Europe Has Most to Lose From Russia’s Expanding Wheat Empire
Bloomberg – 10/1/2018
European farmers, particularly in France, will be the hardest hit if Russia succeeds in breaking into the fourth-biggest wheat importing market. France is currently the top supplier of wheat to Algeria, which buys huge amounts of grain to feed its population. But there’s growing speculation this key trading relationship will be undercut by Russia, which can supply wheat at a cheaper price. Russia and Algeria have recently taken preliminary steps to increase trade. Last week, Russia hosted a tour of Algerian officials, including a visit to a bakery and grain quality office. A trial shipment of Russian wheat will be sent in the near future, according to agriculture agency Rosselkhoznadzor. So far, Russian wheat had been restricted from Algeria because of quality problems.
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Russians Invading U.S. Wheat Markets
The Columbian – 10/2/2018
In the 1960s, there was a popular movie called: “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming”. The plot was a Soviet naval commander runs his sub aground off a Massachusetts coastal island and sends two English-speaking crewmen ashore to procure a boat with enough power to pull them free. That was fiction, but today American farmers face the hard fact that the Russians are invading our wheat markets. Many of us remember Soviet Union collective farms which were a dismal failure. Joseph Stalin, the brutal Russian dictator, confiscated individual landholdings and enslaved workers. The farms were operated under government-established five-year production plans. It destroyed the Russian farm system. Wheat production, which led the world under the czars prior to the communist revolution, plummeted and communists imported grain to feed the starving.
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ND Producers Hope New Deal Will Address Trade Imbalance
My ND Now – 10/2/2018
According to the U.S.Department of Agriculture, North Dakota’s wheat production is substantially higher than last year’s drought plagued crop. The latest estimate from the USDA said the total bushels produced in North Dakota was 363 million, which is up more than 50 percent from last year. About 80 percent of the spring wheat has been rated as good or excellent. The news of the state’s strong wheat crop came out just in time for the president’s big announcement on Monday.
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Ag and Congress Mixed on NAFTA
Politico – 10/2/2018
Early reviews of President Donald Trump’s biggest trade accomplishment to date are in — and agriculture groups, farm-state lawmakers and congressional leaders sounded mostly positive about the three-way trade pact. But do they like it more than the current NAFTA framework? That question could determine how much resistance the so-called U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement meets as it’s processed through Capitol Hill in coming months.
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Conaway Says It’s Time to Face The Bully, Empathizes With Farmers, Ranchers
Southeast Farm Press – 10/1/2018
While the tariff war between the U.S. and China is proving to be painful for American growers, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway says there will never be a less difficult time to face a bully because the bigger a bully gets, the more difficult it is stand up. “China is a bully and cheats,” says Conaway at the Southwest Council of Agribusiness annual meeting at Lubbock, Texas. “They cheat on their international agreements and they don’t have the kind of fidelity to the rule of law you and I have and that’s got to stop. Their economy will continue to get bigger, their influence in the world will become more profound, and we have to stand up.
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Source: U.S. Wheat Associates