Trump’s China Focus Imperils $14 Billion in Japan Farm Sales
Bloomberg – 02/20/2019
While Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have long signaled the intention to reach a trade deal, the administration has been engulfed in negotiating with China before a March 1 deadline, which could trigger a new increase in tariffs…As of April 1, grain shipped by American farmers will face a disadvantage of $14 a metric ton to Australia and Canada, a gap that will grow to $70 a ton after nine years, said Vince Peterson, president of U.S. Wheat Associates. By then, he said, “most of the market will be long gone.”
China to Propose $30 Billion More U.S. Agriculture Purchases
Bloomberg – 02/21/2019
China is proposing that it could buy an additional $30 billion a year of U.S. agricultural products including soybeans, corn and wheat as part of a possible trade deal being negotiated by the two countries, according to people with knowledge of the plan. The offer to buy the extra farm produce would be part of the memoranda of understanding under discussion by U.S. and Chinese negotiators in Washington, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. The purchases would be on top of pre-trade war levels and continue for the period covered by the memoranda, they said.
U.S. Farmers Fear Trump’s Assualt on WTO Hurts Them
Bloomberg – 02/26/2019
Donald Trump’s attack on the World Trade Organization has U.S. farmers worried that the president’s ‘America first’ foreign policy approach will hamstring efforts to defend their interests. The U.S. is strangling the ability of the WTO, which oversees the rules for nearly $23 trillion in commerce every year, to resolve disputes among its 164 members. But when the WTO’s appellate body becomes incapacitated later this year, even the U.S. cases, of which there are at least two pending meant to protect American agriculture, would be derailed.
Experimenting with On-Board Protein Analyzing
The Farmer – 02/21/2019
Protein content in wheat and other crops varies across the field depending on fertility, moisture, organic matter, soils. If you could pinpoint those low-protein areas in your field, how would you manage them? Scientists involved with the Minnesota Wheat On-Farm Research Network and participating growers will soon begin their third growing season with using an on-combine protein analyzer that scans a crop sample about every 100 feet while harvesting.
Winter Wheat Crop Could Bounce Back from Tough Start
Missouri Farmer Today – 02/21/2019
Missouri is looking at a smaller winter wheat crop this year, partly due to economics and party due to conditions last fall. “There was not a lot of wheat planted last fall,” University of Missouri agronomist Greg Luce says. The wheat crop is often tied to harvest progress and weather during the fall. The 2018 harvest was notoriously difficult in several parts of the state. “As we got farther into harvest and the delays we had, there wasn’t time to get it in or for it to get very big,” Luce says. According to the USDA’s Winter Wheat Seedings report, released Feb. 8, U.S. wheat acreage planted for harvest in 2019 is 31.3 million acres, down 4 percent from 2018. Of that, 22.2 million is hard red winter wheat, 5.66 million is soft red winter wheat and 3.44 million is white winter wheat.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates