The Senate is back in session today; the House of Representatives will return on 12 August. Top of the Congressional agenda will be funding the federal government for FY 2024 before the fiscal year ends on 30 September. So far, no appropriations bills have been passed; the House has taken up one (Military Construction) the Senate has taken up none.
Given that none of the 12 regular appropriations bills have passed, the first order of business will be cobbling together a continuing resolution (CR) for a short-term extension of government funding. Typically, a CR is just an extension of the current baseline spending, but there are a couple of issues that will force some “cobbling”. Those include disaster relief for...
What You Need to Know Today: Crude oil prices extended their rally today, supported by several developments, including escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure and growing concerns about supply disruptions. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to remove 50 perc...
Key Takeaways: The agricultural trade surplus has become a sizable deficit: the balance swung from a $40.1 billion surplus in 2011 to a $40.7 billion deficit in 2025. Imports kept growing while exports lost momentum: between 2020 and 2025, agricultural imports increased 45 percent, compa...
USDA released its October Cattle on Feed report Friday, showing 11.4 million cattle in feedlots with capacity for 1,000 head or more, slightly below last year. September placements were the lowest for the month since records began in 1996, marking the third consecutive month of placements sett...
Total Red Meat & Poultry September 2026 total red meat and poultry stocks totaled 1.97 billion pounds, down 1.4 percent from August despite typically increasing 0.8 percent during the month, and were 1.5 percent below September 2025 levels. The decline pushed total inventories to a new five...
