USDA Website “Goes Dark” at Hands of Federal Shutdown

The USDA website has gone dark due to the federal shutdown, halting the release of several valuable crop and farming reports
The USDA website has gone dark due to the federal shutdown, halting the release of several valuable crop and farming reports

The USDA website has “gone dark” at the hands of a federal shutdown and will shut off its gusher of statistical reports, leaving the nation’s food producers and traders in the shadows regarding most activities occurring in the world’s largest farm exporter, according to a Reuters article.

If the shutdown persists for more than two or three days, the agency’s release of its monthly crop estimates (scheduled for October, 11), which often causes swings worth billions of dollars in the price of corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton, could be delayed. Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co., says in the Reuters article, "We are going to miss the October crop report, if they shut down too long. If you don't have the October crop report, that's really the big one."

Other rippling effects caused by the shutdown include a loss of smaller reports that provide a daily or weekly foundation for tracking crop conditions, livestock, and the farming sector.

The USDA’s public facing page is now dark, with a federal funding lapse message running across the top and a link to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agency Contingency plans. "NASS will not issue any reports on days the government is shut down. We would assess the timing of any affected report releases after the government shutdown ends," a USDA spokesman said.

The nation’s food producers and traders are now being left in the dark due to the federal shutdown, as the USDA site has ceased normal operation including valuable crop and farming reports.