Agribusiness Update for Monday 8/5/13

This is the Agribusiness Update...I’m Greg Martin...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas told the Agribusiness Club of Washington Thursday that the nutrition bill working group established by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has reached agreement on a nutrition bill that would cut spending by 40-billion dollars over 10 years. The farm bill approved by the Senate only makes four-billion dollars in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

A recall of ground beef by Kansas’ National Beef Packing Company due to the potential of E.coli contamination could affect buyers in the northwest. The product was sold in Haggen stores in Snohomish and Oregon City, as well as TOP Food & Drug stores in Olympia, Woodinville and Grays Harbor, Wash. There have not been any reports of illness to date.

USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation has announced interest rates for August 2013. The CCC borrowing rate-based charge is 0.125-percent - unchanged from July. The interest rate for commodity and marketing assistance loans disbursed during the month of August is also unchanged from July at 1.125-percent.

That’s today’s Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network.