The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture crop progress report reveals that only 5 percent of the nation’s intended spring wheat acreage has been planted this spring.
Even though that number is behind the five-year average of 22 percent, it’s slightly ahead of last year’s pace of 3 percent.
Planting in Montana is the farthest advanced at 10 percent compared to 20 percent on average. South Dakota has put in about 2 percent of its acres, compared to 47 percent. Meanwhile, planting is just getting underway in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Attorneys have filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago on behalf of R-CALF USA and four cattle-feeding ranchers from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Wyoming.
The suit alleges the nation’s four largest beef packers violated U.S. antitrust laws, the Packers and Stockyards Act, and the Commodity Exchange Act by unlawfully depressing the prices paid to American ranchers. RCALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said it’s an historic action.
The complaint was filed against Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill and National Beef. The class action lawsuit seeks to recover losses by two classes believed harmed by the meat processors alleged conduct from January of 2015 to the present.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is reminding producers to get covered through the State Hail Insurance Program.
Montana producers can conveniently access and fill out applications for state hail insurance online by visiting the program’s website.
Producers can insure crops against hail damage at the maximum coverage rate of $75 per acre for dryland and $114 per acre for irrigated land.
An application for insurance and more details about payment options have been mailed to producers who previously purchased state hail insurance.
The farmers share of the food dollar has reached an all-time low. For every dollar American consumers spend on food, U.S. farmers and ranchers earn just 14.6 cents, according to a new USDA report.
This value marks a 17 percent decline since 2011 and the smallest portion of the American food dollar farmers have received since the USDA began reporting the data in 1993.
The remaining 85.4 cents cover off-farm costs, including processing, wholesaling, distribution, marketing, and retailing. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson said the data, among other economic conditions, showed “we are in the midst of an agricultural financial crisis.”
-Reported by Russell Nemetz/MTN News
