usda results

This week, Americans across our nation will gather around Thanksgiving tables with family and friends.   Every year at this time, I am reminded how blessed we are to have a strong, vibrant rural America which provides so much for each of us, every day.

Rural America provides our families with a safe, secure, affordable food supply, unrivaled outdoor recreational opportunities, healthy soil and clean water.  Our nation’s leading efforts in renewable fuel and energy are based in rural America, as are millions of American jobs.

Our farmers, ranchers and growers are the most productive on earth.  Their work allows us to feed people at home and around the world. It means that American families pay less for their food than the people of any other developed nation. It strengthens our economy, with agriculture supporting one in 12 U.S. jobs.

The USDA Market News Division of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) works with various processors, buyers and brokers to track a wide variety of commodities. Since September 2010, USDA Market News has been reporting apple juice concentrate (AJC) prices as part of the National Apple Processing Report.  This report also includes information on prices for apple varieties, shipments, and quantities utilized in the processing of apples on a weekly and yearly basis.

The Minneapolis Grain Exchange, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, announced the official launch date for its new apple juice concentrate futures and options contract on August 13, 2012. The exchange developed the apple juice concentrate contract after thorough preparation and collaboration with many segments representing the apple juice industry as well as USDA, AMS, Fruit and Vegetable Market News.

As drought continues across America, President Obama and I continue doing all we can to help producers. In addition to the actions we’ve already taken, we will continue to call on Congress to pass a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that gives USDA more tools to help, while providing more certainty for our producers.

Throughout this disaster, USDA has worked hard to offer emergency access to credit for farmers and ranchers.

In the early days of the drought, USDA acted to lower the interest rate for FSA Emergency Loans from 3.75 percent to 2.25 percent.  This week, USDA announced that we will modify emergency loans by allowing loans to be made earlier in the season – helping livestock producers to offset increased feed costs, as well as those who have liquidated herds.

Access to market information is a critical component in the success of any business. This is the case in the agricultural export industry, where locating available marine shipping containers is often difficult.  For many in this industry, finding available containers can be like searching for buried treasure.  To make the search easier, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) developed the Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report (OSCAR). 

Now is the Time…and the Marcel Picotte Sr. family saw the opportunity and went for homeownership!  Dr. Joe Leonard, USDA Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, and Janie Hipp, Senior Advisor to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for Tribal Relations at USDA, joined Nebraska USDA Rural Development State Director Maxine Moul and South Dakota State Director Elsie Meeks and staff for a National Homeownership Month event at the Picottes’ family of five home in Winnebago, Nebraska. 

At USDA, we’re working every day to create jobs and support the American agriculture sector.   One important piece of this effort is our support for a bio-based economy that will help increase business opportunities for farmers and ranchers, and create jobs across our nation.

Today, there are more than 3,000 American companies producing more than 25,000 bio-based products made from renewable sources grown here at home. In turn, their innovation is supporting more than 100,000 American jobs.

I was pleased to receive this statement in support of Secretary Vilsack’s appointment of members to the Council for Native American Farming and Ranching (CNAFR) from Ross Racine Executive Director  of the Intertribal Agriculture Council.

“The addition of CNAFR to the USDA available tools should provide much needed Native American input to the Department policies, rules and program delivery.  The CNAFR represents a diverse geographical group of individuals which in turn represents the diversity of Native American agriculture and natural resources.  In addition, I foresee the CNAFR providing an additional sounding board for Tribes and individual Indian producers as barriers are identified and are in need of address to facilitate Native American participation in the vast array of USDA programs and services.  CNAFR increases the Native American focus on Indian agriculture and increases the number of individuals pursuing positive change thus increasing Indian participation in USDA programs. CNAFR is another step USDA is taking to insure Native Americans have full opportunity to utilized programs and services to improve the quality of life on our Reservations.”

Nearly 150 years ago – on July 2, 1862, just two months after the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – President Lincoln signed another historic measure, the Morrill Act, which created the land grant university system.

Over the years, land grant colleges and universities have had a tremendously positive impact on our nation, graduating more than 20 million students. And in partnership with USDA, more than 100 land-grant institutions and other research partners have helped conduct the groundbreaking research that remains the envy of the world.

Today the American economy is continuing to heal from the great recession. Unemployment rates are falling, and we’ve added private sector jobs for two straight years. That means more than 4 million Americans are back on the job.

At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we’re focused on growing the economy in rural America and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished.

One important part of our work has been supporting homeowners who are getting back on their feet – and just recently, USDA was able to take a new step to help.

Healthy markets play a critical role in the strength of American agriculture. To help maintain strong, transparent markets USDA gathers and provides up-to-the-minute information from around the country on price, supply, demand and movement.

That way, farmers and ranchers – no matter how big or small – can operate on a level playing field and take a look at the same information as they evaluate market conditions, make purchasing and selling decisions, monitor price patterns, and work to identify market opportunities and project future trends.

USDA started reporting on markets for agricultural products nearly 100 years ago. Today, our employees around the country are building relationships with sellers and buyers, verifying and analyzing prices and releasing reports to help ensure that agricultural markets run smoothly.