Agriculture News
Dow-DuPont Into Home Stretch With Canada, Mexico Clearance
Bloomberg | Posted on July 12, 2017Dow Chemical Co.'s proposed $74 billion merger with DuPont Co. has garnered another two important antitrust clearances and heads into July on track for an August closing date, the companies confirmed by email June 28. Mexico’s antitrust authority and Canada’s Competition Bureau both cleared the deal with conditions on June 27, meaning that all of North America has cleared the merger.The merger is one of a trio of mega-deals that would reshape the global agrochemicals industry and the second deal to approach the finish line. China National Chemical Corp. announced completion of its second $43 billion tender offer for Syngenta AG on June 7, acquiring about 95 percent of Syngenta’s shares.Bayer AG’s bid to buy Monsanto Co. for $66 billion is a distant third in the race to gain antitrust clearance, having not yet filed for review by the European Union.If cleared, the three transactions would consolidate the industry into four major players, including BASF SE. The same companies are also the world’s largest producers of seeds.
Ag Groups Fear Steel Tariffs
DTN | Posted on July 12, 2017Farm groups are cautioning the Trump administration not to open a "Pandora's Box" by claiming restrictions on steel and aluminum are needed to protect "national security." Eighteen agricultural groups wrote to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Tuesday, stressing that such a move would be a disaster for global trade, "and for U.S. agriculture in particular."The Trump administration is expected to decide any day whether to place tariffs on steel imports, stemming from an April investigation announced by the Commerce Department over whether those imports are harming U.S. national security. It's a rare argument for a major global power to make in a trade case.The farm groups wrote to Ross that it would be "a short-sighted mistake" to restrict imports based on national security claims. The farm groups called on Ross to consider the broader implications for the economy "and avoid igniting a trade war through new restrictions on steel or aluminum trade ..."Nick Giordano, vice president and council for global government affairs at the National Pork Producers Council, said farm groups recognize there is an overcapacity of steel and aluminum in the world. Farm groups and other industries are concerned, however, that the Trump administration's plan would boomerang against other exporting industries. Giordano also pointed out that roughly 25% of pork is exported, and in the case of a crop such as wheat, as much as 50% is exported.
Perdue OK’s emergency haying on drought-stricken CRP acreage
Agri-Pulse | Posted on July 11, 2017Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today gave the go-ahead to conduct emergency haying on Conservation Reserve Program lands to help provide feed for livestock in drought-stricken areas of Montana and North and South Dakota. “Because of the rapidly worsening drought and increasing degradation of existing forage, the Secretary is authorizing emergency haying beginning July 16,” the Farm Service Agency said in a notice. Farmers typically would be allowed to start haying on Aug. 1. The notice applies to certain counties in the three states that are suffering through D2 drought conditions or worse, as indicated by the U.S. Drought Monitor, and counties located in a 150-mile buffer.
9 states report DON in wheat crop
Watt Ag Net | Posted on July 10, 2017Wet spring weather in the U.S. has provided perfect conditions for mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON), T2-HT2 and zearalenone to develop in the wheat crop. Nine states have confirmed reports of DON in wheat, according to Neogen’s Mycotoxin Report from July 3. The states reporting DON in wheat are:Alabama,Texas,Missouri, Georgia, Virginia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland.
The E.U.-Japan Trade Deal: What’s in It and Why It Matters
The New York Times | Posted on July 10, 2017The European Union and Japan announced a broad agreement on Thursday that would lower barriers on virtually all the goods traded between them, a pointed challenge to President Trump on the eve of a summit meeting of world leaders in Germany. Though the deal still needs further negotiation and approval before it can take effect, it represents an act of geopolitical theater, a day before a Group of 20 summit meeting begins in Hamburg. At a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in March, Steven Mnuchin, the United States Treasury secretary, pointedly declined to endorse a statement in favor of free trade. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said the deal signified the creation of “the world’s largest free, advanced, industrialized economic zone.” The core of the agreement aims to increase the flow of Japanese cars to Europe and of European food to Japan.
Washington looks to WSU for elk hoof disease research
Skagit Valley Herald | Posted on July 9, 2017The state Department of Fish & Wildlife continues to investigate the cause and spread of a hoof disease affecting elk in the state, including in Skagit County. The disease is caused by a bacteria that can cause hoof deformities. The bacteria is known to also cause lameness in affected livestock.Its spread into northwest Washington remains a mystery, as the disease was first found in southwest parts of the state years earlier.
New insecticide to remain on market despite ESA violation
Capital Press | Posted on July 9, 2017Cyantraniliprole, a new insecticide that’s significant for blueberry and citrus growers, will remain on the market even though a federal appeals court has ruled its approval violated the Endangered Species Act. he chemical provides a new weapon against the spotted wing drosophila in blueberries and the Asian citrus psyllid in citrus crops.Environmental groups — Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety and Defenders of Wildlife — filed a lawsuit against EPA claiming the agency never studied CTP’s potential effects on threatened and endangered species.According to the plaintiffs, CTP may be “fairly persistent” in an agricultural environment even as it degrades, raising the possibility the chemical will accumulate over time.The plaintiffs pointed to EPA’s own ecological risk assessment that found the insecticide is expected to be sprayed in areas inhabited by 1,377 endangered species. The D.C. Circuit said it’s convinced that leaving CTP’s registration in place while EPA further evaluates the chemical will maintain “enhanced protection of environmental values.”
2nd pack of gray wolves spotted in Northern California
Capital Press | Posted on July 9, 2017A female gray wolf, her mate and at least three pups are the second pack of wolves spotted in Northern California since the species went extinct there in 1924, state wildlife officials said. The gray pups were born this spring in Lassen National Forest to a female wolf of unknown origins. Her mate is the son of OR7, a wolf with a tracking device that was the first of its kind in almost a century to migrate into California from Oregon, the Department of Fish and Wildlife said.Biologists began surveying the Lassen National Forest area in May after they found evidence of wolf presence. On June 30, they captured the 75-pound female gray wolf and fitted her with a tracking collar. An examination revealed she had recently given birth to pups.A day later, Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists returned to the area for a follow-up check on the female and found that a nearby trail camera operated by the United States Forest Service had captured photos of the mother and pups. The gray pups were also photographed playing in front of the camera.
Mexico is no longer no. 1 U.S corn-buyer after trade tensions
Bloomberg | Posted on July 8, 2017Mexico is no longer the biggest buyer of corn from the U.S., a sign that trade tensions are pushing American grain toward other markets while its southern neighbor lines up new suppliers. Sales to Mexico through May were $1.04 billion, down 6.7 percent from a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday in a monthly update. That contrasts with the 32 percent increase for the overall value of U.S. corn exports in the period, during which the average dollar value of the commodity was little changed. Japan boosted its purchases 53 percent to $1.19 billion to become the largest importer of American corn. Mexico initiated talks with other major corn exporters this year after it was criticized by President Donald Trump, who said the country has taken advantage of its northern neighbor through the North American Free Trade Agreement, taking away jobs and investment.
Egg prices are at a record low, and nobody’s buying cage-free
| Posted on July 8, 2017Well it’s been a long two years, and our egg windfall is leading to the cheapest egg prices in at least a decade, according to a recent USDA report. This news is a sad trombone for cage-free egg producers, who’ve been having a tough time selling their higher-priced wares. The CEO of Cal-Maine Foods—America’s largest egg producer—bemoaned the cage-free surplus at a conference in early June. According to Buzzfeed, CEO Dolph Baker said, “Right now, there is a much greater demand for commodity eggs at these low prices than there is for cage-free eggs.” In essence, egg farmers are nervous that they’re making all the elaborate structural changes to abandon battery cages, only to have shoppers turn up their noses. “90% of consumers stand in front of the egg case, and they pick conventional caged eggs because they’re economical,” Chad Gregory, CEO of the egg industry’s lobbying group United Egg Producers, told BuzzFeed News. To further toss water on the cage-free parade, most consumers aren’t totally clear on what the concept really entails (see our in-depth look at this phenomenon from last year). If the average Joe is unwilling to shell out extra cash for what they think cage-free means (ie, idyllic, pastoral bliss), just imagine of how they’d feel if they had the whole picture.