US, China Agree to Restart Trade Talks, More Ag Trade
Agri-Pulse – 06/29/2019
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to restart talks to end the U.S.-China trade war that has cost the U.S. ag sector billions of dollars in lost exports. Trump said he agreed to put on hold the process of hitting China with new tariffs and Xi agreed that China will begin increasing purchases of U.S. ag commodities. “China is going to start — they’re going to be consulting with us, and they’re going to start spending money, even during the negotiation, to our farmers, our great farmers in the Midwest,” Trump said after he met with Xi on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. “And China is going to be buying a tremendous amount of food and agricultural product, and they’re going to start that very soon, almost immediately. We’re going to give them lists of things that we’d like them to buy. Our farmers are going to be a tremendous beneficiary.” No details were given about the commodities on that list. While U.S. ag exports have suffered sharply over the past year during the back-and-forth tariffs, China has been buying some U.S. farm commodities, potentially out of good will gestures during the on-again, off-again negotiations.
Cease-Fire in US-China Trade War Means Hard Work About to Begin
Capital Press – 06/29/2019
Once again, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have hit the reset button in trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies, at least delaying an escalation in tension between the U.S. and China that had financial markets on edge and cast a cloud over the global economy. But when U.S. and Chinese negotiators sit down to work out details, the same difficult task remains: getting China to convince the United States that it will curb its aggressive push to challenge American technological dominance — and then to live up to its promises. At the Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, Trump and Xi agreed to a cease-fire in the trade conflict. Trump said Saturday he would hold off for the “time being” on plans to impose tariffs on $300 billion more in Chinese imports — on top of the $250 billion he’s already targeted. This decision will jump-start trade talks that stalled last month. “We’re going to work with China where we left off,” Trump said Saturday. He also said China had agreed to buy more American farm products. Andy Rothman, an investment strategist with Matthews Asia and a former economic official with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said the Trump-Xi meeting was more conciliatory than he expected. He was struck by Trump’s use of the term “strategic partner” to describe U.S. relations with China after other administration officials have played up the geopolitical rivalry between the two countries.
University of Minesota Releases ‘MN-Washburn’ Wheat
Wisconsin State Farmer– 06/27/2019
The University of Minnesota (UMN) has released a new hard red spring wheat variety. University officials say MN-Washburn features excellent straw strength and good overall disease resistance. In particular, it contains the bdv2 gene for resistance to Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) making in an excellent choice in years when BYDV is prevalent. ‘MN-Washburn’ wheat is the newest variety from the University of Minnesota’s hard red spring wheat breeding program. “In state trials MN-Washburn stood out due to its consistent yield, superior straw strength and overall disease resistance,” said Jim Anderson, University of Minnesota wheat breeder, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. “While lower in protein than other recent UMN releases, MN-Washburn still provides excellent milling and baking quality. The new release is named after the Washburn A flour mill (built in 1874 and then rebuilt in 1880 after a fire). The Washburn A mill was once the largest flour mill in the world and at its peak milled approximately two million lbs. of flour a day. The Washburn A flour mill, along with others in the area, helped earn Minneapolis the nickname, The Mill City.
Kansas Wheat Harvest Report Day 3
Kansas Wheat Commission – 06/30/2019
Harvest picked up momentum and began to move quickly over the weekend. It has reached many areas across the southern and central parts of the state. With the exception of the northwest, most areas are mature, and only the wet ground is keeping some farmers from the fields. Doug Keesling, a farmer near Chase, reported that his harvest began on Wednesday. The soil in his area is sandy, so they have been trying to avoid the wet areas, but that’s hard this year. They have already received 25 inches of rain since the beginning of January, and their annual rainfall usually averages 24-26 inches. They don’t have a lot of mud holes, but they found one Sunday and got a combine stuck. Their fields are yielding in the mid to upper 60 bushels per acre, which is about average. It’s still early in his harvest, which will last a total of about two weeks. Test weights have averaged mostly 58-60, with proteins ranging from 11 to 11.5.
Innovations Taking Pressure off Millers
World-Grain – 06/28/2019
While milling may be one of the oldest industry’s in the world, there’s still plenty of new technology being introduced to improve the production process. Milling companies at the International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Annual Conference and Expo in Denver, Colorado, U.S., in April highlighted equipment designed to improve quality, efficiency, safety and cost of production. Along with an expo that featured 136 exhibitors, the conference included educational sessions, awards and keynote addresses from industry leaders. Attendance reached about 1,000, the highest it has been in at least a decade, and the number of millers who attended also increased, said Melinda Farris, executive vice-president of the IAOM. “We always have good turnout when we’re in the middle of the country,” she said. “I think Denver was a big draw. Overall, we were very pleased with everything. All the events were jam-packed with people, which partly was because our numbers were so good.” On the expo floor, Henry Simon introduced its in-line flow meter, which can measure the flow rate of gravity-fed stock in a downspout. It can be added to various points in the mill flow to allow the miller to monitor what’s happening at a particular point in the process, said Andrew Bailey, with Henry Simon. “It’s a novel feature and relatively low cost,” he said. “The idea is you can get as many as you want into the mill flow, depending on what passages you think are critical to monitor.”
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates