Good Morning.
Tell your Uncle Joe he's only allowed two burgers this year at the Fourth of July BBQ. (Sorry, Joe.)
No one's going on a diet. It's just—you guessed it—inflation. According to the 2023 Rabobank BBQ Index (one of our nation's most crucial indexes), the average cost of a 10-person barbecue will be $97 this year. Overall, food prices have jumped 31% over the last 4 years.
The reasons are the usual suspects: input costs, transportation and energy costs, the ongoing war in Ukraine, drought, etc.
So here's to celebrating freedom... but not toooo much freedom for everyone at the party to eat all the extras they want.
P.S. As you keep an eye on your BBQ goods this year... don't let us distract you. We'll be taking a break for the Fourth of July early next week, but we'll be back in your inboxes on Friday, July 7!
Stories:
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Crop Conditions Tank: Drought Persists and Markets Respond |
vertrocknete Maispflanzen
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As drought conditions continue to grip the Midwest, crop conditions are worsening, and the markets are responding.
Where’s the rain? States across the Corn Belt continue to deal with a lack of rainfall—a condition that’s causing counties and municipalities to take some pretty drastic water conservation measures (well, at least pretty drastic for the Midwest).
But farmers are getting hit the hardest.
Crop conditions: As of late last week, well over half of the nation’s corn and soybean acres were experiencing drought conditions.
Currently, only 51% of U.S. soybeans are rated as being in good or excellent condition. That number’s only 50% for corn.
Okay… so what’s normal?
Let’s put it this way—these are the worst crop conditions (for this time of year) since 1988.
Oh… now I get it.
And the conditions are tanking. The percentage of corn in "good to excellent" condition dropped by double-digits in Missouri and Illinois—that’s in one week.
The condition of soybeans also dropped, with Indiana and Missouri both seeing a one-week double-digit slide.
But farmers aren’t the only ones watching the forecast.
Markets respond: Last week, corn prices saw a major jump due to concerns about crop conditions in the Corn Belt. They then edged a little lower, but the moisture uncertainty (paired with a host of international issues) has markets acting a little wonky.
Where this goes: Some areas throughout the Midwest did see some rain last weekend and earlier this week, but the U.S. Drought Monitor still shows an expansion of drought conditions.
We’ll see what happens in weeks to come.
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→ Track that. Two new data dashboards from the USDA will allow people to track grant application statuses, find info on research investments from the National Institute of Food and Ag, and more.
→ Taking stalk of tariffs. There will be a new 50% tariff on white corn imports into Mexico through the end of 2023, as the nation’s trade dispute with the U.S. carries on.
→ Getting a little too piggy. Seaboard Foods LLC will pay a nearly $10M settlement after an alleged price-fixing conspiracy around pork products.
→ Fly away, bird flu. Following the worst bird flu outbreak in U.S. history (killing nearly 60M birds), the USDA is committing $502M to build out its future response capabilities.
→ Mooore conservation needed. The Senate held a hearing about the cattle supply chain’s role in Amazon deforestation, and called out JBS for not doing enough to stick by its environmental commitments.
→ Green for grasslands. $500M in USDA funding will go to wildlife conservation on working lands, through a voluntary, incentive-based program for ranchers.
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Camouflaging Wheat… with Wheat |
Researchers in Australia have discovered a way to effectively camouflage wheat seed from rodents by making the entire field smell like… wheat.
Wait, wheat smell like wheat? Mice use their sense of smell to search out food like wheat germ, the embryo inside the seed that eventually grows the grain. When researchers at the University of Sydney covered test fields with wheat germ oil, they discovered that the overwhelming wheaty smell they’d created also successfully repelled the mice.
They conducted various tests, spraying plots both before and during planting. In fields that were treated beforehand, the mice came in, found no food, and learned not to bother that area, no matter what smells they picked up. When the oil went in with the seeds, the mice had a much harder time locating the seed itself.
In fact, it worked so well that the research plots that were hit with the camouflaged scent had 60% less seed loss.
No Mickey Mouse stuff: Rodents are responsible for eating more than 70M metric tons of cereal grains every year, doing big-time damage to Australia’s wheat crop (a $13B/year industry).
Traditionally farmers attempt to prevent rodent damage with poison, which is costly and can endanger other animals.
Next steps: Researchers believe scent camouflage could be a good solution for farmers, as the spraying equipment they used is common on most farms and wheat germ oil is relatively inexpensive.
Australian officials say they’ll need more testing to look at the required frequency of spraying.
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Almost 75M Americans plan to fire up their smokers and grills for Independence Day. Burgers, steak, and hot dogs are the most popular grilling foods.
But the real question: How many hot dogs do Americans consume on the Fourth of July?
Answer at the bottom of the email.
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Good News for Childcare in Rural America |
We’ve heard the buzzwords "child care crisis" thrown around in our nation for years. But how often have we heard it applied specifically to rural communities? More rarely.
It’s time for a change. For the first time ever, child care is included in 2023 farm bill policy priorities from the American Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union.
This is kind of a big deal: Lack of child care is a huge stress for farming parents. How stressful? Ninety-seven percent of farm families are worried about their children being injured on the farm. And 77% say caring for children impacts how much farmwork they can accomplish.
The struggle is real. Not many farmwork days follow a conventional work week schedule. Meanwhile, most daycares do. Other issues? Finding quality child care, distance to care centers, availability, and like everything else—cost.
Soundbite: "Why is farming the only occupation where you are expected to take your kids to work?" — Kerissa and Charlie Payne, Central Ohio farmers and parents.
Now this: A group of senators have introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation, the "Expanding Childcare in Rural America Act of 2023," to assist those in rural communities with childcare availability, cost, and quality.
Soundbite: "These are common sense, bipartisan steps to make child care more affordable and accessible in rural communities." – Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown
Additionally, this act would allow the USDA to make awards through "child care resource and referral organizations, staffed family child care networks, and Community Development Financial Institutions."
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Americans eat a whopping 150M hot dogs over the Fourth.
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Written & Edited by Kevin Cross, Jen Hill, Amelia VanLandegen, and Ashley Scoby
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