Negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement continue Wednesday, with some speculating agriculture issues to finally emerge in the talks. However, while negotiators will be in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will lead a delegation of U.S. CEO’s to Mexico City. Bloomberg reports that the U.S. business leaders will meet with counterparts from Mexico’s private sector and allies in government to discuss ways to defend NAFTA. More than 100 business and government officials attended the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue in December, shortly after Donald Trump’s election, the last time the event was held in Mexico. Trump calls NAFTA a “disaster” and his administration is leading the renegotiation effort between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently said it opposes key proposals by the Trump administration. Specifically, companies are unnerved by U.S. proposals to add a five-year termination clause and roll back the access of Canadian and Mexican firms to U.S. procurement contracts.

A monthly measure of meat exports shows U.S. beef posted another outstanding performance in August, remaining well above last year’s pace, and August pork exports increased from the previous month but were down slightly year-over-year. The U.S. Meat Export Federation reports that August beef exports totaled 112,000 metric tons, up five percent from a year ago and the largest of 2017. Export value was the second-highest on record at $679.1 million, up 20 percent from a year ago and trailing only the record-high value of $688.8 million reached in October 2014. For January through August, beef exports increased ten percent in volume and 16 percent in value compared to the first eight months of 2016. Meanwhile, Pork exports totaled 183,600 metric tons in August, down two percent year-over-year, valued at $511.4 million, down 0.3 percent. January-August volume remained nine percent above last year’s record pace at 1.61 million metric tons, while export value increased 11 percent to $4.21 billion.

A South Korea trade lawyer believes changes to agricultural trade will top the list of changes requested in KORUS, the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. During a meeting last week between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and South Korea trade officials, the two nations agreed to open KORUS to renegotiation. The U.S. proposed revisions to language in KORUS regarding industrial goods, services, intellectual property, investment and farm produce, according to a South Korea-based newspaper. However, no further specifics on those trade categories were revealed. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the trade deal that he calls unfair. A South Korea trade official said of Trump’s threats to withdraw from KORUS, that “I don’t think that he’s bluffing.” Meanwhile, Korea trade experts predict that the U.S. will pressure South Korea for changes, while also “asking for unreasonable adjustments to South Korea’s action on automobiles and steel.”

Mann Packing will remove the “non-GMO” label term from select products because the company says it “doesn’t want to perpetuate a fear that something is wrong with GMOs.” PRWeek reported the company is turning an about-face, after getting some products verified under the Non-GMO Project. The company is removing the non-GMO verified check from its single-cut lettuce products in its next print run, according to the company’s director of corporate marketing. A company spokesperson said: “There is no GMO lettuce,” adding “It made us go: Why are we doing this?” Mann sells other products that do not have the non-GMO verified check, but include copy stating they are GMO-free on the packaging. The company is discussing removing that label, as well. Mann Packing was founded in Salinas, California in the 1930’s. Today, the company is a majority women-owned and operated business, and says it is one of the country’s leading suppliers of fresh vegetables.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway echoed comments made last week by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, saying the negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement are not moving fast enough. Conaway stated: “Perdue hit the nail on the head when he said we need to stop circling the ring in NAFTA negotiations and begin laying out concrete agriculture proposals.” He made those comments ahead of a weekend trip to Canada to engage on agriculture issues in advance of the next round of NAFTA negotiations happening this week. Perdue spoke to the Washington International Trade Association last week, saying there is a “real opportunity” to open Canadian dairy markets. He said he has been somewhat disappointed in NAFTA rounds so far, but believes the next round will be an opportunity to bring up more-serious agricultural issues.

Global food prices made a mild move upward last month, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The monthly FAO Food Price Index averaged 178.4 points in September 2017, up 1.4 points from August and 7.4 points above September 2016. Firmer prices in the vegetable oil and dairy sectors were behind the small month-on-month rise. The index consists of the average of five commodity group price indices, weighted with the average export shares of each of the groups for 2002-2004. Prices for cereal grains declined one percent, to a level of 152.2. However, the Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 171.9 points in September, compared to 164.4 in August, rising for the second consecutive month and marking a seven-month high. Global dairy prices increased 2.1 percent for the month, and meat prices were unchanged, along with little change in sugar prices.

The fourth round of negotiations to redo the North American Free Trade Agreement take place next week in Washington. Jim Mulhern, CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, says negotiators are planning to put forth proposals on dairy policy and other market access issues U.S. farmers have getting their product into Canada. Milk Business Dot Com says the Milk Producers Federation is pushing very hard for improving the U.S.-Canada relationship when it comes to dairy, but at the same time is working hard to maintain the current dairy relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. Mulhern says dairy policy has typically been left out of NAFTA negotiations and the result is a relationship between the U.S. and Canada that has been more and more frustrating when it comes to dairy policy. “Canada maintains very high tariffs,” he says, “which means that you really can’t get any dairy products into the country. What really put them over the top is the national ingredients strategy Canada implemented this past spring.” Getting rid of the Class 7 designation, which is a big part of the disagreement between the countries, won’t be enough. “This is a free trade agreement,” Mulhern added. “If you’re going to have a free trade agreement, there must be trade. We need a more normalized integrated market, like the one we have in Mexico.”