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National Farmers Union members agreed Tuesday to put market competition, dairy policy reform, climate change, food processing reform and the agricultural supply chain at the top of their policy agenda for the upcoming year.

The Biden administration Tuesday rolled out its 2022 Trade Policy Agenda report to Congress, pledging to further develop its Indo-Pacific Strategy – an effort to strengthen ties with the Asian region – as well as continue to reduce trade barriers across the globe and bring new reform pressure on China.

Not much has been said about dairy quotas by either the U.S. or Canadian governments since Canada earlier this month submitted a proposal to alter the way it operates its tariff rate quotas for dairy imports, but both sides have been meeting on the issue over the past three weeks, sources tell Agri-Pulse.

The U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department are dispatching $54 million in food, water, hygiene supplies, blankets and other emergency goods to Ukrainians trying to survive the invasion of Russian troops.

The war in Ukraine may impede the country’s ability to export millions of tons of wheat and corn to China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey and elsewhere, and U.S. grain could be called on to fill the supply gap.

U.S. farmers are already suffering from high fertilizer costs, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday warned suppliers not to try to take advantage of the chaos from the Russian invasion of Ukraine by raising prices.

USDA expects U.S. ag exports to hit a new record this year and projects continued strong prices for major commodities this year while acknowledging that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has injected new uncertainty into world markets.

The Transportation Department is announcing today that it’s making $450 million in grant funds available this year to expand port capacity, and some of that money may go towards improving the ability of ag exporters to ship commodities to overseas buyers, according to senior government officials.

It’s been three weeks since Canada submitted its proposal to fix the way it runs its dairy quotas under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but there’s still no word from the Biden administration on accepting it and preventing yet another trade dispute between Ottawa and Washington that could affect far more than just dairy.