In a new Executive Order issued on Saturday, December
6th, President Trump ordered his administration to examine
anti-competitive behavior, price-fixing, and the effects of foreign
ownership on the food supply chain. Under the order, the Department of
Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will each establish a "Food
Supply Chain Security Task Force" to investigate food-related
industries to determine whether anti-competitive practices exist in the
food supply chains, as well as whether control at food industries by
foreign companies is increasing the costs of food or creating a
national or economic security threat to Americans. The new Executive
Order is a reversal for Trump, who signed an order in August ending EO
14036 from the Biden Administration that had directed agencies to look
at the effects of corporate consolidation on industries including
agriculture and food. It also directed federal agencies to examine the
rising power of foreign monopolies and cartels on the food industry. In
the new order, there is no mention of any role for the Department of
Agriculture. The DOJ and FTC will report their findings to Congress
within 180 days, and follow up within a year to recommend possible
actions by Congress to deal with food industry competition. On November
7th, President Trump used social media to call for the DOJ to
immediately begin a new investigation into beef packers, specifically
focusing attention on foreign-owned packers (JBS and Mafrig).
JBS announced it will close its Swift Beef Company
facility in Riverside, California, on February 2nd, eliminating 374
jobs. This is a case-ready plant. JBS planned the closure as part of a
strategic initiative to optimize its value-added and case-ready
business and simplify operations across its network.
Wisconsin's first known case of avian flu in dairy
cattle was confirmed, APHIS announced on December 14th. USDA said that
dairy cattle in 18 states have been infected since the start of the
outbreak in March 2024, but AFPHIS has seen cases in only a small
number of states this year. The FDA is confident that pasteurization is
effective, and that the milk supply is safe.
Grains
The Trump Administration rolled out the long-awaited
farmer aid package on Monday, December 8th, called the Farmer Bridge
Alliance Program (FBA). The FBA is a $12 billion aid package, with $11
billion provided to commodity producers, while USDA will hold back $1
billion for specialty crop producers. USDA will use FSA - reported
acres for crops, and farmers will have until December 19th to make sure
their 2025 acreage is correct. Commodity-specific payment rates will be
released at the end of December, and will be distributed by the end of
February. USDA officials also said the program will have a $115,000
payment limit, and producers or legal entities will also have an
adjusted gross income cap of $900,000. The $12 billion came from
Commodity Credit Corporation funding that was moved into a separate
fund before the government shutdown.
USDA released their 10-year baseline acreage forecasts
on December 8th. Corn acreage for the 2026/27 crop year was estimated
at 95.0 million acres (down 3.7 million); soybean acreage at 85.0
million acres (up 3.9 million); and wheat acreage at 44.0 million acres
(down 1.3 million).
On the USDA December Supply/Demand report, corn exports
were increased by 125 million bushels from the previous month to 3.20
billion, which is record-large. This in turn dropped ending stocks of
corn to 2.029 billion bushels, which is still 497 million bushels
larger than this past year. Soybean ending stocks were left unchanged
at 290 million bushels, and wheat ending stocks were unchanged at 901
million bushels.
Farmers in regions prone to wet springs will no longer
have the option to buy prevented planting coverage under a rule change
by USDA. The FCIC published a rule in the Federal Register that
eliminated the ability of farmers to increase their prevent plant
coverage, and the rule makes a point of noting the change was made
because the buy-up coverage is mainly benefiting farmers in the Dakotas
seeking to plant in the Prairie Pothole Region where the majority of
the prevent plant crop insurance payments are made. The FCIC also noted
that the prevent plant option isn't needed because Congress will take
care of those producers with ad-hoc payments later on.