Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to invest in rural America with more than $4.8 billion in payments being made, starting this month, to agricultural producers through the Farm Service Agency’s Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC), Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Conservation Reserve (CRP) programs. Approximately $3 billion in payments will be made under …
EAA Farmers, Inc. Issues Statement on Federal Authorization of EAA Reservoir
A statement from Danielle Alvarez, spokesperson for EAA Farmers, Inc., following the federal approval of the EAA reservoir: “Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) farm families are pleased that the EAA reservoir will be achieved in a way that will accomplish restoration goals while also protecting homegrown food supply. Restoration has been a tremendous success south of Lake Okeechobee and serves as proof that …
Southern Africa: A Promising Region for U.S. Agricultural Exports
Two-way agricultural trade between the United States and Southern Africa has grown significantly in the past decade, reaching a record $1.5 billion in 2017. The region imported $14 billion in agricultural and related products last year and the potential for U.S. export growth is strong, given that many of these are products that the United States produces competitively. USDA’s Foreign …
Brazil Soybean Supplies Running Low
Soybean crushers in Brazil are running low on soybeans as they face tougher competition from Chinese buyers over the remaining 2017-2018 season supplies. A Bloomberg report says crushers in Brazil worked with negative margins since the second half of September. The pace of processing has slowed since the soy rally has doubled premiums this year, putting a squeeze on domestic …
Livestock Groups Petition Department of Transportation for Hours of Service Flexibility
Organizations representing livestock, bee, and fish haulers across the country submitted a petition to the Department of Transportation (DOT) requesting additional flexibility on Hours of Service (HOS) requirements. The petition asks for a five-year exemption from certain HOS requirements for livestock haulers and encourages DOT to work with the livestock industry to implement additional fatigue-management practices. Current rules limit drive time to …
Dropped Tariffs Could Mean Less USDA Trade Aid Relief
Ag groups are largely supportive of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade package. However, many of those same groups say their biggest concern right now is ending retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products. Those duties were put in place after President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue told Reuters this week that, with a trade deal …
UF/IFAS-Developed $50 Device May Help Multibillion Forest Industry
By developing a simple, $50 trap, University of Florida scientists can gather spores from a pathogen of pine trees and hopefully help prevent diseases from causing more harm to the multibillion-a-year forest industry. Millions of pine trees dot the southern landscape, and they’re susceptible to many diseases, including pitch canker, said Tania Quesada, an assistant research scientist with the UF …
Trump, XI Likely to Meet at Upcoming G-20
An Associated Press article says U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President XI Jinping may meet during the G-20 summit in Argentina scheduled for late November. China says it is in contact with the U.S. amid reports of the upcoming meeting. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman offered no specifics but did say he’d seen the relevant reports. Trump’s top economic …
Environmental Groups: No Farm Bill Better Than Bad Bill
The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) and a group of left-leaning environmental groups will hold a press conference Monday to tell Congress “No farm bill is better than a bad farm bill.” The Hagstrom Report says the announcement means the lobbying coalition on the farm bill is officially split on the importance of passing a farm bill this year. …
USMCA Fate Could Rest with Democrats After Elections
Politico says the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) likely won’t get voted on before 2019. That’s because of a packed Congressional schedule at the end of this year, as well as a limited political will to hold a vote. That likely means Democrats will have a huge say in whether or not the deal gets enacted, if as many polls …