President Trump’s aggressive trade strategy of threatening to pull out of existing agreements without big concessions to the U.S. is being both defended and criticized in farm circles. President Trump is again taking a hard line with U.S. trading partners in Asia, after first dumping TPP and now threatening to ditch NAFTA. It’s a strategy that has many, especially in …
Less Than Two Percent of Food Violates Pesticide Residue Standards
Every year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tests food for pesticide residues that violate the limits allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The FDA enforces those standards in both domestically-produced food as well as imported food. As late as the fiscal year 2015, the FDA found that most foods were well within the allowable standards, with domestic food …
WHO Takes a Strong Stand Against Antibiotics in Animals
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a strong statement this week against the use of all antibiotics in healthy food-producing animals. The WHO says overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both animals and humans is contributing to the buildup of antibiotic resistance. The organization notes that some bacteria that cause serious diseases in humans have built resistance to most types …
Ag Groups Ask Trump to Implement Farmer Fair Practice Rules
The National Farmers Union joined a coalition of 82 farmer, rural, and consumer groups, in sending a letter to the president, asking him to implement the Farmer Fair Practice Rules by executive order. The groups say those rules would provide basic protections for farmers and ranchers against unfair and abusive practices as a result of consolidation in agriculture marketplaces. The …
NAFTA Negotiators Extend Length of Next Round
A Bloomberg report says negotiators discussing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will begin next week’s round in Mexico City two days early. The goal is to give themselves more time to discuss a large number of issues surrounding the two-decade-old pact. Negotiators last met in Washington D.C., for the previous round of talks. Two officials close to the …
Ag Struggling to Make Voice Heard in NAFTA Talks
The American agricultural lobby thought that President Trump’s trade politics would spare farmers and others in agriculture. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says it was the rural and red-state turnout that put Trump over the top in the presidential election. Trump has threatened to issue a formal intent to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and agriculture can’t …
Senate Panel Backs $100 Million for Florida Forever
A measure that would double the amount Gov. Rick Scott wants to spend on the state’s most-prominent land preservation program was easily approved Monday during its first Senate committee. And bill sponsor Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican elevated earlier in the day to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said the state isn’t doing enough for land conservation. The …
AFBF Encouraged by USDA Biotech Proposal Withdraw
The USDA Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service Monday announced the withdrawal of biotech regulations proposed at the end of the Obama administration to get more stakeholder input. AFBF congressional relations director Andrew Walmsley says the move brings an opportunity to improve the rule. Walmsley explains the concerns of the agriculture industry of the now-withdrawn proposal. He expects USDA will …
UF Study Helps Discount Fluoride as a Danger for Tea Drinkers
If you drink tea, you can rest assured about your children’s teeth or your adult bones, now that a University of Florida (UF) research team has found that most teas contain safe amounts of fluoride. Drinking tea can benefit human health, but it contains fluoride, and too much fluoride can lead to teeth discoloration and malformation for children and bone …
NPPC Statement On WHO Call For Ban On Prevention Uses Of Antibiotics
A ban on disease prevention uses of antibiotics in food-animal production being advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO) would be ill-advised and wrong. Denying pigs, cows, and chickens necessary antibiotics would be unethical and immoral, leading to animal suffering and possibly death, and could compromise the nation’s food system. America’s pork farmers share the WHO’s concern about the rise …