California-Oregon Border Farmers Dry and Tractor/Combine Sales Down
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**Food production along the California-Oregon border is due to suffer this year, with federal water cuts impacting farmers.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it expects to deliver less than 15% of allocations from the Klamath Water Project.
In good years, the Klamath Basin can produce 50,000 pounds of potatoes or 6,000 pounds of wheat per acre.
But Ben DuVal, president of the Klamath Water Users Association, predicts vast acreage will be unused in 2022.
**March saw the first decline in ag tractor and combine sales since July of last year, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
U.S. total farm tractor sales fell 21.1 % for the month of March compared to 2021.
U.S. combine sales for the month dropped 10.2% to 343 units sold.
Total farm tractor sales are now down 7.9% year-to-date, while combines sales are down 19.2%.
**The number of highly pathogenic avian influenza cases in the U.S. are outpacing the 2014/2015 outbreak.
But the American Farm Bureau Federation says the higher numbers might be attributed to improvements in detection and reporting protocols.
Farm Bureau economists found as of April 7, there have been more than 600 detections of bird flu in wild birds across 31 states, and 158 detections in commercial and backyard flocks across 25 states.