Ag in the News

04/30/2008

National

Russia suspends pork imports from four U.S. plants
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Russia has banned imports of pork from four U.S. processing plants, claiming to have detected an antibiotic in the meat. MORE!

Hog price run-up surprises analysts, may be driven by domestic demand
A nearly 20 percent run-up in live hog prices over the past two weeks has well surpassed even the normal seasonal April/May price climb, leaving analysts interviewed by Meatingplace.com to only guess that strong domestic demand is the driver. MORE!

Report urges industrial farm reform
Industrial animal farms where large numbers of livestock are raised require a far-reaching overhaul, according to a report by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. MORE!

FMI president to retire
The Food Marketing Institute on Tuesday announced that FMI President and CEO Tim Hammonds will retire. MORE!

Boston Market rolls out Italian-inspired menu items
Boston Market announced that it is introducing a new line of items for spring, including a Tuscan Herb Rotisserie Chicken dish, inspired by Italian flavors. MORE!

Wrap Up

Firmer overnight tone. Soybean futures were 8 to 11 cents higher, corn fractionally to 1 cent higher and Chicago wheat 2 to 4 cents higher in overnight trade. That's how things shape up for this final trading day of April 2008.

Waiting on the Fed. The Federal Reserve is expected cut interest rates another 25 basis points at the conclusion of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting around 1:15 p.m. CT. Financial traders will be most intently looking for signs of future moves in post- meeting comments.

Farm bill still awaited. Tuesday's public session of the House-Senate conference committee was postponed, and so far, no new one has been scheduled. Rumblings in Washington late Tuesday were that a deal was at hand, but so far there's no confirmation that lawmakers have been able to bridge remaining gaps.

Additional food aid. Besides the $200 million the U.S. has pledged from the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has pledged an additional $40 million in food aid. USAID will provide emergency food aid for programs in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Haiti, Bangladesh, Somalia, Mauritania, Uganda, and Sudan.