News Briefs

2018 Peanut Crop Value According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, the price of peanuts averaged $0.214 per pound ($428 ton) last season, 6.5 percent lower than 2017. The value of the 2018 peanut crop at farm level is $1,155,709,000,...

Farm Bill Called ‘A Miracle’ At the National Peanut Buying Points Association Annual Convention, U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee Chairman, Collin Peterson (D-Mn) said, “It was a miracle with all the problems we had to face that we got...

Fighting For Disaster Relief U.S. Senators David Perdue (R-GA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) introduced a supplemental disaster relief package to provide critical funding for Georgia and other states recovering from recent hurricane and wildfire damage. “Farmers in Georgia and other states...

2018 Farm Bill Becomes Law President Donald Trump signed a $428 billion Farm Bill into law Dec. 20. It is entitled, “The Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018.” At the signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., he pledged “through fires, floods...

Farm Bill Provides Stability The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 passed out of the U.S. Senate by a vote of 87 to 13 and the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 369 to 47. At press time, the...

2018 Farm Bill The 2014 Farm Bill expired on Sept. 30, 2018. Congressional leaders now face the task of finding a compromise that can be approved by both chambers in a lame-duck session after the mid-term election. President Trump must...

Senate Ag Comm. Passes Bill The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry marked up the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 and delivered on promises for bipartisan legislation from Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow,...

Start Of Farm Bill Fight On April 18, 2018, the House Agriculture Committee passed its 2018 Farm Bill out of committee on a straight party-line vote. All republicans voted for the bill, and all democrats voted against it. The committee has...

Farm Bill Introduced In mid-April, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-Texas) introduced the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 — legislation to address the economic challenges facing the nation’s farmers and ranchers, while making historic investments in opportunities for...

2017 Crop Value According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, the price of peanuts last season averaged $0.230 per pound, or $460 per ton, 21.6 percent higher than 2016. The value of the 2017 peanut crop at farm level is...

Generic Base Eliminated Congress cleared a budget agreement and disaster-aid package that has a significant impact on farmers for the 2018 crop year. The budget agreement passed the House by a vote of 240 to 186 and passed the Senate...

It had been more than 25 years since a sitting U.S. President addressed the American Farm Bureau Federation, but that’s why President Donald Trump is different. Not only did he give a rousing speech at the Farm Bureau’s 99th...

Crisis Coming For Trucking The new rules governing trucking will cause driver shortages according to Larry Barton of Great West Casualty Company, who further told members of the American Peanut Council that the industry needs to be aware. Truck drivers...

Farm Bill Landing Page Ahead of the 2018 Farm Bill, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) announced the launch of a new online resource that can be accessed through the committee’s current website, https://agriculture.house.gov/farmbill. This landing page is...

Blanched Peanuts Reclassified After diligent work from the American Peanut Council, the World Customs Organization has determined that blanched peanuts should be considered as raw product and will be placed under the tariff classification code 12.02 where other raw peanuts...