Avocados and Wildfires and States Sue Over SNAP Delays
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson and this is your Agribusiness Update.
**Lessons learned from destructive California wildfires have given avocado growers a fighting chance to save their orchards.
University of California Extension adviser, Ben Faber learned from the effects of the 2017 Thomas Fire and last year’s Mountain Fire that well-irrigated avocado trees can recover from a wildfire within four months.
Faber cautioned growers not to give up on their trees, as fire damage in avocado trees can be superficial.
**Over two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over its decision to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits tomorrow.
The lawsuit, co-led by New York, California, and Massachusetts, wants a federal judge to order USDA to use emergency funds for food benefits to almost 42 million families who rely on SNAP to buy groceries.
USDA says the program serves about one in every eight low-income Americans at about $8 billion a month.
**China’s state-owned COFCO, or China National Cereals, Oils, and Foodstuffs, bought three cargoes of U.S. soybeans this week.
Sources tell Reuters the country’s first U.S. soybean buy of the season happened shortly before the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi (ZHEE) Jinping.
The deal calls for a December-January shipment of about 180,000 metric tons of soybeans.
However, traders say they don’t expect a significant resumption in demand for U.S. soybeans.
