Ag News: China Ban on U.S. Ag Land Purchases
**An amendment to a House Ag appropriations bill introduced last week prohibits the purchase of agricultural land by the Chinese government and makes ag land currently owned by China ineligible for farm programs.
It was introduced by Washington Republican Dan Newhouse who says allowing China to continue buying up U.S. ag assets would create a Chinese-owned ag monopoly and pose an immediate threat to U.S. and food security. He says the U.S. cannot become dependent on China for our domestic ag and food supply.
**Four steps can help people reduce food waste at home.
That’s according to the USDA that just released new resources to show people how to prevent food waste that stress planning for food purchases, controlling food portions, properly storing leftovers and composting food scraps.
USDA says an average family of four wastes almost $1,500 worth of food each year.
**U.S. cattle producers are once again staring at a historic drought, as some states have yet to fully recover from the previous 2011 to 2013 drought.
According to www.drovers.com, by June 15th, over 26% of the western U.S. was experiencing exceptional drought.
Nearly 98% of the West was experiencing some level of drought, startling numbers considering prior to this, the biggest portion of the West dealing with drought at any one time during the past 20 years was just 12%.