Candace Krebs
USDEC picks CEO after Vilsack tapped for Ag Secretary
With Tom Vilsack tapped by President-elect Joe Biden to be the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Krysta Harden has been chosen to take his place as CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, the group announced.
Harden served as Deputy Agriculture Secretary from 2013 to 2016 and currently holds the role of chief operating officer at USDEC. Vilsack previously served as Agriculture Secretary for eight years during President Barack Obama’s administration.
Analysis predicts soaring feed costs
The U.S. animal protein sector will face a 12 percent increase in feed costs in 2021, marking the highest year-over-year inflation since 2011, according to CoBank s Knowledge Exchange division.
Candace Krebs
Special to Ag Journal
With dry conditions likely to continue, cattle producers should prepare for downward pressure on the market and carefully consider the benefits of livestock risk protection, a newly revamped federally subsidized insurance product, according to a livestock economist who spoke during the recent four-state crop insurance workshop hosted by Colorado State University Extension.
“We expect to see drought persist and expand. It looks to be quite a tough winter,” said Trent Milacek, Oklahoma State University’s livestock economist for the western area.
“If it stays abnormally dry, it’s probably going to reduce demand for cattle,” he added. “The increased price of cattle feeding and less grazing is only going to weigh on cattle prices.”
Candace Krebs
House Ag Committee leadership announced
Rep. David Scott, D-Georgia, will be the next chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, it was announced this week.
Scott will be the first African-American and first Georgia House member to hold the position. The longtime member of the ag committee and the Congressional Chicken Caucus grew up working on his grandparents’ farm.
The committee’s newly selected ranking member is Congressman Glenn Thompson, of Pennsylvania. Thompson was instrumental in crafting the 2018 Farm Bill.
Colorado conducting ag labor survey
Colorado Livestock Association is urging farmers and ranchers to participate in a Colorado ag labor survey being conducted by Colorado State University.
Candace Krebs
Special to Ag Journal
It’s hard to predict the future when you can’t be sure what will happen between now and New Year’s, as one restaurateur recently put it, but he and other food and agriculture leaders did their best to distill what they’ve learned and how it will help them “future-proof” the coming year during a virtual symposium hosted by Colorado Proud.
For restaurant owners like Adam Schlegel, whose Denver holdings including Snooze and Chook Chicken, the pandemic compressed five years of adaptation and technology innovation into one.
“This is just a crazy roller coaster that we’re on, and I don’t think that’s going to change for the beginning half of 2021,” he said.