The House Agriculture Committee heard from farm groups on challenges to the supply chain during a hearing Wednesday (Nov. 3, 2021).
The American Soybean Association and National Biodiesel Board also expressed concerns over labor and shipping, but say there is plenty of soy oil supplies for the food sector. ASA and NBB say food industry groups have waged claims that there’s a crunch on the supply of soy oil available when soy is crushed, and that foodservice cannot get enough edible oil for cooking because, those groups say, oil is being diverted to biodiesel and a growing renewable diesel market.
ASA President and South Dakota farmer Kevin Scott says, “There is currently not a soy oil supply shortage, nor is one envisioned by year-end, but there are in fact very real supply chain challenges impacting U.S. agriculture.” Those concerns include labor, barge shipments, ports and shipping containers, trucking and rail freight, fertilizer, chemical inputs, energy, equipment and parts, and water availability.
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The current supply chain crisis could cause “irreparable harm” to agriculture.
Leprino Foods President and CEO Mike Durkin told the House Agriculture Committee Wednesday (Nov. 3, 2021), “This export crisis may well result in irreparable harm to American agriculture as customers around the world are questioning the U.S. dairy industry’s reliability as a supplier.”
The U.S. Dairy Export Council and National Milk Producers Federation voiced strong support for Durkin’s call for U.S. government action to more effectively tackle the shipping crisis and its effects on dairy farmers and manufacturers. Durkin called on Congress to act on ocean shipping legislation, address critical transport-industry labor shortages, increase port hours of operation, and take other steps to help American agriculture producers reach their foreign markets effectively. Across the industry, approximately one day’s worth of U.S. milk production each week goes to exports, which results in about $6.5 billion in U.S. dairy products being exported to over 133 countries.
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