During a meeting with farm-state lawmakers, President Donald Trump said he has directed his trade team to look into rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Meeting with Senators and other leaders from the Midwest, President Trump heard of the troubles his trade policy is posing to agriculture, and the benefits of TPP to farmers and ranchers. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who attended the meeting, says rejoining TPP is the “best thing” the U.S. can do to “push back” against China. Covering all products grown in the United States, at the time of negotiation, TPP was estimated to add $4.4 billion to cash receipts for farmers and ranchers. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa says the meeting was to stress the importance of increasing market access to protect farmers. Farm groups say farmers would rather trade, than take subsidies, to be profitable, in referring to the trade dispute with China and the proposed tariffs as a result. President Trump has promised to support farmers through a trade war, which many speculate would come from the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts of Kansas intends to introduce legislation to allow telemedicine to address rural opioid addiction. During a recent Senate panel hearing, Roberts said rural residents suffering from substance abuse “face many challenges in accessing the clinical services they need.” Roberts says community mental health and addiction treatment facilities in rural areas often do not house a full-time clinician who can prescribe controlled substances for the treatment of substance use disorders. Further, the Republican says many rural patients need to travel long distances, sometimes across state lines, to access the needed treatments. He says the use of telemedicine, the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients through communications technology, could be a way to reduce the travel burden on rural residents. His comments came during a hearing of the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee.

Missouri is fortunate to be home to a host of agricultural products that are essential to feeding and clothing people around the world. Recent announcements by the Chinese to levy tariffs on United States agricultural products, including soybeans, pork, cotton, beef, corn, sorghum, and wheat, are cause for serious concern to our industry. Farmers depend on international trade for nearly 20 percent of their overall income. Missouri farmers cannot afford to risk losing critical market share in China to our competitors, especially with net farm income projected to hit a 12-year low this year. In 2017 the United States exported nearly $20 billion worth of agricultural goods to China. Soybean exports accounted for $14 billion of that total, and pork contributed $1.1 billion. In addition to importing other U.S. crops, China is the second-largest destination market for cotton at 2.5 million bales. The retaliatory threats from China are severe and broad-reaching across all of Missouri agriculture. As a top-ten producer of many agricultural commodities targeted for retaliation, Missouri is especially vulnerable to the crippling effects these tariffs will bring if implemented. China’s disregard for the customs of international trade cannot be ignored, but engaging in a trade war with China puts farmers and ranchers at risk. We urge the Trump Administration, United States Trade Representative, and our elected leaders to negotiate a solution that addresses the issue of intellectual property theft while protecting Missouri’s number one industry from devastating retaliation.

An analysis of tariff proposals on the U.S. shows Midwest states will feel the brunt of the damage. IHS Markit, a business and financial consulting company, says any action that reduces demand for U.S. agricultural products would reduce prices received by farmers for their output, and diminish farm incomes. China has proposed tariffs on U.S. ag items, including staple exports of pork and soybeans, among others. The report says Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa have the most exposure, with farm income accounting for at least three percent of total personal income in the state from 2014 to 2016. The report notes that some states with large agricultural industries, such as Illinois, have small shares of farm income as a percent of total personal income because of their large metro areas. Outside the middle of the country, California and Washington will see tariff impacts as they are major producers of fruits and tree nuts that are on the initial tariffs list, according to the report, which suggests the economic impact will worsen if China follows through on all of its proposed tariffs.

A top Department of Agriculture official says “all options are on the table” when it comes to finding relief from a trade war with China for farmers. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Steve Censky told reporters earlier this week USDA is “looking at all of our authorities” to find ways to assist farmers, according to Politico. Those options include buying up commodities through the Commodity Credit Corporation. The comments by Censky confirm Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s comments from last week, eluding to USDA having something in the works to shield farmers from a trade war. However, Perdue has not announced any details to what that may be. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump this week said: “We’ll make it up to them,” referring to the risks farmers face in a trade dispute with China. Trump claimed that “farmers will be better off than they ever were,” but offered a vague timeline of when that help may arrive for farmers and ranchers.

(MOFSA) Producers are reminded to stop by the local FSA office to report spring-seeded crops before the applicable crop certification deadlines, as follows:
May 15, 2018: Spring oats and potatoes;
July 15, 2018: CRP, burley tobacco, corn, cotton, grain sorghum, hybrid corn seed, popcorn, rice, soybeans and all other crops.
Crops insured under the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) must be reported by the final reporting date or 15 days before harvest. If a crop hasn’t been planted by the final reporting date, it must be reported no later than 15 calendar days after planting is complete. If a producer acquires additional acreage after the final reporting date, the acreage must be reported no later than 30 calendar days after the purchase or new lease acquisition.

China has filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization alleging the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum violate world trade rules. However, the nation also reconfirmed it will open it’s economy by lowering tariffs on cars, paving the way for negotiations. “Actions speak louder than words” when it comes to China, one U.S. economist told Reuters. But, China’s President did announce this week the intention to raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile, shipbuilding and aircraft sectors “as soon as possible”, and push previously announced measures to open the financial sector. Plans to open the auto sector to the U.S. by China have been in the works since before the Trump administration. The announcement by China could offer a glimmer of negotiation to end or dampen the trade spat, which includes proposed tariffs on U.S. agricultural products. Trump has been insistent that the two nations will reach a mutually beneficial agreement, while Chinese officials recently said negotiations would be impossible under “current circumstances.”