2023 Ag Exports Take Hit and USDA Meat/Poultry Grants
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**American ag exports may take a hit for the 2023 fiscal year.
According to a new report from the USDA’s Economic Research and Foreign Ag Services divisions, farm exports are expected to total $193.5 billion, down $2.5 billion from the final revised forecast for 2023.
Drought impacts are expected to cut cotton exports by $1.8 billion and grain and feed exports by $1.3 billion.
Beef exports are expected to fall by $1.1 billion due to tight supplies.
**USDA’s Ag Marketing Service announced an additional $21.9 million for grant projects through the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant Program.
The total of $54.6 million in funding will help strengthen and develop new market opportunities for meat and poultry processors throughout the U.S.
Facility improvements funded through the program will help processors obtain a Federal Grant of Inspection or qualify for a state’s Cooperative Interstate Shipment program.
**Western ag groups are calling on the Biden administration to quickly implement the Inflation Reduction Act $4-billion in spending allocated to the ongoing drought in the west.
The groups want the administration to quickly release a Notice of Funding Availability and quickly deploy that funding to address the most urgent needs.
The letter is signed by the Arizona, California, Colorado and Oregon Farm Bureaus, the Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona, Family Farm Alliance and Western Growers.
