WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2023 – As of Sept. 1, there were 74.3 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up slightly from September 2022 and up 2% from June 1, 2023, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Other key findings in the report were:

• Of the 74.3 million hogs and pigs, 68.2 million were market hogs, while 6.08 million were kept for breeding.
• Between June 2023 and August 2023, 34.2 million pigs were weaned on U.S. farms, up slightly from one year earlier.
• From June 2023 through August 2023, U.S. hog and pig producers weaned an average of 11.61 pigs per litter.
• U.S. hog producers intend to have 2.93 million sows farrow between September 2023 and November 2023, and 2.91 million sows farrow between December and February 2024.
• Iowa hog producers accounted for the largest inventory among the states, with 24.4 million head. Minnesota had the second largest inventory at 8.70 million head. North Carolina was third with 8.00 million head.

To obtain an accurate measurement of the U.S. swine industry, NASS surveyed roughly 4,500 operators across the nation during the first half of September. The data collected were received by electronic data recording, mail, telephone, and face-to-face interviews.

The Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.

Lawmakers want limits or bans on farmland buys by China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, but a USDA official tells the Senate Ag Committee, that Congress never gave it the money to modernize the reporting system started with a 1978 law.

USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Gloria Montano Greene said “The Consolidated Appropriation Act did designate that the USDA needed to modernize the AFIDA reporting system within three years and make it an online system. We did not receive any funding to be able to implement that.”

Instead, Montano Greene told Senate Ag her agency simply uploaded a searchable Excel file—the cheapest way to comply with last year’s Farmland Security Act that updated the earlier Ag Foreign Investment Disclosure Act.

Lawmakers have since offered nearly two dozen bills to restrict farmland buys and leasing, broaden reporting requirements and penalties and ban farm payments to foreign holders. One bill aimed at China, Russia, Iran and North Korea is part of the pending national defense bill. Montana farmer and Senator Jon Tester said ; “When we’re talking about somebody like the Chinese Communist Party, putting up a corn milling plant within miles of a sensitive Air Force base, and our agencies can’t do anything about it, we need to give them the authority—we need to make sure that this doesn’t happen.”

Tester and South Dakota’s Mike Rounds would seat USDA on CFIUS (SEE-fee-us), a national security investment review panel. A House Ag spending bill does the same. Other lawmakers seek to put their measures on the farm bill.

Separately, Iowa Republican Joni Ernst complained, there is no farm bill. Ernst, “I would be remiss not to express my frustration that we do not have at this time, meaningful progress on the farm bill. We are set to let the 2018 farm bill expire in three days, and I really think this is a shame.”

Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow of Michigan responded; “We are diligently working on the farm bill. I’ve been involved in six of them, none of them, unfortunately, have hit the exact deadline.”

But some Ag Senators and others predict the need for a one year farm bill extension amid the political turmoil over spending, a dwindling legislative calendar this year, and a possible government shutdown.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and 21 other agriculture groups are urging lawmakers to find a bipartisan path forward in the ongoing appropriations process to avoid a government shutdown. Sam Kieffer, AFBF Vice President for Public Policy, says the letter was sent to leadership of the House and Senate.

“Encouraging them to approach the appropriations process in a bipartisan manner and do everything they can to avert a government shutdown,” according to Kieffer. “Not only do we need to keep the government moving, but just as important, the longer we delay this current process, the less time there is to consider the important piece of legislation called the farm bill, which expires in less than a few days.”

Kieffer says their message to Congress is simple; “Urging Congress to find a bipartisan path forward that avoids the government shutdown and addresses federal government funding without additional delay, because we need to get to a farm bill conversation. There are very few days left in the congressional calendar this year, and we certainly want to get a farm bill conversation underway, and a farm bill passed before a presidential election cycle starts in 2024.”

Kieffer says farmers and ranchers need a modern farm bill.

“The current farm bill that was signed into law in 2018 is an effective piece of legislation, but the situation now with regard to operating costs and farm inputs is significantly different than it was in 2018, and we need to take the opportunity for Congress to have a robust conversation and consider investments into the piece of legislation that is in place to make sure that farm and ranch families have a safety net,” according to Kieffer.

While U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai visited a North Carolina Turkey Farm to celebrate market access to India, USDA reported increased turkey production this week.

The September USDA Turkey Raised report indicated a four percent increase from 2022. Turkeys Raised in the United States during 2023 is forecasted at 219 million this month. The top six states account for 68 percent of the turkeys produced in the United States during 2023. The largest turkey-producing state is Minnesota, at 39.0 million turkeys, up five percent from the previous year. North Carolina produced 29.0 million turkeys, up four percent from a year ago.

Arkansas produced 27.5 million turkeys, up six percent from last year. Indiana produced 20.0 million turkeys, unchanged from last year. Missouri produced 18.0 million turkeys, up six percent from last year, and Virginia is up one percent from the previous year at 15.4 million turkeys. Turkeys raised preliminary estimates include young turkeys intended for meat production and breeder turkeys reaching maturity during the calendar year.

The Department of Agriculture reports record demand for funding to advance affordable and reliable clean energy in rural America.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “The Inflation Reduction Act is driving investment in rural communities across the nation, particularly in places that for too long have been left out or left behind.” The Inflation Reduction Act made nearly $13 billion available to support clean energy infrastructure for rural America through USDA Rural Development programs. In May, USDA made $9.7 billion available under the New Empowering Rural America program for member-owned rural electric cooperatives, and received 157 proposals from nearly every state. Also in May, USDA made $1 billion available under Powering Affordable Clean Energy to fund new clean energy projects and energy storage in rural America.

So far, USDA has received requests for more than $7.8 billion through letters of interest. USDA has also seen substantially more interest than funding available under the Inflation Reduction Act in USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The Department of Agriculture this week released the 2022 Potatoes Summary. The report presents potato estimates of acreage, yield per acre, production, farm disposition, season average price, value, and utilization of sales, including processing for the 2022 season.

All potato production in 2022 totaled 399 million hundred-weight, down three percent from the 2021 crop. Harvested area, at 911,400 acres, was down one percent from 2021. The average yield of 438 hundred-weight per acre was down six hundred-weight from the previous year. The value of all potatoes sold in 2022, at $4.80 billion, increased 23 percent from the previous year. The average price, at $12.90 per hundred-weight, was up $2.70 from 2021.

The quantity of potatoes sold from the 2022 crop totaled 373 million hundred-weight, down three percent from 2021. Potatoes used for chips increased three percent, while frozen French fries utilization dropped one percent, and dehydrated potatoes fell seven percent.

Legislation introduced recently would give kids a nutritionally equivalent, plant-based milk option to cow’s milk in the National School Lunch Program.

Welcomed by animal rights groups, the Addressing Digestive Distress in Stomachs of Our Youth Act requires public schools to offer a nutritionally equivalent soy milk option and allows USDA to reimburse schools for those purchases, just as it does for cow’s milk. Animal Wellness Action President Wayne Pacelle says, “The federal government is overreaching by subsidizing and promoting milk beyond its natural appeal to consumers.” Under law, USDA provides a reimbursement of $1 billion for cow’s milk to public schools across the country, placing a carton of milk on every tray.

Earlier this year, the National Milk Producers Federation responded, “The latest ploy among the vegan, animal rights and plant-based lobbies is to suddenly paint themselves as social justice crusaders, demanding that their nutritionally inferior products should now be treated as legitimate milk substitutes in federal nutrition programs.”

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice this week filed a complaint against eBay. The complaint alleges eBay allows the unlawful selling of pesticides, violating the Clean Air Act, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, commonly known as FIFRA and the Toxic Substances Control Act.

FIFRA prohibits the unlawful distribution or sale of unregistered, misbranded, and restricted-use pesticides, and authorizes EPA to issue Stop Sale, Use, or Removal Orders. The complaint also alleges that eBay has unlawfully distributed or sold at least 23,000 such products, and that some of those sales directly violate a stop sale order issued to eBay in 2020 and amended in 2021. Examples of these pesticides include a high-toxicity insecticide banned in the U.S., restricted-use pesticides that only certified applicators may apply, and products fraudulently claiming to protect users against SARS-CoV-2.

The complaint also targets aftermarket parts that defeat motor vehicle emission controls.