Impeachment inquiry casts shadow on ‘new NAFTA’
President Trump is creating instability in the farm sector with his periodic threats to withdraw from NAFTA, said the senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Also at an Agriculture hearing on Wednesday, farm groups called for speedy passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which has been put in doubt by the opening of an impeachment inquiry in the House.
Japan agrees to lower tariffs on U.S. farm exports
U.S. farmers will gain broader access to Japanese consumers under an agreement signed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Trump on Wednesday in New York. The White House called the deal “a major win for our farmers, ranchers, and growers.”
Peterson increasingly isolated as Dems take aim at Trump
Ninety percent of House Democrats are on record in support of an impeachment inquiry, making House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson an outlier in arguing against it. Sometimes called the most conservative Democrat in the House, Peterson is nearly alone among members of his committee in questioning the investigation.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Report details warming’s impact on oceans (New York Times): A new United Nations report says that rising temperatures are dramatically affecting the world’s oceans, leading to, among other things, depleted fish populations and more intense natural disasters.
China buys more soybeans (USDA): Private exporters reported the sale of 581,000 tonnes (21.3 million bushels) of soybeans worth $188 million to China on Wednesday, raising the sales total since Sept. 13 to 1.3 million tonnes.
Britain launches insect study (Washington Post): A group of meteorologists is teaming up with insect researchers in a collaboration called BioDAR to monitor flying insect activity across the United Kingdom.
Climate change threatens wheat crop (Thomson Reuters Foundation): Droughts caused by global warming could devastate up to 60 percent of the world’s wheat-growing regions by the end of the century, imperiling a staple food that provides one-fifth of the world’s calories, researchers say.
More turmoil at Dean (Wall Street Journal): As its market value continues to decline, Dean Foods’ finance chief stepped down this week after just more than a year in the role.
