If the Senate had taken up the farm bill as it had originally planned, then the farm bill would be marked up in Ag Committee by now. Indeed, the plan was to have a farm bill draft in Committee by the Easter Recess, but that didn't happen. The latest plan is to have the farm bill through the Senate Ag Committee and to the floor in April and May, and through the House Ag Committee and to the floor in May and June.Of course, the House-approved Budget Resolution has reconciliation instructions for the Ag Committee that must be reported out by 27 April, calling for the following deficit reduction targets:
FY 2012-13: $8.2 billion FY 2012-17: $19.7 billion FY 2012-22: $33.2 billion
While not the farm bill per se, this reconciliation langu...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
