Iowa curbs foreigner farmland purchases

 

Beware that there is a new law in place for those Canadians buying farmland in Iowa.

Governor Kim Reynolds has signed the new law that requires more disclosures of information and could extend to a subpoena of the purchaser’s financial records.

Foreign landowners are now required to provide detailed information about their landholdings in other states exceeding 250 acres. Failure to report holdings every two years could result in fines of up to $10,000 per violation. 

Additionally, failure to disclose leases or purchases of farmland by foreign entities could lead to fines of up to 25 per cent of the property's value per violation.

The law grants the state attorney general enhanced oversight powers, including the ability to subpoena financial records and land purchase agreements from foreign landowners for investigations into potential violations of foreign farmland owner restrictions.

Reynolds and supporters argue that Iowa’s strong laws restricting foreign farmland ownership are crucial for protecting American agriculture. 

Reynolds emphasizes Iowa’s fertile soil and high production capacity make it a prime target for foreign entities seeking to gain an advantage in the global market. The governor contends that stricter regulations are necessary to combat evolving threats to American agriculture, particularly from countries such as China.

Reynolds and Attorney General Brenna Bird encourage Iowans to report any instances of improper foreign ownership of farmland in the state. 

Bird assures her office will investigate such reports and emphasizes the importance of enforcing the new law to safeguard Iowa's farmland.

According to 2022 data from the United States Department of Agriculture foreign investors currently hold nearly 514,000 acres of agricultural land in Iowa, accounting for approximately 1.6 per cent of the state’s total privately held agricultural land.

Feds budget $5 million for automation

The federal government is willing to spend $5 million for five projects to advance automation and robotics in meat packing and the fruits and vegetables industry.

Two fall within the Canadian Meat Processing Technology Development Challenge. One aims to develop a low cost-collaborative robot to help automate tasks, the other to develop sensors to collect data on fast-moving conveyor systems.

Three are for automating the harvesting of fruits and vegetables.

The funding comes from Innovative Solutions Canada, a program that helps Canadian innovators who want to start, grow, and get to market by funding research and development and testing prototypes in real-life settings.

The search for these technology advances is to ease the labour shortage.

Hormel pays $2.4 million for price-fixing

 

Hormel Foods is paying $2.4 million to settle price-fixing class-action lawsuits by three groups of clients.

A Minnesota judge consolidated 27 lawsuits filed on behalf of 145 plaintiffs in December, 2022.

Hormel is one of a number of pork packers who were sued; together they account for 80 per cent of the wholesale market in the United States.

                           

Tara Terpstra elected pork board chair

 

Tara Terpstra has been elected chair of the Ontario Pork marketing board, taking over from John DeBruyn who did not seek re-election.

Bruce Hudson was elected vice-chair. He farms in the Ottawa Valley.

Terpstra, who was vice-chair, is a director for producers in Huron County.

Elected earlier were directors-at-large  Philip Van Raay, TJ Murray, and Eric Schwindt and district directors Karen Sanders, Tanya Terpstra, Arno Schober, and Jolanda Van Den Broek.

Both beef and hog numbers decline

Statistics Canada reports that both beef and hog numbers declined last year.

The beef herd is at its lowest level since 1989 and a further modest decline is anticipated this year.

Heifer retention is down by six per cent.

The United States Department of Agriculture said sow productivity increased, but not by enough to offset declining numbers in Canada.

There was a two per cent decline in farms reporting pigs. The exodus is greatest in Quebec.

American pork leaders push for gene editing

 

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is lobbying the United States government to ease its requirements for gene editing, saying it fears other nations will gain a competitive advantage using the technology.

The NPPC said the current oversight protocols could be “a barrier to innovation, development and adoption” to emerging biotechnology.

It said it takes too long to approve procedures such aa gene editing; it’s too costly and the scope for approvals is too narrow.

It also said the Food and Drug Administration lacks expertise in livestock biotech” .

It said pork producers see the “tremendous potential in biotechnology to address animal health issues, such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome,” in addition to advancing responsible antibiotic use.

Other nations either are moving forward with such procedures as gene editing, or are already further along in considering implementation of such procedures, which ultimately could give them an advantage over U.S. pork producers, NPPC said in a letter to politicians.

The NPPC recommends that the FDA develop a “modified approval process” for animals produced through gene editing techniques. The move could allow the novelty of the edit to be evaluated against previous applications in order to establish the safety of the procedures, the organization said.

                      

World food prices increased

The United Nations food agency's world price index increased in March from a three-year low, boosted by increases for vegetable oils, meat and dairy products.

It averaged 118.3 points in March, up from a revised 117.0 points the previous month, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Agency said.

The February reading was the lowest for the index since February 2021 and marked a seventh consecutive monthly decline.

International food prices have fallen sharply from a record peak in March, 2022, at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of the Ukraine.

The FAO's latest monthly reading was 7.7% below the year-earlier level, it said.

In March, agency's vegetable oil price index went up by eight per cent from February, the dairy index gained 2.9 per cent for a sixth straight monthly rise while the meat index went up by 1.7 per cent.

Those gains outweighed declines for cereals, which went down by 2.6 per cent from February and sugar fell by 5.4 per cent.

Wheat led the decline in cereals amid strong export competition and cancelled purchases by China, offsetting a slight rise for corn prices partly due to logistical difficulties in the Ukraine, the FAO said.