Farmers will be ‘great beneficiary’ as U.S.-China talks resume, says Trump
American farmers may benefit doubly during efforts to end the Sino-U.S. trade war, suggested President Trump over the weekend. They will get billions of dollars in payments intended to mitigate the impact of the trade war on the agricultural sector, and China will buy “a tremendous amount” of U.S. food and ag exports while bilateral negotiations are ongoing.
Far more corn, less soy than expected after rainy spring
Despite the wettest spring in a quarter century, U.S. farmers sowed nearly 6 percent more corn and 5 percent fewer soybeans than expected during a cold and muddy planting season, said the USDA, based on a survey of 68,100 growers during the first two weeks of June.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Plant burger ‘very good,’ says Perude (Bloomberg): Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue identifies himself as a meat eater but he tried a plant-based burger at Impossible Foods and declared it “very good” and a “good facsimile” of beef.
New crop, new dicamba reports (DTN/Progressive Farmer): The first reports of “off-target” dicamba damage are surfacing in states such as Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Illinois.
Rogue GMO wheat was created by Monsanto (Capital Press): The USDA said the GMO wheat found growing in a fallow field in Washington State this spring is the same strain that was found in Oregon in 2013.
Gottlieb joins Pfizer board (CNBC): Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who left the agency in April, will become a member of the board of Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company announced.
FDA won’t cede control of gene-edited livestock (Food Safety News): Deputy commissioner Anna Abram rebutted hog industry complaints about FDA oversight of gene-edited animals and in an interview gave no signs the FDA would give up the role.
Leeway on cover crops begins in 2020 (USDA): The USDA, carrying out instructions from the 2018 farm bill, has developed new guidelines that will give producers more flexibility, beginning with the 2020 crop year, on when to terminate cover crops while keeping crop insurance coverage.
ON THE CALENDAR
Monday
– USDA releases weekly Crop Progress report, 4 p.m. ET.
Tuesday
– Purdue University releases monthly Ag Economy Barometer, providing a sense of the agricultural economy’s health.
Thursday
– Independence Day, commemorating the adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776: “That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown.” The revolution started in April 1775.
– UN Food and Agriculture Organization releases monthly Food Price Index, Rome.
Friday
– USDA releases monthly data on U.S. agricultural trade, 3 p.m. ET.
