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Smithfield Foods has agreed to a $2 million settlement to resolve allegations of child labor law violations at its plant in St. James, Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry reported that the company’s subsidiary, Smithfield Packaged Meats, employed 11 minors, aged 14 to 17, from April 2021 to April 2023. Three of these children were hired at the age of 14. Investigators found that nine minors worked beyond legally permissible hours, and all 11 performed hazardous tasks prohibited for individuals younger than 18. The settlement includes measures to prevent future violations. State Labor Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach emphasized that…

What Happened The Nov. 8 USDA World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report confirmed what many had thought: Dry weather in August impacted U.S. soybean yield. However, at 51.7 bushels per acre (bpa), the November figure was lower than the pre-report estimate of 52.9 bpa and down 1.4 bushels from the previous month. Traders were quick to respond with advancing prices. Why This Is Important High crop ratings at the end of summer had some private estimates suggesting yield may have been closer to 54 or 55 bpa. However, the October estimate remained unchanged at 53.1 bpa from September,…

DAILY Bites The SEC charged Elanco with fraud, alleging it misled investors by overstating revenue growth and demand through undisclosed sales incentives. From 2019 to 2020, Elanco was believed to have used discounts and rebates to boost sales, raising concerns about inventory and future revenue impacts. Elanco agreed to a $15 million settlement and a cease-and-desist order without admitting wrongdoing. DAILY Discussion The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced antifraud charges against Elanco Animal Health Inc., alleging the company misled investors by misrepresenting its revenue growth and end-user demand. According to the SEC, the livestock medication company is accused of…

By Ryan Hanrahan Bloomberg’s Kim Chipman, Joe Mathieu, and Tarso Veloso reported Tuesday that “President-Elect Donald Trump’s threat of mass deportations risks hurting the domestic agriculture sector already struggling with labor shortages.” “That’s according to Matt Carstens, chief executive officer of Iowa’s biggest farm cooperative, who said Trump’s plan should be approached carefully. Farming would be one of the biggest US sectors hit should the incoming administration move forward with kicking potentially millions of undocumented immigrants out of the country,” Chipman, Mathieu and Veloso reported. “‘We’ve got to make sure there’s a balance there, that agriculture’s voice is heard,’ Landus…

By Carl Zulauf, Gary Schnitkey, Jonathan Coppess, and Nick Paulson This article continues the assessment of the FARM (Farmer Assistance and Revenue Mitigation) Act of 2024 initiated in the Nov. 4, 2024 farmdoc daily. FARM’s coverage of current estimated 2024 economic loss varies considerably by crop, potentially prompting the “fairness issue.” Moreover, commodity program payments will not be known until October 2025. This information hole increases the odds of miscompensation, providing another reason to move commodity program payments forward from the end of the marketing year (Farmdoc Daily, Oct. 30, 2024). Estimated 2024 Economic Loss Economic loss from 2024 production of barley, corn,…

Usually, late November is a busy time for farmer meetings and webinars. This is also a time for farmers to consider making cash and new crop sales. The crop is in the bin, and for many farmers it is an important time to meet with lenders, agronomists, and marketing advisers, and begin to put the numbers together for this year and to make plans and budgets for the next crop season.  Let’s look at alternatives and strategies to use for the 2024 crops you need to sell. I cannot make one master plan for every farm, since everyone’s breakeven, storage, and debt…

by Cami Koons Corn harvest in Iowa is four days ahead of last year’s harvest and nearly two weeks ahead of the average harvest schedule, according to the Iowa crop progress and condition report.  The report for Nov. 4 through Nov. 10 shows south central Iowa lags behind the rest of the state with more than 15% of its corn still in the field. Overall, 95% of Iowa’s corn harvested for grain has now been harvested.  Iowa’s harvest is comparable with the other top corn-producing states in the country — two of which, Texas and North Carolina, have completed their…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a final decision proposing updates to the pricing formulas used in all 11 Federal Milk Marketing Orders. These changes, requested by the dairy industry, aim to revise uniform pricing formulas and factors and require approval through a producer referendum before implementation. The decision includes several key updates: the delayed implementation period for revised skim milk composition factors has been reduced from 12 months to 6 months, a $0.0015 marketing cost factor has been added to all make allowances, the methodology for determining the nonfat dry milk make allowance has been…

Idea of the Month: Easy, safer elevator for second-floor-access I built a second floor in my shop for parts storage. After two near-falls from the ladder, I decided to build an elevator,” says M.W. (Woody) Wood, of Lula, Mississippi.  Wood planned to rewire a winch, but was told by a repair shop that if the power went out, the elevator would plunge; he needed a hoist, not a winch. According to Wood, “I swapped out my winch for a 1-ton P&H Zip-Lift, and that made all the difference.”  Wood used the cage from an IBC tank to make a carriage.…

A federal lawsuit accuses the City of Shamrock, Texas, of providing contaminated water that led to the death of 650 cattle owned by Kellen Allison Cattle Company. The company is suing the city and several petroleum producers for damages exceeding $1 million. According to the lawsuit, the cattle operation began using city water on June 3, and the cattle exhibited severe symptoms almost immediately. The affected cows reportedly started vomiting, displayed “zombie-like” behavior, and some even suffocated against fences. The grow yard — which has historically experienced a low death rate of 3 percent or less — faced an unprecedented…