Title 42 Ends Late Today as Biden Administration Takes New Steps at Southern Border

Biden to meet this afternoon with ag panel leaders re: new farm bill

Private exporters reported sales of 132,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations during the 2023-2024 marketing year.

U.S. cotton sales to China remain strong with small reductions for soybeans. USDA Export Sales data for the week ended May 4 showed continued strong sales of U.S. cotton to China along with small sales of old-crop U.S. corn and reductions for old-crop U.S. soybeans. Activity for 2022-23 for the week included net sales of 1,915 MT of corn, net reductions of 3,898 MT of sorghum, net reductions of 6,000 MT of soybeans, and net sales of 106,170 running bales of U.S. upland cotton., Net sales of 8,000 MT of soybeans were reported. Net sales for 2023 included 846 MT of beef and 5,624 MT of pork.

Producer prices in the U.S. increased 0.2% month over month in April, following a 0.4% drop in March and compared to forecasts of a 0.3% rise.

The Title 42 border policy is coming to an end. The Biden administration deployed more troops to the U.S./Mexico border, anticipating a “chaotic” situation. Going into effect will be tougher deportation consequences under Title 8 immigration law, a parole program with rigorous background checks, as well as higher standards for asylum seekers like forcing them to request protection in third countries on their way to the border. There are also plans to open dozens of regional processing facilities in Latin America, and push people to use the notably backlogged CBP One app for streamlining appointments at ports of entry. “I think that there is no question that this is going to be extremely challenging,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “I do not want to understate the severity of the challenge that we expect to encounter.” More details in Policy section.

“I say to the Republicans out there — congressmen, senators — if they don’t give you massive cuts, you’re going to have to do a default.” — Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, urging his party to take a tough stance in negotiating spending cuts to the federal budget, even if that ultimately brings the country to default.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the option for President Joe Biden to circumvent congressional action by using the 14th Amendment to effectively ignore the debt ceiling was “legally questionable,” and while she also views alternatives such as minting a $1 trillion coin as risky, Yellen said she does support the idea of eliminating or significantly altering the current debt-limit authorization system.

For the first time since January 2020, Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency. Renewed 13 times since it was first declared in 2020, it’s officially an all-clear as of today.

President Biden called congressional Ag panel leaders to the White House to have some general talk about a new farm bill. More in Policy section.

WOTUS rule in Kentucky. Several court flipflops. More below.

Proposed EPA rules target power-plant emissions. The proposed new rules would drastically reduce greenhouse gases from coal- and gas-fired power plants — measures that will cost billions of dollars but that officials say will curb emissions that are warming the atmosphere and harming human health. Officials estimate the proposed rules will raise average utility bills by 2% by 2030, declining to less than 1% by 2040. Critics say the proposed rules are too draconian, and will hurt coal-mining areas such as West Virginia where the economy is tied to fossil fuels. More in Energy section.

The White House is putting pressure on Congress to pass permitting legislation as the Biden administration reiterated its support for Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) permitting reform proposal, which includes two-year limits on environmental reviews of major federal energy projects and the completion of the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline. While President Joe Biden earlier this week told House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that he was open to discussing the permitting issue as part of debt ceiling negotiations, White House climate adviser John Podesta has called for separating the two issues.

Several China updates in today’s dispatch. Main one is continued focus on getting some U.S. officials and their Chinese counterparts to meet. China is pushing back on such efforts.

In the Russia/Ukraine war, Ukraine’s weapons will soon outstrip Russia’s in sophistication as the latter resorts to aging stock.

El Niño is likely to form this summer and reach moderate to potentially strong intensity by the winter, NOAA says, accelerating global warming and altering weather patterns across a broad swath of the world, including the U.S.

Equities today: Global stock markets were mostly firmer overnight. U.S. Dow opened down around 150 points and is currently down around 300 points. In Asia, Japan flat. Hong Kong -0.1%. China -0.3%. India -0.1%. In Europe, at midday, London +0.1%. Paris +0.6%. Frankfurt +0.1%.

U.S. equities yesterday: The Dow ended with losses despite a late lift off its lows and slightly into positive territory just before the close. The Blue Chip index ended down 30.48 points, 0.09%, at 33,531.33. The Nasdaq gained 126.89 points, 1.04%, at 12,306.44. The S&P 500 rose 18.37 points, 0.45%, at 4,137.64.

Agriculture markets yesterday:

• Corn: July corn rose 9 1/4 cents to $5.94, ending the session above the 10-day moving average. December corn rose 2 1/2 cents to $5.20 3/4, near the session high.
• Soy complex: July soybeans fell 10 1/4 cents to $14.04 and nearer the session low. July soybean meal rose $0.50 to $419.50, near mid-range and hit a five-month low early on. July bean oil closed dropped 99 points to 52.05 cents and nearer the session low.
• Wheat: July SRW futures fell 2 1/4 cents to $6.41 1/4, well off the intraday low. July HRW futures fell 1 cent to $8.55 1/4, in the upper third of today’s range. July spring wheat rose 1 3/4 cents to $8.49 1/2.
• Cotton: July cotton futures fell 23 points to 80.76 cents and nearer the session low.
• Cattle: June live cattle futures fell 92.5 cents before settling at $163.00 after trading on both sides of unchanged. May feeders fell 55 cents and settled at $205.375.
• Hogs: Concerns about the economic outlook seemed to undercut the livestock markets Wednesday. June hog futures set back from early gains, closing 22.5 cents lower at $84.175.
  

Ag markets today: Corn, soybean and wheat futures faced pressure while holding in relatively tight trading ranges overnight. As of 7:30 a.m. ET, corn futures were trading 2 to 3 cents lower, soybeans were mostly 5 to 6 cents lower and wheat futures were 4 to 6 cents lower. Front-month crude oil futures were holding near unchanged, and the U.S. dollar index was nearly 300 points higher.

Market quotes of note:

• Markets may not be too hasty by pricing Fed cuts this year. Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid says in a note that four months is the median time from last hike to first cut in 13 Fed cycles. The CME’s FedWatch tool puts the odds of a cut in September at 49%, with the possibility of another one in November. “So if May was the last hike then median/average history would take us to September/October.” Reid adds: “Given the first cut is now fully priced by the November meeting (no meeting in October) it’s hard to criticize too heavily.” He notes that Deutsche Bank’s forecast for a rate cut is 1Q 2024.
  
• Ocean shipping returning to normal. Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of ocean liner Hapag-Lloyd, says ocean shipping is starting to feel like a normal year after three abnormal years of Covid disruptions. At the moment, there’s a seasonal calm before the usually busy period in the third quarter when retailers restock before the holidays. “To me it feels like a year that we had before the pandemic,” he said. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if we indeed see a similar picture because as far as I know, Christmas is still going to take place in 2023.” Jansen also said he’s not concerned yet about possible labor unrest at the U.S. West Coast ports as long as the union dockworkers and their employers reach a deal in the next several weeks. In talks drag on past June, he might start to worry.
  
• Halting oil production now would be “simply impractical,” BP’s chief executive Bernard Looney told the Economic Club of Washington, DC, suggesting such a move would risk a renewed economic crisis. “There are people in society who certainly want to see the end of fossil fuels overnight,” he said, in a conversation with billionaire businessman David Rubenstein. “When production falls and demand doesn’t change, there’s only one thing that’s going to happen: prices are going to go up.” He added: “With that said, there is an issue called carbon… It’s a real issue. It needs to be tackled, and that’s why we want to transition.”
  

On tap today:

• Bank of England is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate to 4.5% from 4.25%. (7 a.m. ET) UPDATE: The Bank of England lifted its key interest rate by a quarter-point on Thursday, matching the pace of the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank this month. The increase marks the 12th consecutive move after the central bank started tightening in December 2021 — a few months earlier than the Fed. It puts the main BoE rate at 4.5%. That’s higher than the ECB’s main rate of 3.75%, but below the Fed’s range of 5% to 5.25%.
• U.S. jobless claims are expected to rise to 245,000 in the week ended May 6 from 242,000 one week earlier. (8:30 a.m. ET) UPDATE: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose by 22,000 to 264,000 on the week ending May 6, the most since October 2021, and above market expectations of 245,000. The result emphasized a batch of recent data that points to the softening of the U.S. labor market. The four-week moving average, which removes week-to-week volatility, rose by 6,000 to 245,250. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, claims rose by 13,969 to 234,084, with notable increases in Massachusetts (+6,375), California (+2,924), and Missouri (+2,446).
• Producer Price Index for April is expected to rise 0.3% from the prior month. (8:30 a.m. ET) UPDATE: Producer prices in the U.S. increased 0.2% month over month in April, following a 0.4% drop in March and compared to forecasts of a 0.3% rise. The biggest upward pressure came from portfolio management and gasoline prices. Meanwhile, annual producer inflation eased for a 10th straight month to 2.3%, the lowest since January 2021 as commodity prices continue to fall and supply chains have improved.
• USDA Weekly Export Sales report, 8:30 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve speakers: Minneapolis’s Neel Kashkari Q&A at the Marquette CEO Town Hall at 9 a.m. ET, and governor Christopher Waller on financial stability and climate change at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Treasury reported a budget surplus of $176 billion in April, down from $308 billion one year earlier. That left the deficit through the first seven months of the fiscal year at $925 billion, up from $360 billion a year earlier. Lower-than-expected revenue and rising outlays are contributing to a wider deficit and making it more difficult for the Treasury to stay under the debt ceiling.

Market perspectives:

• Outside markets: The U.S. dollar index was higher, with the euro, yen and British pound all weaker against the U.S. currency. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was lower, around 3.84%, with a lower tone in global government bond yields. Crude oil turned lower, with U.S. crude around $72.30 per barrel and Brent around $76.25 per barrel. Gold and silver were mixed, with gold firmer around $2,043 per troy ounce and silver weaker around $25.18 per troy ounce.

• Alberta producers restart oil and gas operations as wildfires ease. Several oil and gas companies in Canada’s main crude-producing province Alberta restarted shuttered production as wildfires that had sparked widespread evacuations eased.

• Olive oil prices surge. Heat and drought in the Mediterranean have driven the global price of olive oil to almost $6,000 per metric ton, the highest since 1997. Link for details.

• Ag trade: South Korea purchased 133,000 MT of corn likely to be sourced from South America and tendered to buy another 69,000 MT of optional origin corn. Japan purchased 125,974 MT of milling wheat in its weekly tender, including 21,159 from the U.S., 59,540 MT from Canada and 45,275 MT from Australia. Algeria purchased between 600,000 and 720,000 MT of milling wheat – likely to be sourced mostly from the Black Sea region.

• Spain, home to the European Union’s only desert, has suffered drought more severely than the bloc’s other major economies. But battles over water there are a harbinger of conflicts elsewhere, and whatever happens to its farming sector will be felt across Europe. Link to details via Bloomberg.

• A key Colorado River reservoir is rising by more than a foot a day. A large snowpack is melting into Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona, weeks after its surface sank to an all-time low. The reservoir is expected to deepen by 70 feet by the fall. It offers some relief after a historic drought in the Southwest. But it’s not a permanent fix, and Colorado River water use will still have to be cut drastically. Link to details via the Washington Post.

• El Niño is likely to form this summer and reach moderate to potentially strong intensity by the winter, NOAA says (link), accelerating global warming and altering weather patterns across a broad swath of the world, including the U.S.

• NWS weather outlook: Heavy rain and instances of flash flooding are likely across far northeastern Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley today before the next round of excessive rainfall enters south-central Texas on Friday... ...Severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall expected for portions of the Central and Northern Plains the next couple of days... ...Early taste of summer heat on the way for the West Coast by this weekend.

Items in Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today include:

• Grains trade lower overnight
• Exchange cuts Argentine soybean crop estimate
• Firm raises EU wheat crop, export forecasts
• Packers slowing cattle slaughter runs
• Cash hog index continues to creep higher

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said his forces must wait for deliveries of promised military aid before launching a large-scale counter-offensive against Russia. His statement came after Ukraine retook some land outside Bakhmut, a town which has been fought over for months. Meanwhile, CNN reported that Britain has supplied Ukraine with multiple long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Of note: Ukraine’s weapons will soon outstrip Russia’s in sophistication as the latter resorts to aging stock.

— President Biden invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the White House this afternoon to discuss the upcoming farm bill reauthorization, Politico first reported. Invitees include Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Stabenow labeled the session as a chance to “have a broader discussion about the farm bill and all the implications for it,” and that it will show “we are working together in a bipartisan way.” She also noted it was a chance for both sides to share their priorities for the bill.

Thompson signaled he wants to hear a “commitment from everyone including the president that we will get this done and done in the manner I’ve been speaking about. Bipartisan, bicameral, on time and highly effective.”

Boozman said the session is a “step in the right direction” and he wants to see the discussion focus on “the fastest path forward” for the omnibus legislation.

Perspective: It’s always good to have a president’s attention on a big topic like the farm bill. It will be interesting to see if Biden/Vilsack detail any must-haves in a new farm bill. Food stamp funding and implementation flexibility, conservation and climate-smart programs are key possible administration topics. History has a lot of examples of how some White House officials wanted to take a more active role in a farm bill only to find that lawmakers write it, not the executive branch. However, a president must sign the omnibus bill and it it is vetoed, override votes are needed, a situation that has occurred before.

— WOTUS flipflops in Kentucky. Just hours after a federal district judge in Kentucky denied the state’s petition for an emergency injunction to keep the Biden administration’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule from being enforced in the state, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an injection keeping the rule from being enforced in Kentucky. The appeals court in April issued a stay against the rule in Kentucky that ended May 10. Even though Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove earlier Tuesday denied Kentucky’s request, hours later the appeals court issued their injunction, keeping the rule on hold in Kentucky. The rule is enjoined in 27 states but in effect in the rest of the country.

— New U.S. immigration policies target asylum-seekers at the Mexico border. Just before midnight tonight Eastern Time (11:59 p.m. ET), Title 42, in place since March 2020, will officially end, marking more than three years of the pandemic-era public health policy impacting immigration and border control. Under Title 42, migrants who crossed the border illegally could be rapidly expelled from the U.S. prior to formally applying for asylum — a measure that was essentially imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but one that critics argued prohibited people from seeking their legal right to request asylum. Individuals expelled under Title 42 did not receive an immigration record, meaning they could not be criminally charged for unauthorized entry.

Facts and figures. Since the start of fiscal 2023, 1.4 million migrants have been removed from the U.S., and nearly 10,000 smugglers have been arrested. On Tuesday, border officials apprehended more than 11,000 migrants who had crossed illegally, according to internal data, an increase over the 7,000 to 8,000 crossings a day last week and a record for a single day.

What is new. The Biden administration introduced new policies on Wednesday to create “tougher consequences for people who cross the border illegally,” U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said at a press conference.

• The new measures will go into effect when Title 42 ends.
• Migrants arriving at the U.S./Mexico border will be considered ineligible for asylum in the U.S. if they failed to use official asylum pathways or traveled through other countries without seeking protection there first.
• Non-Mexican migrants would be most affected by this measure. Last week, Mexico City signed an agreement with Washington to continue accepting migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who are turned away at the U.S. border, as well as up to 100,000 citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador who have family in the United States.
• The rule allows for exceptions in extreme circumstances, such as a migrant who would be tortured if sent home.
• Also new: a digital campaign in Latin America to counter disinformation from smugglers.
• A U.S. order coordinates efforts between Colombia and Panama to stop smugglers passing through the Darien Gap, a dangerous crossing that hundreds of thousands of people attempt each year.
• Migrants removed from the U.S. can face criminal charges, which could bar them from attempting reentry for five years.
• To prepare for the surge, the Biden administration sent 1,500 U.S. troops to the border for paperwork to free up more border agents.
• Some 100 more “processing centers” are being opened throughout the Western Hemisphere to hear asylum claims there and encourage migrants to avoid trekking to the border.
• President Biden has called on Congress to provide more money for the Border Patrol, as well as more immigration judges and other personnel.

Impacts:

• Immigrants are likely to continue attempting to cross into the U.S. because officials have been releasing them from Border Patrol’s custody to stay in the country temporarily until they face an immigration court hearing.

• After a telephone call with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico on Tuesday, President Biden conceded that the situation at the border would “be chaotic for a while.”
• On Wednesday, Mayorkas blamed Congress for its failure to pass effective legislation. “We are delivering on tougher consequences for unlawful entry,” Mayorkas said. “We are taking this approach within the constraints of a broken immigration system that Congress has not fixed for more than two decades, and without the resources we need — personnel, facilities, transportation and others — that we have requested of Congress and that we were not given.”

Bottom line: Observers say the only way to stop the migrant deluge is to radically change the incentives to come.

— Thune/Klobuchar reintroduced bill would expand sodsaver initiative. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), members of the Senate Ag Committee, introduced the American Prairie Conservation Act. The measure would disincentivize the conversion of native sod to cropland by closing a crop insurance yield substitution loophole in all 50 states. Sodsaver, which has been implemented in South Dakota, Minnesota, and other prairie pothole states, is a cost-saving initiative that reduces incentives without preventing farmers from converting native sod to cropland. Farmers who choose to break up native sod and convert it to cropland face a reduction in crop insurance premium subsidy assistance and a reduction in guaranteed yields of insured crops.

The proposed bill would:

• Apply sodsaver’s prohibition to substitute crop insurance yields on native sod that is converted to cropland nationwide;
• Make crop insurance assistance more reflective of production capabilities on all native sod that is converted to cropland nationwide; and
• Require producers who convert native sod to cropland to certify to the Farm Service Agency the number and location of acres of native sod that are converted in an existing automated crop certification system so the converted acres would be accurately tracked.

Perspective: Thune has authored sodsaver provisions in the 2008, 2014, and 2018 farm bills.

— Torres Small expected to clear Senate Agriculture panel for number two USDA post. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.) Wednesday expressed support for current USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small to take the role of deputy secretary, the number two post at USDA.

— Chinese consumer inflation slows to lowest level in two years. China’s annual inflation rate fell to 0.1% in April 2023 from 0.7% in March, missing market estimates of 0.4%. This was the lowest print since a deflation in February 2021 amid an uneven economic recovery after the removal of zero-Covid policy, with cost of both food and non-food easing further. Meantime, producer prices dropped the most in near 3 years, staying in deflation for the seventh straight month.

Impact: Economists say China’s low consumer inflation points to the fragility of the recovery in domestic demand, as elevated youth unemployment, an uncertain housing market and weakening corporate profits weigh on consumer confidence. “The soft data coming out from the world’s second-biggest economy bolsters speculation that the People’s Bank of China might need to bring forward its plans to stimulate the economy,” Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said.

Bottom line: Fuel prices were unusually high a year ago, making today’s prices look weak by comparison. Credit is also picking up. As China’s recovery proceeds, factories will run hotter and shops will fill. That will put upward pressure on prices — as long as fears of deflation do not undermine the very recovery that would best avert it.

— Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell will head to China today for the first in-person meeting between the two countries’ top trade officials since 2019 in yet another sign of warming relations between Beijing and Canberra.

— China got lion’s share of World Bank contracts. Businesses in China received almost one third of World Bank-funded international contracts, in dollar terms, over the past decade, more than 10 times the value of those awarded to U.S. companies, according to the Government Accountability Office.

— China to stabilize, diversify soybean imports. China will stabilize and diversify its soybean imports, an official with the state’s grain reserve bureau said. Lu Jingbo, deputy director at the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, said China will “develop new soybean source markets while stabilizing traditional soybean markets. He did not indicate whether “stabilizing” meant limiting or slowing import growth.

— China’s new bank loans tumble. Chinese banks extended 718.8 billion yuan ($103.99 billion) in new loans in April, tumbling sharply from 3,890 yuan in March and the lowest in six months. The value of outstanding loans in China increased 11.8% from year-ago last month. China’s M2 money supply increased 12.4% from last year.

— China pours cold water on bilateral meeting with U.S. defense secretary. Stand-off is latest obstacle to top-level dialogue between Washington and Beijing. Link for more via Financial Times.

But… A series of meetings this week during ambassador Nicholas Burns’ China trip represent the highest-level public engagements between the two powers since relations soured over suspected a Chinese spy balloon.

— ‘De-Americanize’: How China is remaking its chip business. Seven months after Washington unveiled tough curbs, Chinese companies are doubling down on homegrown supply chains and drawing billions in cash from Beijing and investors. Link to details via the New York Times.

— WSJ: U.S. is looking at whether a Rockwell Automation operation in China might allow access to critical infrastructure. Milwaukee-based Rockwell provides software and cybersecurity services to computer platforms used in the national power grid as well as by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and other parts of the federal government, among other customers, the WSJ reports (link). Investigators are looking into potential vulnerabilities that might allow access from China, according to a memorandum of investigative activity citing whistleblower testimony.

— India, Canada aim to complete trade pact this year. India and Canada aim to seal an initial agreement this year to increase their trade and expand investment while setting out a mechanism to deal with disputes, they said in a statement.

— Pending greenhouse gas power plant rule blasted. EPA Administrator Michael Regan tried to assure lawmakers on Wednesday that the benefits of the agency’s pending greenhouse gas power plant rule will far outweigh the costs. But Regan’s remarks didn’t appear to assuage Republicans on the panel. The plan has also been met with opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who vowed to oppose Biden’s nominees to fill key positions at the EPA over the proposed regulations that he said are part of an administration agenda “designed to kill the fossil industry by a thousand cuts,” he said. “This administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence,” Manchin said in a statement Wednesday.

— Nuclear power in the West is having a revival, with new reactors opening in the U.S. and Europe and fresh momentum toward building more soon, the Wall Street Journal reports (link). A gaping hole in the plan: The West doesn’t have enough nuclear fuel — and lacks the capacity to swiftly ramp up production. Even more vexing, the biggest source of critical ingredients is Russia and its state monopoly, Rosatom, which is implicated in supporting the war in Ukraine.

— Toyota’s bid to make up lost ground in electric vehicles will add to accelerating efforts to build supply chains to manufacture the cars. The Japanese automaker plans to spend an additional amount equivalent to about $7.4 billion on EVs through 2030, bringing Toyota’s total planned outlays for the period to around $37 billion. The Wall Street Journal reports (link) the company’s new management aims to sell 202,000 EVs for the current fiscal year ending in March 2024, more than quintuple its sales from the previous year. That would bring Toyota closer to its goal of shipping 1.5 million EVs in 2026 and 3.5 million in 2030. The company has adopted a kind of hybrid approach to the burgeoning sector, but it has more leeway to operate as clearing supply-chain woes improve its finances. The company sees a 10% recovery in vehicle deliveries as semiconductor supplies normalize after pandemic shortages.

— Beyond Meat Inc., the plant-based burger maker amid a turnaround plan, seeks to raise as much as $200 million in an equity offering as it contends with falling sales and shrinking cash reserves. Beyond Meat said that it experienced a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as supply chain pressures eased and cost controls produced results. The company also said it expected to see stronger revenue growth in the second half of 2023. Sales for the company’s international foodservice segment rose sharply, nearly doubling in the quarter as efforts to partner with firms like McDonald’s produced results. Meanwhile, the company announced its plant-based Beyond Steak is now certified by the American Heart Association (AHA) under its Heart-Check Food Certification Program.

— Egg drop. The latest weekly egg report from USDA shows a sharp drop in the wholesale prices retailers are paying for eggs. They fell to roughly 78 cents per dozen in the first week of May, from a peak of about $5.30 at the end of last year. Note: These are wholesale prices, so you’re still paying a markup.

In the CPI data out Wednesday, egg prices were down 0.3% in April, compared to March, though they were still up 21% from last year.

— Organic food sales rise. Organic food sales in the U.S. topped $60 billion for the first time in 2022, amounting to 6 percent of total food sales. Link for more.

— A liver drug pushed Italy’s exports to China to a record €3 billion ($3.3 billion) in February. Chinese people are stocking up on ursodeoxycholic acid after one study says it could protect against Covid.

— After more than three years, the United States’ declaration of a public health emergency due to Covid-19 ends today. But the virus has not disappeared. According to the CDC, there were more than 77,000 new Covid-19 cases last week — and this is likely an underestimate, given that many people are testing for Covid-19 at home or not at all.

— A panel of FDA advisers recommended making an oral contraceptive available without a prescription for the first time. The FDA, which is expected to make a final decision this summer, doesn’t have to follow the expert panel’s advice, though it often does. The advisory panel said the benefits of making oral contraceptives available over-the-counter outweighed the risks. Oral contraceptives are available over the counter in Mexico and other countries in Latin America and Europe.

— Outdoor lovers know this time is just around the corner: mosquito season. So it’s good timing for this new study on what makes different people more or less likely to get bitten by mosquitoes, which found that the soap you use can have an impact. “I would choose a coconut-scented soap if I wanted to reduce mosquito attraction,” a senior author of the study said. Researchers from Virginia Tech published a study in iScience examining the impact of four popular soap brands — Dove, Native, Dial and Simple Truth — on a person’s attractiveness to mosquitoes. Link to details via Forbes.

— Senate panel advances higher train derailment penalties. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday voted 16-11 on an amended bill (S 576) that would expand restrictions for trains hauling hazardous material, among other new requirements. The limited number of Republican senators voting for the legislation suggests it may have a tough time on floor passage, and opposition also looms in the GOP-led House.

— House Republicans are set to pass border security legislation today, hours before pandemic-era immigration restrictions come to an end. The bill has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate and is intended to draw a stark contrast with the Biden administration over border policy.

— It’s opinion day at the Supreme Court. The court has yet to issue decisions for several ag consequential ag sector cases, including Proposition 12 and WOTUS.

— Biden to host India Prime Minister Modi in June. The two world leaders will “affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India” during Modi’s visit to Washington, the White House said. Modi and Biden “will discuss ways to further expand our educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as our work together to confront common challenges from climate change, to workforce development and health security,” the White House said. Biden is preparing to meet with Modi at the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Sydney on May 24.

WASDE | Crop Production | USDA weekly reports | Crop Progress | Food prices | Farm income | Export Sales weekly | ERP dashboard | California phase-out of gas-powered vehicles | RFS | IRA: Biofuels | IRA: Ag | Student loan forgiveness | Russia/Ukraine war, lessons learned | Russia/Ukraine war timeline | Election predictions: Split-ticket | Congress to-do list | SCOTUS on WOTUS | SCOTUS on Prop 12 | New farm bill primer | China outlook | Omnibus spending package | Gov’t payments to farmers by program | Farmer working capital | USDA ag outlook forum |