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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Monday, August 19, 2024
A Japanese delegation is coming to Washington next week to resume negotiations on a free trade agreement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Agri-Pulse Friday.
When the Department of Agriculture changed the way it distributed Market Facilitation Program payments for the 2019 edition of the program, it also changed where a good chunk of the payments were going.
The Agriculture Department overhauled its Market Facilitation Program to broaden the number of farmers that would receive the trade aid, but officials may encounter new grumbling over the wide disparities in county payment rates.
Qualifying producers will get payments ranging from $15 to $150 an acre under this year's version of the Market Facilitation Program, with rates varying widely by county and region.
Agriculture will be one of the core subjects when U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin travel to China next week to resume trade talks, according to a White House statement released Wednesday.
All three of the federal agencies charged with regulating bioengineered plants and animals are looking at ways of streamlining regulations and smoothing the path to commercialization for gene-edited traits.
By the end of the year, China is finally expected to implement the quotas for corn, wheat and rice as it agreed to do about 20 years ago, but it may not be a cause for celebration for American farmers.
Farmers who qualify for the upcoming round of trade assistance payments will get at least $15 an acre, says Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who will release additional details of the Market Facilitation Program later in the week.
The telephone talks between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators went well last week, potentially leading to an in-person meeting next week and an increase in Chinese imports of U.S. soybeans, according to Chinese and U.S. sources.
Negotiations on budget caps and an increase in the federal debt ceiling are going down to the wire as lawmakers seek to nail down a deal with President Donald Trump that the House can vote on this week before starting its August recess.