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FTC Nominee Pledges to Look Closely at Ag Mergers
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would take a look at past merger deals to see if regulators were too easy on the companies involved. That’s the promise of Joseph Simons, the White House nominee for FTC Chairman. Simons said during a Senate confirmation hearing, he would direct a formal study of closed deals, including some in the agriculture industry. He …
MN Students Want GMO Approval Process Streamlined
A group of graduate students at the University of Minnesota is asking Congress to streamline the approval process for GMO crops that produce food and fiber. A DTN article says the seven students are doing graduate work at the Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences. They believe the regulatory hoops that companies need to jump through to …
Legislation Designed to Save Pollinators Introduced in House
Representatives Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts introduced the Saving America’s Pollinators Act. The legislation is designed to protect the health of honey bees and other critical pollinators. Estimates are that the U.S. lost one-third of honeybee colonies between 2016 and 2017, with similar losses occurring in previous years. To help bring a halt to the trend, …
Immigration Debate in Congress Still Struggling
The Senate’s immigration debate ended on Thursday with no deal. Neither a bipartisan plan nor President Trump’s proposal had the required number of votes to pass. Every proposal considered couldn’t reach the 60-vote threshold. That leaves the undocumented immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in limbo and lawmakers unsure of what’s next in the debate. In the …
Trump to Sit Down with Mexican President
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations will be just one of the topics President Trump will discuss with the President of Mexico when they meet in the next few weeks. Bloomberg says they plan to discuss the relationship between the two countries and several pending issues. The meeting comes after several months of sometimes contentious NAFTA discussions and …
2018 USDA Ag Outlook Forum Offers Pre-Forum Field Trips on Farming and Research
Experience farming and ag research first hand with two Pre-Forum Field Trips prior to the 2018 Agricultural Outlook Forum. Early arrivals may take part in two tour options on Wednesday, Feb. 21; the Forum takes place on Feb. 22-23 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, Virginia. Clagett Farm in Upper Marlboro, Md. will host a farm conservation tour …
Syngenta Acquires Satellite Imagery Innovator
Syngenta has acquired FarmShots, Inc., a North Carolina-based innovator of high-resolution satellite imagery that detects plant health by analyzing absorbed light from field images. In a company news release (see below), Syngenta says FarmShots was developed to help farmers, agronomists and retailers quickly and accurately spot field issues caused by planter skips, emergence, insect feeding, poor plant nutrition, crop diseases, …
Southern Plains Drought Becoming “Rapidly Dire”
The latest Drought Monitor released Thursday suggests the situation in the Southern Plains is becoming “rapidly dire.” February 14th marked the 124th consecutive day without rain in Amarillo, Texas, and the 98th consecutive day without measurable precipitation for Lubbock, Texas. The western half of Oklahoma and northern Texas are classified in an extreme drought, with nearly all of both states …
NAFTA Exit Would Trigger 15 cent Mexican Sugar Tariff
Withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would revert the U.S. tariff on sugar imports from Mexico to 15 cents per-pound, the level in place before NAFTA went into effect. A trade adviser to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told a meeting of the sweetener industry this week that NAFTA eliminated the U.S. tariff on sugar, but Mexican sugar …