News Briefs

Sustainability Roundtable Representatives from the manufacturing, shelling and grower segments of the peanut industry came together recently for a forum on sustainability. Highlighted were the efforts underway by the industry to capture metrics on sustainable practices. Hosted by the American...

Opposition Raised To Changing The Reference Price Farm groups have met with members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in Washington D.C. and urged leaders to raise reference prices in the new Farm Bill since costs of production...

Time To Select Farm Programs Farmers can now enroll in the Farm Service Agency’s Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2024 crop year. The deadline to complete enrollment and any election change is March 15, 2024. Farmers...

Congress Passes Farm Bill Extension The U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate voted to approve a short-term funding bill, avoiding a Nov. 17 government shutdown. The legislation, which was proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), funds the...

Farm Bill Extension Likely During a recent visit to Washington D.C., representatives from the U.S. Peanut Federation met with key members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, as well as senior agricultural staff, to discuss issues...

USDA Announces 2023 Peanut Loan Rates U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation recently announced 2023-crop loan rates for four types of peanuts. The rates take effect Aug. 1, 2023, the beginning of the peanut crop year. Eligible producers can obtain...

No Better Return On Investment Than The Farm Bill The Farm Bill process kicked off in February with the release of the Congressional Budget Office baseline, which identifies the expected cost for farm programs over the next 10 years. It...

Industry Members Talk Farm Bill, Donate Peanut Butter Representatives from the U.S. Peanut Federation recently traveled to Washington, D.C. for their annual spring fly-in. During the trip, USPF representatives met with key members of the U.S. House of Representatives and...

House Ag Committee Recognizes Challenges The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing recently entitled: “Uncertainty, Inflation, Regulations: Challenges for American Agriculture.” Committee chairman Congressman G.T. Thompson (R-PA) says that “enduring production agriculture policies are essential to our national...

Farm Bill Hearing For Senate Ag The Senate Agriculture Committee held its first Farm Bill hearing in the new Congress on Feb. 1, 2023, with newly sworn in USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, Alexis Taylor, a...

Appropriations Bill Highlights The U.S. Congress has passed the $1.7 trillion fiscal year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which was signed by President Biden. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 consists of all 12 FY23 appropriation bills, including the $25.5 billion...

New Ag Committee Leader Incoming House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-Pa) laid out some of his top policy priorities for the Farm Bill recently. His top priority is to get the nearly half-trillion-dollar legislation out on time and avoid extending...

2022 U.S. Peanut Crop  Peanut production is forecast at 5.85 million pounds or 2.9 million tons in 2022, down 6% from the previous estimate and down 8% from 2021. USDA made this prediction in September. Planted area at 1.46 million acres...

Report Acres By Mid-Month The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency policy requires that producers participating in programs submit an annual report regarding all croplands used on their farms. This includes the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage...

Mana To Ship PB To Ukraine  Mana Nutrition, with a manufacturing facility in Fitzgerald, Georgia, is shipping humanitarian provisions in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, a leading Christian charity working in more than 100 countries, who provides food, clean water, shelter...