Friday, May 6, 2022
CapitalPress.com 3
Biden proposes to boost U.S. farm subsidies during war in Ukraine
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
WASHINGTON, D.C.
— As part of a $33 billion
funding request related
to the war in Ukraine, the
Biden administration has
asked Congress to approve
$500 million in subsi-
dies for U.S. farmers to
encourage more domes-
tic production of wheat,
soybeans, rice and other
commodities.
According to USDA,
the goal of the request is
to prompt U.S. farmers to
produce more of certain
commodities — especially
wheat — which are expe-
riencing a global shortage
due to the war.
In a letter to U.S. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., Biden wrote that
his request “includes fund-
ing to support the produc-
tion of United States food
crops that are experiencing
a global shortage due to the
war in Ukraine.”
The proposal has two
major components, accord-
Ben Lonergan/EO Media Group
A combine in a field of wheat. The Biden administration has asked Congress to con-
sider approving $500 million in farm subsidies to incentivize U.S. growers to boost
production of certain commodities, including wheat, during the crisis in Ukraine.
ing to a fact sheet from the
White House.
First, $400 million
would go toward increas-
ing loan rates for two years
for food crops including
wheat, rice, soybeans and
oil. Under the proposal,
wheat loan rates would go
up 63%, oilseed up 40%,
and loans for rice and pulse
crops up 21%.
Second, the plan would
use about $100 million to
pay a $10 per acre incen-
tive for farmers to increase
wheat production through
double-cropping wheat and
Wildfire risk rising in parts of the West
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Abnormally dry condi-
tions in New Mexico and
Arizona have caused an early
start to this year’s Western
wildfire season.
Jim Wallmann, a meteo-
rologist at the National Inter-
agency Fire Center in Boise,
said much of New Mexico
and Arizona recorded their
driest April on record, which
led to the wildfire season
starting early.
He said the South-
west’s peak season likely
will stretch to around three
months — until the summer
monsoon starts in late June or
early July.
“The monsoon will arrive
on time, if not early, and it
looks to be strong for the
Southwest and Four Cor-
ners,” said Wallmann. That
would bring relief to the
Southwest, southern Great
Basin and western Colorado
for summer.
He said
the monsoon
most often
does not sub-
stantially
impact other
Jim
geographic
Wallmann areas.
H o w -
ever, “if there are any signif-
icant moisture intrusions into
Northern California and the
Northwest, they could result
in a significant number of
new fires due to lightning,”
he said.
If a farther-reaching mon-
soon packs substantial mois-
ture, as occurred in 2014, it
“could actually put a pause in
the fire season for a week or
two,” Wallmann said.
Recent heavy precipita-
tion in the Northwest prompts
concerns about rangelands,
and “could result in a lot
more grass,” Wallmann said
May 2. “We started getting
reports last week from east-
ern Oregon that their grass
crop is starting to look really
robust.”
Heavy precipitation in
the Northwest through early
June would delay the start
of peak fire season, but fore-
casts see the pattern ending
by mid-May, he said.
The Fire Center’s Pre-
dictive Services unit, in a
May 1 forecast, said out-
looks indicate below-nor-
mal precipitation is likely
this summer across much of
the Plains west through the
central Rocky Mountains to
the Northwest. Above-nor-
mal temperatures are likely
across much of the continen-
tal U.S.
In the Northwest, elevated
risk of large fires continues
in central Oregon into June,
mainly on dry and windy
weather rather than lightning,
the report said. This higher
risk is expected to expand to
southwest Oregon and central
Washington in July.
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Northern California’s risk
of large fires is expected to be
above normal in May across
the San Francisco Bay Area,
middle coast, and in Sac-
ramento Valley and foot-
hills areas. Heavy precipita-
tion improved fuel moistures
but came too late for some
low-elevation plants.
Risk in the Northern Rock-
ies could increase in June
along that region’s south edge
if spring rains do not mate-
rialize and temperatures are
above normal.
The report said that in the
Great Basin, some areas of
southern and eastern Nevada
with carryover grasses may
see higher risk by May and
June. Above-normal potential
is likely by July and August in
the higher terrain of northern
Utah, the Sierra and parts of
Idaho and Wyoming.
soybeans. This could be
paid through crop insur-
ance premiums.
“Through higher loan
rates and crop insurance
incentives, the request pro-
vides greater access to credit
and lowers risk for farm-
ers growing these commod-
ities, while lowering costs
for American consumers,”
the White House said in a
statement.
Advocates of the pro-
posal say it could help U.S.
farmers and boost the global
food supply; critics say it’s
a case of unnecessary mar-
ket intervention from the
government.
Some commodity groups
have come out in favor of
the proposal, including the
National Association of
Wheat Growers.
“NAWG appreciates the
administration’s
creative
efforts to ensure a stable
food supply for the Ameri-
can people and the world,”
the wheat association said in
a statement.
The association’s CEO,
Chandler Goule, said mem-
bers of his organization
“would like to see wheat
production
encouraged
throughout the nation and
incentivize both spring and
winter wheat growers.”
Others, in contrast, aren’t
so sure the proposal is a
good idea. Some members
of Congress appear skeptical
about the use of loan rates as
incentives to increase pro-
duction, and some agricul-
tural economists say it’s
unclear why the adminis-
tration would try to increase
subsidies for crops that are
already fetching high prices.
Critics have also pointed
out that the timing of the
proposal is odd since the
wheat incentive is aimed at
the 2023 crop, not this year’s
crop.
“I don’t think that this
sort of intervention from
the government makes any
sense, other than to read
it in a pure political sense,
that this is something they
feel like they need to do,”
Joe Glauber, former chief
economist at USDA, told
Politico.
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