Washington #13 in Imports and Ag Tractor and Combine Sales Down
From the Western Ag Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Washington state ranks #13 nationwide, importing nearly $4-billion in food and beverages each year, 1.9% of the U.S. total.
Supply chain software provider Trace One analyzed the latest data and found the average Washington household spends 12.6% of its budget on food and beverages, with 11.1% receiving SNAP benefits and 11.0% facing food insecurity.
Unroasted coffee ranks as the single largest food/beverage import into Washington. For Oregon it’s beef, while California is avocados.
##Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a historic $3.3 billion loan to Oglethorpe Power Corporation to help finance its Smarr Combined-Cycle electric generating facility in Monroe County, Georgia.
Rollins says this new facility will deliver dependable, affordable power while helping meet America’s growing energy needs.
This loan is the largest in the history of USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and comes at a critical time for investing in American energy.
**Sales of agricultural tractors and combines declined in both the U.S. and Canada in September compared with the same month a year earlier, according to new data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
U.S. tractor sales were down 16.4%, while combine sales fell 10.9%.
In Canada, tractor sales declined 15.1% and combine sales dropped 37.6%.
Monthly sales figures reflect continuing softness in the North American farm equipment market amid economic pressures facing farmers.
**Federal spending on USDA's food and nutrition assistance programs totaled $147.9 billion in fiscal year 2025.
That’s down 1% from the previous year and 31% percent from peak spending of $213.5 billion in 2021.
SNAP spending was $101.7 billion, down 1% from 2024 and 23% from its peak in 2021.
Spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, WIC was UP 3%.
