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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, March 01, 2025
Corn growers are reacting negatively to an International Trade Commission decision that domestic phosphate fertilizer manufacturers were “materially injured” by government-subsidized imports from Morocco and Russia.
A bipartisan group of senators and House members is urging the International Trade Commission to consider farmer voices as it decides what to do about Moroccan phosphate imports.
It’s all political. That’s the message from the U.S. to the three-member U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement panel that will be ruling on the U.S. complaint against Mexico’s attempt to block imports of genetically engineered corn.
A key Moroccan fertilizer company, bolstered by rising calls from farmers and lawmakers for more supplies of imported phosphate products, sees a pathway back to the U.S. market potentially in time for spring application season.
The U.S. is escalating its dispute with Mexico over the country’s ban on genetically modified white corn and its intent to eventually bar all biotech corn from food and animal feed by calling for the establishment of a dispute panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
It’s looking like Brazil will export more corn than the U.S. in the current and next marketing year, according to USDA forecasts, but sustainability, environmental and economic issues may soon pose problems for the South American ag powerhouse, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the National Corn Growers Association.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Friday that she is calling for dispute consultations with Mexico over the country’s efforts to ban genetically modified corn and its recent history of rejecting biotech seed traits.
The Mexican government continues to scoff at U.S. concerns over President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's restriction on genetically modified white corn, but the threat of the constraint is real, and damages are already accruing, according to American farmers and farm groups.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow told farm groups Tuesday that costs for fertilizer and diesel fuel have dropped sharply since last year, undermining a key argument the organizations are making for increasing support rates in the major commodity programs.
Lawmakers, farm groups and the ag industry are all eager for the Biden administration to move to a dispute process over Mexico’s restrictions on genetically modified white corn, but there’s no sign yet from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that it’s ready to do that.
