Busy in the field? Here are seven agricultural stories you might have missed this week. 1. J.P. Morgan analyst Ann Duignan said the state of American agriculture is “rapidly deteriorating” into crisis due to declining exports, a poor crop of corn and soybeans and the trade war with China. –… Continue reading
Shorthanded, U.S. agriculture hopes for a role in immigration debate President Trump proposed a “points-based” system on Thursday that would put younger, highly trained, and well-paid workers at the front of the line for legal immigration to the United States. The plan was silent on agricultural labor, but farm groups… Continue reading
USDA looking at $15-$20 billion for new Trump bailout As it did with the Trump tariff payments on 2018 crops, the administration is likely to send money directly to producers in the upcoming round of aid, which may total $15-$20 billion, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday. That total… Continue reading
U.S. vote on the new NAFTA could slip to late 2020, says Grassley The Sino-U.S.trade war has pushed the new NAFTA, a pact between Canada, Mexico and the United States, into the shadows on Capitol Hill. Sec. Perdue is open to carbon markets for farmers, Pingree says Agriculture Secretary Sonny… Continue reading
In Farm Belt, objections mount to ‘endless tariff war’ In a sign that their patience is waning, soybean leaders called for talks, not tariffs, in the Sino-U.S. trade war. “With depressed prices and unsold stocks expected to double by the 2019 harvest, soybean farmers are not willing to be collateral… Continue reading
As trade war lengthens, Trump orders another bailout for farmers For the second time in 14 months, President Trump announced a multibillion-dollar government intervention to prop up the farm sector, a prominent casualty of the Sino-U.S. trade war. Sharply lower farm-gate prices forecast for U.S. crops Farmers growing the three… Continue reading
Missed some ag news this week? Here are seven agricultural stories from this week. 1. The Ag Economy Barometer declined 18 points in April, the fourth largest one-month decline in the barometer since data collection began in October 2015. Producers appear to be tightening their belts, with 74% saying now… Continue reading
Relocation at hand, USDA research agency staff votes to unionize Employees of the Economic Research Service voted in a landslide to unionize on Thursday in balloting that was an unofficial referendum on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan to move the agency out of Washington in the coming months. A vote… Continue reading
(FERN News) Communities in Missouri have been fighting the expansion of large-scale livestock operations in the state for years. But a controversial pair of bills moving through the state legislature would make community oversight of those farms even harder. The bills would eliminate local ordinances that regulate industrial animal farms… Continue reading
China warns of ‘countermeasures’ if U.S. tariffs rise On Wednesday, the Trump administration turned a weekend threat into a promise of sharply higher tariffs on Chinese products and Beijing declared it would take the “necessary countermeasures” — all on the day before ministerial-level talks to resolve the Sino-U.S. trade war… Continue reading
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