Agriculture

The European Union is ready to start talks on a trade agreement with the United States and aims to conclude a deal before year-end, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said. The EU approved two areas for negotiation, opposed by France with an abstention from Belgium. But agriculture was not included, leaving the 28-country bloc at odds with Washington, which has insisted on including farm products in the talks. [node:read-more:link]

Farm Bureau grassroots leaders debated this issue in 2019 and ultimately decided to oppose a mandatory quota system with the willingness to consider a flexible supply management system that is administered through the marketplace and not through the federal government, i.e., milk processors and cooperatives alongside individual dairy farmers. Milk supply management programs, which provide incentives or penalties to limit perceived over-production, have been used previously in the U.S. with mixed results. [node:read-more:link]

Washington lawmakers have raised fees to save the Department of Agriculture's brand program, settling for now an issue that divided the cattle industry for two years. While beef cattlemen's groups endorse the new fees, the outcome disappointed the Washington State Dairy Federation.The fee for inspecting branded cattle to verify ownership will increase by 10% to $1.21 per head.The fee for inspecting cows that haven't been branded or fitted with a certain type of electronic tag will increase by 150% to $4 per head. [node:read-more:link]

"I've got to make $16 (per 100 pounds, or 11.6 gallons of milk) just to break even,” Dwight Raber said, as he turned the pages on a printed report that details daily production of the farm’s 235 cows. “Right now, I’m at $13.89, and it’s been that way for two years.” In Raber’s younger days, a cow that produced 100 pounds of milk a day was a herd superstar. These days, that’s almost the average. Large-scale dairy farms and low milk prices have forced Raber to find new ways to keep the bills paid and their farms operating.Raber added beef cattle to the farm to supplement the dairy portion. [node:read-more:link]

Indiana lawmakers on Thursday defeated a controversial power plant moratorium aimed at preserving in-state coal generators, but the language could resurface later in the legislative session. State lawmakers voted 53-38 to remove Amendment 7 from Senate Bill 472. The amendment would have halted utility purchases or construction of generation assets 250 MW or larger until 2021. Debate over the generation moratorium corresponded with a lobbying campaign by out-of-state coal interests that supply fuel to Indiana generators. [node:read-more:link]

The survival of thousands of smaller dairy farmers rides on the success of the latest program designed to save them as dairy farmers right now continue going out of business at a rapid clip.Struggling dairy farmers and their bankers are being told to just hold on until this summer when USDA will finally be ready to sign up dairy producers for the Dairy Margin Coverage program.“This program isn’t perfect, but it’s the best thing that we’ve had in dairy in a long time,” said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn. [node:read-more:link]

Approximately 2.4 billion people live in water-scarce regions. Driven by population growth, rising consumption, urbanization, and energy needs, demand for water continues to increase. According to a new report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a combination of careful management strategies, technological innovations, investments, and policies are imperative to address the challenges of water scarcity.  [node:read-more:link]

Just over a year ago, on March 1, 2018, President Trump announced that he was using existing authorities to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum.  This was the first in a series of actions taken by the Administration on trade that included a significant conflict with China. [node:read-more:link]

Some dairy farmers are eyeing federal supply management as a way to stabilize the industry amid four years of low prices, but not everyone sees limiting production as a savior. We’ve got part two of our dairy policy deep dive. [node:read-more:link]

A major milestone for the apple industry was reached this spring in a remote New Zealand orchard: the world’s first commercial robotic harvest. The harvest started in February and will end in late April or May in one of New Zealand’s largest orchards, T&G Global, with a machine built and operated by Abundant Robotics of Hayward, Calif.Using robots to replace human pickers has been a decades-long dream of the apple industry. [node:read-more:link]