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4 charts that show US-Canadian trade is far different from what Trump portrays
Business Insider | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture, Federal NewsSteven Rattner shares four charts that show US-Canadian trade is far different from what Trump has portrayed. The US actually has a trade surplus with Canada — and a substantial one with dairy product. We export roughly twice as much in dairy to Canada as we import from them — and our total dairy trade is only a small fraction of overall trade with the country last year. Canada's tariffs are actually the lowest of the major developed countries.
Trump’s Trade War Is Wreaking Havoc on the Dairy Industry, Ironically
Slate | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsDonald Trump talks a lot about America’s dairy industry. Specifically, he likes to go on about how Canada’s tariffs on milk products put our farmers at a disadvantage. This appears to be his main rhetorical justification for starting a small, but diplomatically bruising, trade skirmish with our northern neighbor, which has led to new tariffs on both sides of the border.
Trade Deficits Are Not All Bad
DTN | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsThis seems like a good time to talk about trade deficits. The notion that U.S. trade deficits are inherently bad is simply not true. Opposing trade deficits on the campaign trail makes for good politics, but that just shows how little most of us know about the topic. First of all, a trade deficit is not a deficit in the way most people think. A budget deficit is a real deficit, and we all understand the obligation of a government needing to pay back borrowed money. A trade deficit, however, has nothing to do with borrowing money or incurring an obligation.
California lawmakers agree on plan for 'strongest net neutrality protection' in nation
The Los Angeles Times | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Rural NewsEnding a dispute over a proposed net neutrality bill, California Democratic legislators said Thursday they have agreed on a proposal that would provide the strongest protections of open access to the internet in the country in response to last month’s federal repeal of similar rules.The compromise measures, which still require legislative approval, would bar internet service providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down websites and video, as well as charging websites fees for fast lanes, said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), an author of one of the two proposed bills.
NPPC: Tariffs could put U.S. pork producers out of business
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsRetaliatory trade tariffs by China and Mexico now apply to 40 percent of total American pork exports, threatening the livelihoods of thousands of U.S. pig farmers, the National Pork Producers Council said Friday in response to the escalating trade war between the United States and China. The Trump administration’s 25 percent tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese products officially went into effect overnight, prompting China to quickly retaliate with previously threatened penalties on an equal amount of U.S. exports, including pork, beef, soybeans and automobiles.
Costco poultry plant changing Nebraska industry landscape
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsIn Fremont, Neb., the sky-high feed mill looming over the open fields signals a shift in a state where beef dominates. It will support a $400 million chicken complex that Costco Wholesale Corp. is building to control the quality of birds it sells in its depots nationwide. To supply the giant facility, grain farmers are converting to poultry growers, building on their plots at least four chicken houses each, with some as many as 16. Each of the 432 barns houses 42,000 birds, making for a one-time capacity of more than 18 million of them.
Best advice to U.S. dairy farmers? 'Sell out as fast as you can'
NBC | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture News“It’s just hard to believe it’s over,” Coombs said later, choking up. “As long as you was milking cows, you always thought there was a hope you'd get back to it. At this point, even if there's a Hail Mary pass, we're done.” Coombs is one of more than 100 dairy farmers across seven states who learned in March that they would lose their contract with Dean Foods, which runs a milk processing plant in Louisville that mainly served Walmart.
Dubai is getting the world's largest vertical farm — and it will grow produce for the world's largest international airport
Business Insider | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture NewsCrop One Holdings, a Silicon Valley food startup, and Emirates Flight Catering (EKFC), one of the world's largest airline catering operators, plan build a 130,000-square-foot vertical farm in Dubai. Vertical farms grow crops indoors and year-round without natural sunlight or soil.The facility will be the largest of its kind, and will produce 6,000 pounds of crops daily. The greens and herbs will be used for in-flight meals at Dubai International Airport, the world's largest by international passenger traffic.
New York $30 million available for dairy farm projects
Times Union | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsGovernor Andrew Cuomo announced that $30 million is available to support conservation easement projects on dairy farms across New York. Plummeting milk prices have "increased the threat" of more farmland being converted into other developments, Cuomo said in a statement. Land trusts, municipalities and other entities can apply for farmland protection grants of up to $2 million.
Opioid measures among new Tennessee laws kicking in
Associated Press | Posted onJuly 9, 2018 in Rural NewsRequirements aimed at curbing Tennessee’s opioid epidemic are among more than 150 new laws that kick in Sunday. Many laws take effect on July 1 each year, when a new state budget year begins, and some of the highest profile ones this time around are part of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s “TN Together” opioid plan. Tennessee will begin limiting initial opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply, with exceptions for major surgical procedures, cancer and hospice treatment, sickle cell disease and treatment in certain licensed facilities.