Millions for Livestock Disease Study and Fewer Beginning Growers
From the Western Ag Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**USDA announced it will provide up to $80 million in fiscal 2027 to strengthen the nation's ability to prevent, detect and respond to livestock diseases.
According to USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, $40 million will support state and regional animal disease preparedness, while another $40 million will assist livestock organizations and veterinary response programs.
The funding will help improve disease surveillance, diagnostics, emergency planning and coordination.
**In 2022, farms and ranches having operators with limited experience tended to be smaller than their more experienced counterparts.
The USDA, Economic Research Service used farmer and rancher responses to the 2022 Agricultural Census to divide operations into three experience categories: "all beginning", "established", or "multigenerational beginning".
While multigenerational beginning and experienced operations had similar size distributions, farms and ranches designated as "all beginning" were smaller, on average.
**Reuters reports the USDA will use an artificial intelligence tool to check data in last week's monthly crop production report, after a series of data errors shook farmers' and traders' trust in its forecasts.
Undersecretary Scott Hutchins says after the USDA discovered errors in September corn data, officials determined the AI tool would have flagged the problem and decided to try it on the November 10 report, which he hopes might restore confidence in the data.
