David L. Ortega

The drop in international student arrivals into the US is pretty staggering.

Nearly 20% less students traveled to the US this August compared to last year.

🌏 24% drop in students from Asia

🌍 32% drop in students from Africa

Winter is coming. So are tariff-induced price hikes on tomatoes and other produce. - The Boston Globe A rise in produce prices could be a sign of higher costs to come as President Trump’s tariffs on imported food become more significant.

The tomato theory of everything

1/3

Farmers don’t want government payments, they’re looking for access to export markets, and our current trade policy is making that extremely difficult.

Also, four weeks is an eternity for soybean farmers.

💔

Home Builders, and Homeowners, Brace for Impact of Kitchen Tariffs

As if high food prices weren’t enough, now even storing your groceries will cost more thanks to the #tariffs

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/r...

American Agriculture Can't Afford Another Trade War with China American agriculture stands at a crossroads. With our farmers still reeling from the financial turmoil of the past few years, the prospect of another economic conflict with China is untenable.

The warning I wrote in my @newsweek.com op-ed last year is now playing out.

China, historically the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, hasn’t purchased a single bushel from this year’s harvest.

Washington is once again talking about sending 💵 to farmers.

www.newsweek.com/american-agr...

American Agriculture Can't Afford Another Trade War with China American agriculture stands at a crossroads. With our farmers still reeling from the financial turmoil of the past few years, the prospect of another economic conflict with China is untenable.

The warning I wrote in my @newsweek.com op-ed last year is now playing out.

China, historically the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, hasn’t purchased a single bushel from this year’s harvest.

Washington is once again talking about sending 💵 to farmers.

www.newsweek.com/american-agr...

Trump said he was going to make things cheeper, he did not

Grocery prices are jumping up. I explain why in my @usatoday.com story with insights from @michiganstateu.bsky.social professor David Ortega and a Wells Fargo economist. www.usatoday.com/story/grocer...

This is, by other means, version 2.0 of the move of ERS to KC during trump1, which effectively set the agency back and reduced its portfolio particularly on env'l issues. Now they are gutting ERS because of its good work in showing evidence of structural inequities and poverty. A real disgrace.

ERS administrator, others on leave over hunger survey cancellation The Agriculture Department has placed a dozen Economic Research Service employees on leave, including the agency’s acting administrator, as it probes a leak connected with the cancellation of a househ...

🚨Update: Acting USDA ERS administrator among those placed on indefinite leave over the termination of the food insecurity/hunger survey.

This was reported by Agri-Pulse and has since been confirmed to me by an internal source.

www.agri-pulse.com/articles/234...

This morning, the @chicagofed introduced new labor market indicators that combine private sector data with official labor statistics to provide a real-time view of hiring, layoffs and other job separations, and an early forecast of the unemployment rate. www.chicagofed.org/research/dat....

Exclusive | USDA Puts Food Researchers on Leave The move comes days after the Trump administration abruptly canceled an annual Agriculture Department report that measures hunger in America.

Wait, it gets worse. The team of economists and researchers responsible for the USDA survey that measures food insecurity and hunger were put on indefinite paid leave today.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

I’m not that type of doctor, but just pointing out that Autism was recognized as an independent condition in 1943, and Tylenol was introduced (by prescription only) in 1955.

I’m not that type of doctor, but just pointing out that Autism was recognized as an independent condition in 1943, and Tylenol was introduced (by prescription only) in 1955.

Exclusive | USDA Puts Food Researchers on Leave The move comes days after the Trump administration abruptly canceled an annual Agriculture Department report that measures hunger in America.

USDA putting those working on the hunger survey on indefinite leave checks out… www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Exclusive | USDA Puts Food Researchers on Leave The move comes days after the Trump administration abruptly canceled an annual Agriculture Department report that measures hunger in America.

Wait, it gets worse. The team of economists and researchers responsible for the USDA survey that measures food insecurity and hunger were put on indefinite paid leave today.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Hunger is too scary to measure?

USDA just terminated the food insecurity survey. Read their press release and tell me this isn’t politically motivated.

www.usda.gov/about-usda/n...

Serious scholars have examined what happens when we change the number of H1-B visas issued.

Cities that get more H1-B immigrants subsequently see the wages of natives *rise* substantially.

Skilled immigrants bring new ideas, fill labor shortages and make us all more productive.

WSJ headline: Trump Administration Cancels Annual Hunger Survey

The federal government is canceling the leading national survey of household food insecurity and hunger in the United States, @wsj.com reported today. The Dec 2025 survey will be canceled, while the Oct 2025 report based on Dec 2024 data will be released as usual. (1/4)

Exclusive | Trump Administration Cancels Annual Hunger Survey The government has been measuring food insecurity since the mid-1990s but now says the report has become “overly politicized.”

The U.S. food security data to be cancelled by Trump's USDA has been of huge value but is often misunderstood -- and the WSJ piece breaking the news is exceptionally clear about what's at stake

In August grocery prices registered their largest monthly increase in 3 years.

I spoke to my friends over at @cnn.com about how the tariffs, immigration crackdowns, and climate change are driving the cost of food higher 📈 #inflation

"Grocery prices have become a hot-button political flash point over the past couple of years."

Grocery prices have jumped up, and there's no relief in sight Groceries saw their biggest jump in nearly three years last month, a worrisome sign for inflation-weary shoppers. Tariffs are contributing to higher prices for imported staples like bananas and coffee.

Groceries saw their biggest jump in nearly three years last month, a worrisome sign for inflation-weary shoppers. Tariffs are contributing to higher prices for imported staples like bananas and coffee.

Opinion | A Tariff Lesson for Coffee Drinkers A case study in how border taxes raise the daily cost of living.

Taxing a morning drink without giving folks a say has been unpopular since 1773.

www.wsj.com/opinion/a-ta...

It’s been a tough year for Heath Donner’s family farm.

The challenge for corn and soybean producers like Donner is tied to recent years’ abundant harvests, which have driven down commodity prices. Meanwhile reports say that production costs remain near record highs.

Read more at: bit.ly/3JXdmNl

(Reuters) - The property tax authority in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook hasn’t broken rules for tax breaks on a home there that Cook declared her primary residence.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/no-...

Thank you @agbioworld.bsky.social! I’m honored and deeply humbled.

Exclusive: Fed Governor Cook declared her Atlanta property as “vacation home,” documents show A loan estimate for an Atlanta home purchased by Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor accused of mortgage fraud by the Trump administration, shows that Cook had declared the property as a “vacation home,” according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

The mortgage fraud claim against Lisa Cook is false, per documents obtained by Reuters.

Bill Pulte's accusation, the sole pretext Trump used to fire her from the Fed, was that she claimed two homes as primary residence.

These docs show she did not.
www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...