Daniel Enoch

The retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on imports of U.S. fruits and tree nuts will hurt American producers, but the pain will be eased by increased demand from a surging middle class in the world’s most populous country, according to a RaboResearch report.

NAFTA talks between the U.S. and Canada broke off Friday afternoon with no agreement on how the 24-year-old trade pact will be structured in the future, and whether a revised agreement will include Canada at all, or just be a bilateral pact with Mexico. The U.S. said the talks will continue Wednesday.

USDA today forecast net farm income for this year at $65.7 billion, up from a February projection but down $9.8 billion, or 13 percent, from 2017, when the broad measure of farmland profits increased nearly 23 percent.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. and Mexico have resolved several key obstacles to a renegotiated NAFTA – with a different name – while suggesting that Canada may be left out of a final agreement.

Julie Anna Potts, the executive vice president and treasurer of the American Farm Bureau Federation, will take over as president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute effective Sept. 24.