Politics

RSS

“Whatever issues led to us not continuing our membership 12 years ago, which was before my time, we are a more national industry now.”

The Trump administration is eyeing next week’s Group of 20 summit in Japan to jump-start negotiations with China and make continued progress toward a deal with the Japanese to reduce their barriers to beef, pork and other U.S. farm commodities.

The Trump administration is adamant that agriculture and all of the divisive policies and regulations that go along with it should be included in trade talks with the Europeans, but success could mean a long and arduous battle at a time when a trade war with China is being fought and other potentially lucrative trade pacts are being negotiated.

Calls for flexibility with the haying and grazing of cover crops on prevented planting acres have USDA exploring its options and lawmakers trying to make it easier for them to do so.

Michigan cherry farmers picked themselves up and got back into the orchards after a devastating frost seven years ago, but now they’re fighting a new kind of battle — one that many producers might not recover from if they lose.