port bottleneck

Thanks to the pandemic, record heat and drought the last two years have been challenging for many growers across the Pacific Northwest. Add on top of that the bottlenecks we’ve seen at the west coast ports, making it more challenging to ship products. But ...

According to one American Farm Bureau economist, the surging Omicron COVID variant poses a big unknown for January’s agricultural economy and other sectors. Omicron is forcing new business and school closures, thousands of airline cancellations, renewed mask and vaccine mandates, and new worries among farmers of input delays. ...

After already struggling with drought, California farmers have lost big overseas sales numbers because of a serious shortage of shipping containers brought on by COVID-19. A study from the University of California-Davis says the state’s farm belt lost $2.1 bil ...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack are asking the world’s leading ocean carriers to get rid of disruptions U.S. farmers are facing when trying to ship their products overseas. They say they want relief for the supply chain disruptions created by COVID-19 by restoring reciprocal treatment of imports and exports and improving service. Oce ...

The 2021 growing season was a challenging one, especially for Northwest dryland wheat farmers. This year’s drought and record heat resulted in low yields, and in some cases a spring crop that wasn’t worth harvesting. Add to that, growing pressures on the input side, thanks to the port bottlenecks up and down the west coast. Cas ...

When it comes to removing the bottleneck plaguing the West Coast ports, Representative Dan Newhouse, chair of the Western Caucus, says there’s unfortunately no improvement to report. “All of the factors that have contributed to the slowdown and the backup of containers and ships of trucks of rail all of those things are still in place, and on some levels even getting worse with the policies of man

Ongoing supply chain challenges that have plagued the U.S. economy can be traced back to stay-at-home orders put in place at the start of the pandemic. Dr. Roger Cryan, Chief Economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said consumers clogged supply lanes with purchases of goods rather than services ...

A dramatic rise in fertilizer prices weighs heavily on farmers and input suppliers as they prepare for the 2022. Prices for nitrogen-based fertilizers have skyrocketed to all-time highs in recent months. Fertilizer price increases are driven by nitrogen production challenges, tight global supplies, rising natural gas costs and steady demand ...

The U.S. Department of Commerce this week made a preliminary determination in favor of a complaint filed by CF Industries. The complaint alleges that urea ammonium nitrate imports from Russia and Trinidad and Tobago are unfairly subsidized by their governments ...

The Federal Trade Commission is ordering nine large retailers, wholesalers, and consumer good suppliers to provide detailed information on supply chain disruptions. The information will also show how disruptions are causing hardships for consumers and harming competition in the U ...