The current Farm Bill has expired and tensions among key members of the Conference Committee persist. Today’s update provides an overview of recent articles that highlight ongoing Farm Bill issues in greater detail.
Keith Good
Keith Good is the Farm Policy News editor for the farmdoc project. He has previously worked for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, and compiled the daily FarmPolicy.com News Summary from 2003-2015. He is a graduate of Purdue University (M.S.- Agricultural Economics), and Southern Illinois University School of Law.
Reports Discuss Soybean Export Variables
Today’s update looks briefly at recent reports that discuss variables associated with U.S. soybean exports. In addition, news items that highlight concerns about crop storage issues, and the trade policy outlook, are also noted.
Steady Farmland Values Help Insulate a Struggling Agricultural Sector
Suzanne Jenkins, a senior policy analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Nathan Kauffman, vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, indicated in a recent update (“A Tale of Two Economies: Farmers Struggle despite Strong U.S. Economy”) at the Regional Economist that, “At a time when the overall U.S. economy continues to boom, the U.S. agricultural sector has continued to struggle amid falling farm income and deteriorating agricultural credit conditions.”
New NAFTA: USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement)
Wall Street Journal writers Jacob M. Schlesinger, Kim Mackrael and Vivian Salama reported Monday that, “The U.S. and Canada reached a dramatic, last-minute deal late Sunday night on revising the North American Free Trade Agreement, lifting a cloud of uncertainty over the quarter-century-old continental commercial bloc.”
USDA’s Trade Aid Package
Recent news articles have discussed USDA’s trade aid package, as well as the potential impacts of ongoing trade tariffs on U.S. farm goods. Today’s update provides an overview of several of these articles.
ERS Report: Tillage Intensity and Conservation Cropping in the U.S.
On Wednesday, the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released a report titled, “Tillage Intensity and Conservation Cropping in the United States,” which discussed regional and crop conservation tillage practices, as well as adoption of residue and cover practices. Today’s update highlights a few aspects of the report.
Tariff Impacts on Soybean Trade
Business news articles continue to highlight how Chinese soybean tariffs are impacting the international sale and purchase of soybeans. Today’s update looks briefly at a few of these recent news items.
Farm Bill Perspective From Ranking Member Peterson
House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) was a guest on Friday’s “Adams on Agriculture” radio show with Mike Adams. Today’s update includes perspective on the status of the Farm Bill legislation from Rep. Peterson, as well as other recent news items discussing the Conference Committee’s progress.
FAPRI Update: U.S. Net Farm Income Projected to Decline
On Tuesday, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri released its Baseline Update for U.S. Farm Income and the Farm Balance Sheet. Today’s update includes brief highlights from the baseline update.
U.S., China Trade Dispute Ratchets Higher; USDA Releases September Soybean Estimates
President Trump indicated this week that the U.S. is planning to increase tariffs on Chinese imports, while China responded with proposed tariffs of its own on more U.S. exports. As trade tensions between the two countries increase, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its latest soybean estimates earlier this month, which provided additional insight into the ongoing agricultural impacts of the trade war.
Quick Take: Farmland Values
Today’s update looks at a variety of information sources that highlight recent developments relating to farmland values, with particular focus on Illinois, Iowa and the States in the Minneapolis Federal Reserve District.
Senate Ag Committee Holds Hearing on U.S. Agricultural Trade
On Thursday, the Senate Ag Committee held a hearing titled, “Perspectives on U.S. Agricultural Trade,” where lawmakers engaged in a discussion with Gregg Doud, the Chief Agricultural Negotiator with the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and Ted McKinney, USDA’s Under Secretary For Trade And Foreign Agricultural Affairs. USDA Chief Economist Dr. Robert Johansson also provided technical background at the hearing.
Federal Reserve: Observations on the Ag Economy- August 2018
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board released its August 2018 Beige Book update, a summary of commentary on current economic conditions by Federal Reserve District. The report included several observations pertaining to the U.S. agricultural economy.
U.S. Agricultural Exports Set July Record as China Trade Row Persists
A radio update from USDA on Thursday indicated that U.S. agriculture exports set a record in July. “It’s the best July that the U.S. has seen as far as agricultural exports go, the value total,” said Bryce Cooke, an economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service. The total value of U.S. agricultural exports in July totaled just over $11 billion.
Farm Bill Conference Committee Convenes
DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton reported Wednesday that, “Conferees on the farm bill understand the economic challenges facing farmers and want to get a farm bill done to provide certainty — a popular word among them — to farmers and rural America. Leading lawmakers on the House and Senate Agriculture Committees met in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, committing to get a farm bill done by Sept. 30; however, many of the conferees had significant reservations about specific provisions or differences between the House and Senate bills.”
FAPRI 2018 August Baseline Update for U.S. Agricultural Markets
The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri recently released its latest baseline update for U.S. agricultural markets. Today’s post summarizes highlights from the August FAPRI baseline report.
FSA Administrator Highlights Market Facilitation Program; Chinese Ag Imports Projected to Decrease
The Administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), Richard Fordyce, was a guest on Friday’s “Adams on Agriculture” radio program with Mike Adams, where he discussed details of the new Market Facilitation Program. Meanwhile, USDA released its quarterly Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade last week, which noted that agricultural exports to China are projected to decrease.
Farm Income: USDA Forecast for 2018 and First Estimates for 2017
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) indicated on Thursday that, “Net farm income, a broad measure of profits, is forecast to decrease $9.8 billion (13.0 percent) from 2017 to $65.7 billion in 2018, after increasing $13.9 billion (22.5 percent) in 2017. Net cash farm income is forecast to decrease $12.4 billion (12.0 percent) to $91.5 billion.”
USDA Outlines Trade Assistance; While President Trump Touts U.S., Mexico Trade Agreement
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided additional details on its trade assistance package for farmers. Meanwhile, President Trump indicated that the U.S. and Mexico had reached an agreement on trade, which he described as a replacement of NAFTA, in what some observers saw as an effort to pressure Canada in ongoing trade negotiations.
U.S., China Trade Conflict Could Escalate as Talks Floundered; While USDA Sets to Release Trade Aid Details
Recent news reports suggest that trade talks between the U.S. and China last week yielded little progress towards resolution. Some experts indicated that the ongoing trade conflict between the two countries could worsen. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture could release details on its trade aid package as early as Monday.