Last week on Friday 17 May, WPI outlined the commodity program proposals in the House farm bill draft. Below are some key changes in the conservation and trade titles. The Committee hails its reforms to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as the first attempt at clarifying and simplifying the program since it was created in the 1985 farm bill. The first is incentivizing the enrollment of marginal lands by basing rental rates on the “land capability classification.” That classification shows the suitability for soils for crop production; the suitability for crop production decreases progressively along the seven categories. The proposed CRP rental rates would be as follows:
Class 1 & 2: 85 percent of the county average...
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...
