesel fuel could be an option for the future.
→ No export cornucopia. Corn exports out of the U.S. are down recently, thanks to a strong dollar—making the corn more expensive than in other countries with weaker currencies, like Brazil, Argentina, and Ukraine.
→ Meating demand. Japan has approved a trade agreement safeguard mechanism that would help prevent tariffs on U.S. beef and increase demand.
→ Get to know your GMO. According to a new study, misinformation about the potential health impacts of genetically modified foods has potentially reached over a quarter of a billion people.
→ The best of times, the worst of times. Weather in South America has varied drastically this season—bringing potentially the biggest harvest in history to Brazil, while leaving Argentina to struggle with a 50% drop in wheat production.
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BrendanHunter from Getty Images Signature
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The Farm Bill debate is underway… and lagging. A divided Congress, plus other legislative priorities, have contributed to delayed negotiations.
Biden’s goals: The Biden Administration has been heavily focused on climate-friendly initiatives, to the tune of $3B for "climate-smart" projects, which the USDA announced in September.
At the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September, Biden vowed to end American hunger by 2030.
New Leadership in the House: Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA) is likely to lead the House Agriculture Committee in January with Republicans in power. Thompson said he will "ensure that the farm bill doesn’t become a climate bill," and is a proponent of restrictions on hunger benefits.
His other farm bill goals include expanding rural broadband and protecting crop insurance.
Same Senate Leadership: Meanwhile, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), will continue to lead the Senate Agriculture Committee, as Democrats currently have the majority. She plans to work on a bill that aligns with Biden’s priorities.
Soundbite: "Make no mistake: we cannot, and will not, go backwards," Stabenow said. "The climate crisis is real. Millions of Americans, including millions of children, are food insecure."
Sticking point: As always, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka "SNAP", or food stamps) will remain the largest point of contention given its 75%+ portion of the farm bill.
Perspective: "I don’t see how you can carve out anything from any of the other titles, including conservation, and make this budget work," said Curt Covington with ag lender AgAmerica.
Where this goes: While farm bill hearings are in progress, negotiations are far behind where they should be. With nutrition funding alone anticipated at $1.1T, debate will extend past 2023. An extension on the 2023 Farm Bill seems likely.
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Smells like money… The largest pile of manure in its time was mammoth enough to fill a sports arena. Spontaneous combustion fires were the norm for the collection of waste from cattle, hogs, and sheep assembled in nearby stockyards. The pile drew attention in the 1950s and 60s, when the city decided to put up a 15’ fence to block odors (because we all know that works).
Which Midwestern city was home to this heaping, odoriferous pile of gold?
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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MyLand Company + $12M = Scale Up |
MyLand just hit pay dirt: the soil health startup just closed a $12M Series B financing round, with investments by The Borden Family Trust and Waterpoint Lane. The funding will fuel MyLand growth in soil health solutions for growers in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and the Pacific Northwest.
The down-low: MyLand is working toward growth and commercialization of their Soil-as-a-Service™ and increasing the installed base of systems with large growers. It continuously delivers live, native microalgae directly into the soil to improve the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological traits.
Growers have been seeing the results: better growth and plant health in pepper plants, for instance, plus lower fertilizer applications and a drop in costs.
Soundbites: "We see MyLand’s service as an entirely different method to providing growers an affordable and simple regenerative agriculture process; one that has an amazing impact on the health of their soil and in turn, their crops." - Michael Borden of The Borden Family Trust
Borden continued, "We look forward to this collaborative leadership to implement the company’s service and technology onto more farms and to demonstrate its potential for improving the nation’s soil."
"I am pleased to share that Waterpoint Lane has completed an investment in MyLand. We are super excited to work with Dane Hague, Peter Williams, and the rest of the MyLand team on driving scalable regenerative agriculture through their farmer-focused service paired with their innovative systems that have resulted in increased soil organic matter, water holding capacity, soil aggregation, and carbon storage.″ - Ben Gibbons of Waterpoint Lane
Why this is important: In a time when the world is dealing with increased food insecurity and climate change, MyLand is working to improve soil health, reverse the erosion caused by over-farming, and bump up crop yields.
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Sioux City, Iowa. "The manure was the result of profit, success, and capitalism," said famous photographer George Linblade. Read more about this fascinating phenomenon here.
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Written & Edited by Kelsey Faivre, Amelia VanLandegen, Rachel Robinson, Ashley Scoby, and Travis Martin
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