Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg

Farm profits decline sharply; who will pay the price?

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
February 11, 2014
Flat demand for corn to make ethanol and fewer exports to China may halt gains in farmland values after a 37% jump since 2009.

Farm bill with $8.6 billion in food-stamp cuts passes U.S. House

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
January 29, 2014
The U.S. House passed and sent to the Senate a much-delayed bill to set agricultural policy for the next five years, as a coalition of rural Republicans and urban Democrats overcame objections about farm subsidies and food-stamp cuts.

Sushi aid in $1 trillion agriculture bill angers watchdogs

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
June 17, 2013
Tucked deep in the 1,198-page U.S. House agriculture policy legislation is an initiative to guarantee prices for sushi rice. So too is insurance for alfalfa and a marketing plan for Christmas trees.

Senate approves measure to avert USDA meat-inspector furloughs

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
March 20, 2013
The Senate adopted an amendment to a spending bill that would avoid furloughing U.S. meat inspectors as part of budget cuts, lowering the risk of disrupting plants run by companies including Tyson Foods Co.

Wet spring needed to replenish drought-starved soil in U.S.

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
March 20, 2013
Above-average rainfall is needed in the U.S. Midwest and Great Plains to replenish soil parched from last year’s drought and ensure adequate harvests, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center said.

Ranchers send cows to slaughter as drought sears pasture

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
August 10, 2012
The grass in Melvin Korte’s 280 acres of pasture in northern Missouri is dead, burnt away in the worst drought in the Corn Belt in more than a half-century. Now he’s doing all he can to keep his herd of 63 cattle alive.

Food inflation may rise to 3% to 4% in 2013 after drought

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
July 25, 2012
U.S. consumers may pay 3 percent to 4 percent more for food next year, as the effects of the country’s worst drought since the 1950s works its way onto supermarket shelves, the Department of Agriculture said today in its first forecast for 2013.

USDA assesses release timing as trading hours expand

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
May 14, 2012
A change in hours at CME Group means some USDA reports would hit during active sessions, and the agency is re-considering its release schedule.

Mad Cow case confirmed in central California

Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg
April 24, 2012
The first U.S. case of mad cow disease in six years has been found in a dairy cow in central California, officials say.