Shutdown likely to delay key USDA crop reports
Barring a breakthrough between the White House and Congress, the partial federal government shutdown will likely force the USDA to delay next week’s release of potentially market-moving reports, reported Successful Farming. The USDA typically releases a set of reports at the start of each year that estimate winter wheat seedings; the stockpiles of leading U.S. grain crops and world demand for them; and an annual crop production report seen as the definitive word on the fall harvest. Four of the reports set for release on Jan. 11 are listed among three dozen “principal federal economic indicators,” which include the monthly unemployment and inflation reports by the Labor Department.