A report on intellectual property issued Friday by the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) outlined the Trump Administration’s continuing commitment to curtailing the damaging abuses of geographical indications (GIs) – particularly by the European Union (EU). The report highlighted ongoing threats to U.S. companies that legally use common food names both within the United States and in global trade. USTR’s …
Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is Tuesday
The 14th annual Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is coming up this Tuesday, May 2nd where readers across the state will be using a new non-fiction children’s book that highlights Florida’s aquaculture and seafood industries. The book is geared to students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and while those reading are encouraged to do this on Agriculture Literacy Day, it’s something …
Brazil meat Companies Lost $1.5 Billion after Investigation
Meat companies in Brazil lost the U.S. equivalent of $1.52 billion after the nation’s federal police announced an investigation into a tainted meat scandal. Meat industry publication Meatingplace reports an economic measure of the losses discovered the declines that followed an investigation which stopped virtually all exports from Brazil for a brief time. The bulk of the losses were attributed …
Cargill Exiting U.S. Cattle Feeding Business
Cargill has announced it will exit from its U.S. cattle feeding business. The move means that in the last year, the company has gone for the fourth-largest feeder in the U.S., to completely leaving the sector. Cargill has reached an agreement to sell its last two feed yards to Green Plains Inc., which will purchase the feed yards for $36.7 …
U.S. Milk Exports to Mexico at Risk
$1.2 billion of milk exports from the U.S. to Mexico are at risk as Mexico appears to be seeking new trading partners. Mexico is America’s top dairy exporter, and as the Donald Trump administration makes trade relations uneasy with its North American Free Trade Agreement counterparts, Mexico is in talks to import dairy products from New Zealand. In the first …
Former USTR Says Future NAFTA Renegotiations Unpredictable
A former U.S. trade representative warned Canada that trade negotiations with the U.S. would be much less predictable with the Donald Trump administration. Obama-era USTR Michael Froman told Canada-based CBC News much of the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations with the Trump administration will likely be familiar ground, albeit with a less predictable partner. Froman helped lead the Obama …
Trump to Renegotiate NAFTA, For Now
President Donald Trump says he has agreed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, rather than terminate the agreement. Following news that the White House was preparing an executive order to terminate NAFTA, the President said on Twitter Thursday that leaders called from Mexico and Canada “asking to renegotiate rather than terminate,” adding he agreed to do so. But, …
Backroom Briefing: Putnam No Fan of NAFTA
by Jim Turner, News Service of Florida Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who may be getting closer to announcing a bid for governor, continued lambasting the North American Free Trade Agreement this week as President Donald Trump backed off, for now, on withdrawing the U.S. from the pact. Putnam’s office said Wednesday he has implored U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross …
2017-18 Emerging Leaders Program Class Announced
Twelve U.S. cotton industry members have been chosen to participate in the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) Emerging Leaders Program for 2017-18. Participants include: PRODUCERS – Blake Fennell, Earth, Texas; Jesse Flye, Jonesboro, Ark.; Richard Heiden, Buckeye, Ariz.; Justin Jones, Smithville, Ga.; and Rose Robertson, Coolidge, Ariz.; GINNER – Cacky Sobral, Wilson, Ark.; MERCHANTS – Wesley Rentz, Greenville, S.C.; Beau Stephenson, …
NCGA Urges White House: Don’t Withdraw From NAFTA
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) denounced reports that the White House has drafted plans to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The following is a statement from NCGA President Wesley Spurlock. “Mr. President, America’s corn farmers helped elect you. We are strong supporters of your administration and continue to stand ready to work with you to …