WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2016 - President Barack Obama is
barely back from his trip to Asia last week, but the U.S. trade relationship
with China will again be in the spotlight soon. U.S. farm groups are expecting
the USTR and USDA to announce this week a major WTO trade suit against China’s
support policies for corn, wheat and rice.
U.S. government officials were not able to confirm the coming action, but
industry sources are preparing for announcement after briefings from government
officials.
One farm sector source told Agri-Pulse the planned U.S. action is welcome
because Chinese policies continue to distort market forces and U.S. producers
suffer as a result.
Visiting NFU members get a big welcome in D.C. National Farmers Union
members from around the country are descending on D.C. for the group’s annual
three-day fly-in event this week and they’re getting a warm reception from USDA
today.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson, Risk
Management Agency Administrator Brandon Willis, Natural Resources Conservation
Service Chief Jason Weller and others will be holding a special briefing
for more than 200 NFU visitors today in USDA’s auditorium.
“Throughout the three-day event, family farmers and ranchers will meet with
members of Congress, White House officials, and staff from the Senate and House
Agriculture Committees to discuss the challenges facing the farm sector and to
ask for meaningful action on issues regarding the farm economy, consolidation
in ag markets, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Renewable Fuel Standard,”
NFU said.
Drought decreases for some farmers and ranchers. The area under drought in
the U.S. is shrinking according to USDA
data. Just 19 percent of U.S. farm land is suffering drought conditions, a
2 percent drop from a month ago, USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey said in an audio posting.
The decline is most noticeable for corn and soybean farmers, according to
Rippey.
“It’s negligible at this point – just 3 percent of both commodities’ production
area is in drought as of early September,” he said. That’s down from 7 percent
for corn acres and 6 percent for soybean acres in early August.
“Only 15 percent of the U.S. cattle inventory is currently in drought, down 3
percent from five weeks ago,” Rippey said. “Just 14 percent of the U.S. hay
production area is in drought. That’s also down three percentage points from
early August.”
Still, many areas of the western U.S. are abnormally dry and large portions of
California’s agriculture sector are suffering from “extreme” or “exceptional”
drought.
Senate Ag Committee to consider new wildfire legislation. The Senate
Agriculture Committee will convene Tuesday to mark up new forestry and
fire-fighting legislation that
was introduced last week by Chairman Pat Roberts. The bill is similar to the
Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015 (H.R. 2647)
that passed by the House last year, but gives the government more authority and
tools to manage U.S. forestry, according to a statement released by the
Committee.
The Roberts bill is popular with scores of groups like the National Wild Turkey
Federation, the American Fisheries Society and the American Sportfishing
Association.
The groups wrote in a letter:
“We support S. 3085, the Emergency Wildfire and Forest Management Act of 2016,
which addresses wildfire suppression funding and forest management
enhancements. Good proactive forest management coupled with a fire-fighting
funding fix is our shared goal.”
U.S. rice gets new shelf space in UK retailers. U.S. long grain rice is
getting prized shelf space in ASDA stores, the British subsidiary of Walmart
and the second largest supermarket retailer in the UK, according
to the USA Rice Federation.
Peacock Rice, distributed by S&B Herba Foods, is selling well on
specialized display stands in stores throughout the country, the company said.
"U.S. rice exports to the UK face stiff competition from cheaper Asian
rice that has flooded the market over the past several years," said USA
Rice Vice President of International Promotion Hugh Maginnis.
"Promoting U.S. rice in such a prominent position at ASDA, the UK
subsidiary of Walmart, was a win for the brand and for U.S. rice in
general."
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com