The National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau Federation say that consumers are paying less and farmers are receiving less for this year’s Thanksgiving Day dinner. The NFU Farmer’s Share publication says farmers and ranchers get 11.4 cents of every dollar that consumers spend on their turkey day dinner. The Farm Bureau’s annual Thanksgiving Day Price Survey found that Americans will spend an average of $49.12 for a meal that feeds ten people. That’s a 75 cent decrease from last year’s average of $49.87. A 16-pound turkey costs an average of $22.38 this year. Farmers have been feeling financial pressure for the last several years and Rob Larew, National Farmers Union senior vice president for public policy and communications, says that makes Thanksgiving a time to recognize family farmers and ranchers. “That’s important, he said, “because we are in the midst of the worst farm economic downturn in the last 30-40 years.“ As consumer costs have declined, farm income has dropped as well. On average, farmers get 17.4 cents of every food dollar that consumers spend. 80 percent of the cost of food goes to marketing, processing, wholesaling, distribution, and retailing.
South Korea’s trade minister met with Russian officials this week in order to lay the groundwork for a new free trade deal with the Eurasian Union. The move comes amid increasing pressure from the U.S. to renegotiate the South Korean – American trade deal, known as KORUS. The South Korean Trade Minister met with the CEO of a state-owned banking giant in Russia, as well as the Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development. The sides talked about steps that will be necessary to begin to lay the foundation for a free trade agreement. The meetings this week are part of an ongoing effort by South Korea to accelerate talks with the EAEU regarding an open trade pact. South Korean officials said after the meetings that signing a trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union is the same as clinching a deal with Russia. Vietnam became the first country to sign a trade deal with the EAEU back in 2015.
The fifth round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement ended on Tuesday with the New York Times calling the discussions “bogged down.” While the U.S. has tried to cool down tensions between negotiators by extending the deadline to finish the discussions, tensions are said to still be simmering. The U.S. also asked the top negotiators to sit out the round in Mexico City to help keep things cool. The Times report says Canada and Mexico both told the U.S. it won’t make a lot of headway with its current approach to the negotiations. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says, “There’s no evidence that Canada and Mexico are willing to seriously engage on provisions that would lead to a more balanced agreement. Absent rebalancing, we will not reach a satisfactory result.” Mexico fired back with a tough counterproposal to an American suggestion regarding a new idea on Canada and Mexico procuring American government contracts. Mexico suggested the idea of linking procurement of its government contracts to the size of contracts Mexican companies win in the United States. Mexican businesses typically win few American contracts, which would, in turn, limit the number of American goods and services supplied to the Mexican government.
A bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter this week to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, asking the administration to collect a “robust economic analysis” to evaluate how changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement would affect agriculture. The letter says, “It’s imperative that before any changes are made to NAFTA or any other free trade agreement, that economic analysis illustrating the impact on the full supply chain of the industries involved gets looked at. As such, we request an economic analysis that evaluates the impacts to crop and livestock sectors as a result of any change to NAFTA.” America is the world’s top exporter of food and agricultural products. U.S. agriculture depends on access to international markets in which to sell their goods. As the fifth round of the NAFTA negotiations wrapped up today (Tuesday), the senators clearly stated that any changes to U.S. trade policy must be positive for agriculture. That’s especially important because farmers and ranchers have been struggling with lower prices for their products.
Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst put out a statement this week on the use of Dicamba for the 2018 growing season, “Our members support the adoption of new herbicide technologies while recognizing the importance of private property rights. This is a complex issue and members of our State Resolutions Committee discussed the subject at length last month. The conditions for use put forth by the regulatory agencies are in line with their recommendations. The Environmental Protection Agency and Missouri Department of Agriculture have worked hard to develop conditions that allow farmers to choose what works best for their operation while respecting the property rights of others. The announcement provides a path forward that will help chart a course for the successful adoption of future technologies.”
(MODOA) Missourians are fortunate to be home to plentiful agriculture which grows a variety of foods like beef, pork, peaches, walnuts, watermelon, potatoes, sweet corn and so much more. The Missouri Department of Agriculture has unveiled its new Missouri Grown web site, www.MissouriGrownUSA.com, which connects consumers to the bounty of food grown and raised in the Show Me State. “We are excited to announce the launch of an expanded Missouri Grown website that we are confident will reach MORE Missourians with the positive stories of food and farming,” Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn said. “We’ve made the biggest changes this program website has seen in nearly a decade. The site will offer an experience that will connect Missouri citizens to the men and women who provide quality food products.” The new web site, has a streamlined, improved search feature and more tailored categories that allow users to search for exactly what they want, where they want it. If you want eggs from within 15 miles of your home, you can enter those search parameters and find a match. Users can also search for agritourism destinations and farmers’ markets. Missouri Grown promotes food and non-food products, retailers, farmers’ markets, agritourism and agricultural experience destinations, through a variety of marketing efforts and promotional events.
(NPPC) The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has granted drivers who haul livestock a 90-day waiver from a regulation that could have negative effects on animal well-being, a move hailed by the National Pork Producers Council. “The ELDs regulation poses some serious challenges for livestock haulers and the animals in their care,” said NPPC President Ken Maschhoff, a pork producer from Carlyle, Ill. “This waiver will give the department time to consider our request that truckers transporting hogs, cattle and other livestock be exempt from the ELDs mandate. “Drivers transporting livestock have a moral obligation to care for the animals they’re hauling.” DOT recently issue an interpretation intended to address shortcomings in its Hours of Service rules, exempting from the regulations and from any distance-logging requirements truckers hauling livestock within a 150 air-mile radius of the location at which animals were loaded. The department soon is expected to publish guidance on the air-mile exemption.