Limited Initial Impact on Ag Exports – February 12, 2020

Limited initial impact on U.S. ag exports from China deal

 

The “phase one” China-U.S. trade agreement, which takes effect at the end of this week, calls for China to buy $40 billion a year of U.S. food, agricultural, and seafood products this year and in 2021. Yet there will be limited immediate impact on U.S. sales overall, USDA analysts indicated on Tuesday.

 

Consolidation and climate change threaten U.S. fisheries.

 

While overfishing no longer threatens U.S. fisheries, other pressing sustainability issues, such as finfish aquaculture and consolidation, top the list of concerns among fishers and fisheries experts, according to panelists who spoke at Talks and Eats in New York City on Monday.

TODAY’S QUICK HITS

‘Fully supportive’ of tighter subsidy rules (Ag Insider): Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who says farm subsidies should be directed toward family-size farms, said he is “fully supportive” of a Trump proposal to allow only one “manager” per farm to collect subsidies. Grassley sought the restriction in the 2018 farm bill as a way to help young and beginning farmers.

 

Court ruling buoys ethanol hopes (DTN/Progressive Farmer): A U.S. appellate court decision could force the EPA to end, at least in its current form, its system of exempting small-volume refiners from the Renewable Fuel Standard.

 

Meat means animal, say lawmakers (Capital News Service): A Republican-backed bill in the Maryland state Senate would bar cell-based meat or products made with plant or insect protein from being sold as “meat.”

 

Lowest palm oil stocks in a decade (USDA): High global demand will pull down global stocks of palm oil to the lowest level since 2009/10, aided by limited supplies in Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

Meat tax backed by Greens, socialists (Euractiv): Green Party and socialist members of the European Parliament called for a “sustainability charge” on meat to cover its environmental costs as part of the new EU food policy.

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