Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue talked on Wednesday about the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, saying he’s “somewhat disappointed” with the pace of the talks. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says Perdue tried to offer hope to U.S. farmers by saying there’s a potential for serious agricultural discussions next week when Round Four gets underway. “Honestly, we’ve been somewhat disappointed in the first three rounds, but we think this is the way these things get going,” Perdue said. Speaking at a Washington International Trade Association event, Perdue added, “If you’ve ever watched a boxing match, they circle one another for a while, and I think we’ve been circling.” He says the administration will lay some things on the table in the next round of talks. Some of the more serious things will include the dairy trade dispute with Canada. Perdue expects both dairy and poultry to be topics of discussion in the next round of talks. He says dairy gains with Canada may be tough to achieve. The secretary also wants to address the concerns southeast U.S. fruit and vegetable growers have over increasing competition from Mexican producers. Perdue acknowledged on Wednesday that they have been hurt by Mexican competition under NAFTA.
Back on August 30th, the Indiana Pesticide Review Board voted to place restrictions on dicamba use in the state. Ag Professional Dot Com says the vote will become law if it passes a couple more steps in the process. The restriction would be in effect for all dicamba products used for agricultural purposes and only certified applicators would be allowed to apply the product. The next step in the rule-making process is the state Attorney General’s Office. If the Indiana A.G. signs off on it, the rule then heads to the Governor before making the final stop at the Legislative Services Agency, which would then choose the publication date, listing it as the final rule. Indiana’s rule would restrict any pesticide product with dicamba that both contains dicamba in concentrations equal to, or greater than, six and 6.5 percent, and is intended for agricultural use but doesn’t contain 2,4-D as an active ingredient. The restriction would not apply to dicamba-based products intended for use on turf or other non-agricultural sites. Indiana requires the Pesticide Review Board to consider economic impacts when making their decisions as well. A statement from the board says it made the decision because there are numerous other products on the market that could be used in place of dicamba-based products. Indiana rules go into effect 30 days after filing with the publisher.
An analysis by CME Groups says the La Niña weather phenomenon may be coming back for real this time, after a head fake last year. La Niña is associated with cooler, wetter conditions along the U.S.-Canadian border, warmer, drier conditions in much of the southern United States, and impacts weather patterns worldwide. CME Group Senior Economist Erik Norland says past La Niñas have roiled agricultural markets, sending prices on” wild rides,” often lower amid exceptionally high levels of volatility. Research shows cooler-than-normal water is pooling along the Equator on the America’s side of the Pacific Ocean. One potentially worrisome feature of agricultural markets today, Norland writes, is that corn, wheat and soy complex options implied volatilities are trading at or near record lows. He says: “This might mean that markets are woefully unprepared for a potential La Niña that would bring a wave of volatility.” Since 1959, the world has experienced eight significant episodes of La Niña and 12 significant episodes of El Niño, a warming of currents.
Consumers will soon see a 50/50 beef-bacon burger on store shelves. Meat industry publication Meatingplace reports Coastal Ltd. has secured a licensing agreement with Jensen Meat Company to bring the Slater’s 50/50 burger to the grocery store. Slater’s 50/50, a Southern California restaurant chain, takes its name from its patented 50/50 burger patty. The product initially will be introduced to 77 Sam’s Club locations in Southern California and six in the Dallas market this month. A Jensen Meats official says “bacon-mania shows no signs of receding,” noting the huge demand for bacon products that has sent national bacon reserves to a 50-year low. The company estimates that gross sales of the product in the first year could exceed $10 million. Jensen Meat is a San Diego-based processor of ground beef products, and Coastal Ltd. is a San Diego-based licensing and brand management agency.
Delays along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are causing a backlog for grain shippers. The St Louis Post-Dispatch says low river levels and back-ups at aging locks have slowed navigation on the Mississippi and its tributaries, driving up the cost of hauling Midwestern crops to Gulf Coast export terminals to near-record highs. Grain storage along the Mississippi river is filling up quickly, and cash premiums on soybeans at river terminals have dropped to the lowest level since 2011 amid ample available supplies. As newly harvested supplies reach the market, elevators with barges on hand are prioritizing loading soybeans while storing corn if they have space. Shippers also have to load less grain onto barges because of the low river levels. Earlier this week, the closure of an aging lock along the Ohio river created a line of 65 towboats waiting to pass. The grain handling woes come as farmers are beginning to harvest bumper corn and soybean crops amid weakening prices, with soybean stocks at a decade high and corn supplies at the biggest in nearly 30 years.
Future expectations for the agriculture economy turned lower in the latest monthly Ag Economy Barometer by CME Group and Purdue University. Released Tuesday, the September reading of 132 was unchanged compared to August. However, the barometer’s two sub-indices, the Index of Current Conditions and Index of Future Expectations, did shift in opposite directions. The Current Conditions Index rose to 135, while the Future Expectations Index fell to 130. Organizers of the survey say that while the decline in the Future Expectations index was modest, it could be an indication that some of the optimism that surfaced among producers in late 2016 and early 2017 is eroding. The Barometer surveys 400 agricultural producers monthly. A rating below 100 is negative, while a rating above 100 indicates positive sentiment regarding the agriculture industry.
