Agriculture News
The Importance of NAFTA for the Agricultural Sector
Iowa State University | Posted on November 22, 2017Trade flows of agricultural commodities between the United States, Canada, and Mexico are very large. In 2016, US agricultural imports from Canada totaled $24.9 billion while US exports amounted to $25.3 billion. In the same year, US imports of agricultural products from Mexico reached $24.66 billion and US exports to Mexico were $17.68 billion. Generally, NAFTA has been operating very well except for a few irritants. Trade talks are notoriously slow and agriculture is typically a major point of contention. However, agriculture may not be a major obstacle in the current NAFTA negotiations. Nonetheless, there are certain agricultural trade issues that are likely to be sensitive.In Canada, products under supply management —dairy, chicken and eggs—are likely to remain protected if the outcome of recent trade negotiations are any indication. In 2016, Canada signed CETA, a free trade agreement with the European Union. Although the European Union attempted early in the negotiations to convince Canada to terminate its supply management programs, it only obtained small concessions on cheese imports. Likewise, in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement that will not include the United States, Canada agreed to minimal concessions regarding its supply management programs with import increases representing between 1.5 percent and 3.25 percent of domestic production.Mexico and the United States were recently involved in a dispute over sugar. The dispute was resolved in June with Mexico agreeing to limit its exports of refined sugar to the United States. It is likely that Mexico is considering this as a temporary solution and will seek a permanent solution with NAFTA. Mexico is the largest importer of US corn and has been using its corn imports from the United States as a bargaining chip. Indeed, Mexico has threatened to buy corn from South America to replace its corn imports from the United States. Closing of the Mexican market to US corn would cause a significant decline in corn prices in the United States, which would be particularly painful for corn-belt states.
How Do Swine Producers and Veterinarians Expect the VFD to Affect Their Business?
Iowa State University | Posted on November 22, 2017Many interviewed veterinarians indicated that their current recordkeeping practices will suffice for the new requirements and, therefore, they will not need to make any major adjustments. It is likely that veterinarians would have improved their capacity for electronic recordkeeping of VFDs and related documents since the final rule was published in June 2015. Veterinarians did express concern with the time commitment required for recordkeeping, saying that it will take time away from working with the producers and livestock. Among the eight veterinarians interviewed, two were “most concerned” with not gaining an obvious personal or business benefit from the policy change. One veterinarian expressed their concern by saying, “...it [the paperwork] takes time away from working with pigs and people in the barns… that is where I earn my keep for my clients.” The other six interviewed veterinarians were most concerned with the urgency between identification to treatment and possible consequences of an error in documentation. Three veterinarians expressed concern that producers will face challenges in treating livestock in an urgent manner. One veterinarian shared, “Timely diagnostics might hinder pig health.” The other three feared possible consequences of an error in documentation.As suggested by the interviewee’s responses, the VFD requirements are expected to cause a moderate burden for veterinarians. The use of an online VFD generation tool may ease some of this burden, as the smart engine technology can streamline the process and help ensure a VFD is in legal compliance. These services can also automatically e-mail copies to the producer and feed distributor once the VFD is generated, saving time in the process and ensuring all parties are in compliance.
Re-imagining the future of poultry through innovation
Alltech | Posted on November 22, 2017Growth in poultry farming has been relentless. In fact, despite the continued preference for pork in Asia, current growth means that global chicken meat consumption will exceed that of pork by 2022, making it the number one meat globally. Egg consumption continues to grow as well because eggs are inexpensive, mild-tasting and are easy to process and include in other foods. Universal acceptance by almost all cultures and all religions ensures that poultry will continue to prosper. In the next 30 years, we will see another 3 billion people inhabit the Earth, and the middle class of urban dwellers will continue to rise. Poultry farming must respond. Farmers must farm data, not just chickens, and in doing so, harness new digital technologies and information to improve efficiencies and respond to the growing requirements of proactively engaged consumers.
Investors Becoming More Engaged on Ag and Food Sustainability
DTN | Posted on November 22, 2017In a new dynamic for the agricultural sustainability movement, major institutional investors are increasingly engaging food and agricultural corporations to find out how they are managing various climate risks. The role of inquisitive institutional investors was a running theme at the Field to Market Agricultural Sustainability Summit this week in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference focused on the growing soil health movement as well as increased efforts within commodities to measure and establish sustainability practices.Sustainability goals have increasingly become a driver for consumers deciding what they are going to buy, but now shareholders want to know about such risks as well.
Antitrust suit vs. major chicken companies to continue
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted on November 22, 2017A class-action lawsuit accusing the nation’s top poultry producers of price-fixing since 2008 will move forward now that a federal judge declined to dismiss the action filed in 2016 accusing the defendants of violating the antitrust-focused Sherman Act. Maplevale Farms of Falconer, N.Y., filed the lawsuit more than one year ago, accusing 14 poultry processors – including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms and Sanderson Farms – of working together to artificially inflate broiler supplies even as feed prices were falling. The suit accused the companies of slaughtering 10 million breeder chickens in an effort to hamper the ability to meet sudden consumer demand.
Canada 'prepared for the worst' amid squabbles over NAFTA, Freeland says
CBC Canada | Posted on November 22, 2017Despite making progress on "bread and butter" issues, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said differences remain between Canada and the U.S. on a number of key chapters of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Speaking to reporters as the fifth round of negotiations concluded in Mexico City, the Toronto-area minister said "significant" sticking points include the U.S. push to change the rules of origin — which could be detrimental to the Canadian auto industry — and demands for a five-year sunset clause in the deal."There are some areas where some extreme proposals have been put forward, and these are proposals that we simply cannot agree to," she said, while adding the U.S. position of these contentious issues, which were introduced in earlier rounds of negotiations, are largely unchanged.
Trump's NAFTA trade war may derail some small-business manufacturers
CNBC | Posted on November 22, 2017The Trump administration's effort to win NAFTA concessions from Canada and Mexico is nearing its March deadline. Some small-business manufacturers fear their concerns will be neglected, including supply-chain disruptions for dealers and distributors, price increases they can't pass on to customers, even risk of bankruptcy.As much as 98 percent of exporting companies are small- and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
NAFTA Talks Have Hit a Wall After Mexico and Canada Resist U.S. Demands
Fortune | Posted on November 22, 2017The United States, Mexico and Canada failed to resolve any major differences in a fifth round of talks to rework the NAFTA trade deal, drawing a swift complaint from the Trump administration on Tuesday that the lack of progress could doom the process. The three nations have vowed to continue talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) through March, but the yawning disagreements on core U.S. demands are piling pressure on negotiators to come up with fixes before Mexico’s 2018 presidential campaign begins in the spring.Mexico and Canada have rejected a U.S. proposal to raise the minimum threshold for autos to 85% North American content from 62.5% as well as require half of vehicle content to come from the United States.The two have also resisted a range of other U.S. demands, including a plan to scrap a key dispute resolution mechanism and proposed curbs on Mexican and Canadian agriculture.Minutes after the three countries issued a short joint statement underlining advances and vowing to continue work on concluding negotiations “as soon as possible,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer struck a different tone.“While we have made progress on some of our efforts to modernize NAFTA, I remain concerned about the lack of headway,” he said in a statement. “Thus far, we have seen no evidence that Canada or Mexico are willing to seriously engage on provisions that will lead to a rebalanced agreement. Absent rebalancing, we will not reach a satisfactory result,” Lighthizer added.
To Keep Operating, New England Dairy Farm Looks To 'Milking Robots,' Tax Credits
New England Public Radio | Posted on November 22, 2017This Thanksgiving, when scooping ice cream on top of warm apple pie, some Massachusetts lawmakers’ thoughts might turn to tax credits for dairy farmers. They would be expanded under a measure under consideration in the legislature. Given the state's fiscal situation, it isn't expected to become law anytime soon. We are currently milking about 155 cows in our new barn -- it's a 180-stall barn. We have two milking robots. Each milking robot can milk about 60 cows apiece, and — actually, I shouldn't call it a milking robot. It’s a voluntary milking system. The cows go and milk themselves. It's been phenomenal. It's our way of being ready for the next generation, investing in the next generation, being able to farm here in western Mass. Milk consumption is down, nationally, and milk prices are also down. And [State Rep.] Steve Kulick has filed a bill. It’s had some momentum in the past couple months. Right now it's sitting in Ways and Means. It would kind of bolster that milk price right now. What would that do here? So that's the dairy tax credit. And we do currently have a dairy tax credit, so it would be to increase that. It does make a difference to us now to have that. The dairy tax credit is when the price of milk that we are paid falls below the cost it takes us to make a gallon of milk. That's when the dairy tax credit kicks in. And the other important thing to point out about it is that is designed to help with our expenses. It is not designed for us to buy a new pickup truck, a new tractor. This is helping us pay our feed bill, our electric bill, our town taxes. It's for expenses, not for capital.
Webinar: Farm Income and Financial Forecasts, November 2017 Update, 11/29/17 @ 1 p.m. EST
USDA | Posted on November 21, 2017ERS webinar on the farm income statement and balance sheet estimates and forecasts three times a year, including February, August and November. These core statistical indicators provide guidance to policy makers, lenders, commodity organizations, farmers, and others interested in the financial status of the farm economy. ERS' farm income statistics also inform the computation of agriculture's contribution to the gross domestic product of the U.S. economy. During this webinar, economist Carrie Litkowski provides the November forecast for 2017. See the latest Farm Income Forecast.