Trump trade rollercoaster heads back up, but with conflicting claims After a weekend in which Trump lashed out angrily at China, calling its leader “an enemy,” Trump was making nice again at the end of the G7 summit on Monday, praising Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “great man” and… Continue reading

Promise of Japan deal caps Trump’s turbulent weekend on trade In 48-hour span, starting Friday, President Trump roiled global markets by Tweeting his intention to again raise tariffs on China and ordering U.S. companies out of the country, then appeared to backpedal, saying at the G7 summit he was having… Continue reading

‘Big pile of money’ for farmers could backfire in Congress The Trump administration enabled multimillion-dollar payments to some large operators in this year’s round of trade war payments by obliterating the usual limits on farm subsidies, said the president of the National Farmers Union on Thursday U.S. apple exports plunge… Continue reading

New agreement will govern imports of tomatoes from Mexico The Commerce Department and Mexican tomato growers initialed a new agreement that, beginning on Sept. 19, will control U.S. imports of roughly $2 billion a year worth of fresh tomatoes from Mexico, said officials from both nations on Wednesday. Lawmakers call… Continue reading

Largest ethanol maker closes Indiana plant, blames EPA waivers At the same time that POET, the largest U.S. ethanol maker, said it was forced to shut down an Indiana plant due to EPA “mismanagement” of the ethanol mandate, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said that “farmers feel the… Continue reading

Vacancy at the top of USDA as Perdue gains a full-time deputy for nutrition After two years with a title that suggested he was a placeholder, Brandon Lipps formally became deputy undersecretary for nutrition at the Agriculture Department on Monday. The Trump administration has not filled the top nutrition post… Continue reading

‘Digital divide’ persists, though 53 percent of farms conduct business on internet More than half of U.S. farm operators say they do business over the internet, a 13-point increase in six years, as ownership of computers and access to the internet blossomed, according to USDA. Nonetheless, the Pew Research Center… Continue reading

Profitability of many midwestern corn, soy farms ‘will almost surely fall’   Farmland values are falling for the fifth year in the Midwest, and one factor in the decline is “muted expectations for farm income” this year, said the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank on Thursday. “The profitability of many corn… Continue reading

Export sales to Japan aren’t fake news, wheat growers tell Trump   A day after President Trump scoffed at wheat exports to Japan — “They don’t even want our wheat,” he said — U.S. wheat growers called out the president for maligning an important trade relationship. It was one of… Continue reading