The USDA’s 2017 Land Values Summary shows that the average acre of American cropland is worth $4,090. That’s unchanged from last year and the third-highest in history. Pastureland values increased by $20 from last year to a national average of $1,350. That’s the highest value for pastureland USDA has ever recorded. The Southern Plains states of Texas and Oklahoma saw the biggest increase in their cropland values, which went six percent higher. The Northern Plains states of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas dropped 4.4 percent in value from last year. Over half the states with irrigated cropland saw the values increase. Texas saw its irrigated cropland value jump more than seven percent from last year, followed by a six percent jump in Louisiana. Kansas and Nebraska irrigated cropland fell five percent in value from last year. Pastureland values in the Delta Region, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, saw the biggest jump of three percent from 2016. The Corn Belt saw the biggest decrease in pastureland value of 1.7 percent from last year.

White House officials have temporarily halted discussions on the possibility of terminating a free trade agreement with South Korea. A senior White House official told Reuters on Wednesday night that the deal could still be terminated but there were no immediate plans to do so. President Trump had been talking with his senior advisers about the possibility of withdrawing from the free trade agreement because of concerns that it’s tilted in favor of South Korea. However, Trump also needs help from South Korea as he tries to end a crisis regarding North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs after a sixth North Korean missile test this week. Reuters says there are Trump advisers urging the president to stick with the deal and avoid straining relations with a key ally in Asia. The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, known as KORUS, was negotiated by Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama. KORUS has been a frequent target of Trump’s, noting that America runs a $28 billion trade deficit with South Korea.

House lawmakers began debating bills on Wednesday to fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says the funding would be for all of the fiscal year 2018 and be part of a package of eight government spending bills. The ag appropriations bill would set aside $20 billion in discretionary funding for the USDA and FDA. That’s $1.1 billion lower than last year but still over $4 billion more than President Trump requested in his budget. By voice vote, the House adopted more than a dozen amendments to their ag appropriations bill. Most of the amendments would increase spending on certain USDA programs. One amendment would reverse proposed cuts to the Natural Resources Conservation service and actually increase funding by $5.6 million. Another amendment would restore almost a half million dollars to the USDA loan program to address rural broadband infrastructure. The ag appropriations bill is part of a larger package that includes controversial funding ideas for other departments. That means the Senate, which would need to have Democratic votes, likely won’t agree to what the House is expected to advance.

An immigration attorney told the Capital Press this week that any changes to DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, would have little impact on agriculture. Tom Roach, a Pasco, Washington immigration attorney, says ending deportation deferrals for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children may not be a big hit to agriculture. He says most of those in the program are in other occupations. Roach estimates that only five to ten percent of the 800,000-people benefiting from DACA deportation deferrals work in agriculture. Roach went on to say the administration’s action may be a blessing because it may force Congress to save DACA, noting that 80 percent of Americans favor the program. DACA is a two-year renewable deferral of deportation with work authorization granted to children of illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. under 15 years-old. The program was granted by executive order by President Barack Obama in 2012.

The Trump administration offered support this week to the 2018 spending package the U.S. House is set to consider that includes the ag spending bill. The measure includes funding for the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies. In a statement, the White House says that if the bill was “presented to the president in its current form, his advisers would recommend that he sign the bill into law.” Politico reports that the White House supported putting aside money for rural broadband and infrastructure; for providing full funding for USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service budget request; and for the $7 billion it would give for Farm Service Agency loans to farmers. But administration officials took aim at the measure’s inclusion of certain rural development programs, including the Rural Business-Cooperative Service and wastewater and housing grants, which the White House wants eliminated.

Another poll released this week shows optimism is decreasing in farm country. DTN-The Progressive Farmers released its August Agricultural Confidence Index this week. The survey finds that while farmers are more optimistic than August 2016, the strong optimism they started the year with is waning. The overall index for August fell more than 26 points, to a moderate 104.3, compared to results of the previous survey conducted in March. While still 45 percent above the 71.9 Index conducted in August 2016, it’s a sign the so-called “Trump Bump” is fading. The next Ag Confidence Index will be conducted just before the end of the 2017 calendar year. Earlier this week, the monthly Purdue-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer indicated similar results. The barometer drifted lower in August to 132 points, down seven points from July, but still stronger than the year ago level of 96. Both surveys’s come as commodity prices drifted lower in August, while at the same time, the Department of Agriculture predicted a slight increase in farm income for 2017.

The Environmental protection Agency is considering establishing limits to dicamba-based herbicides next year. Agriculture officials from several states that are advising the EPA on dicamba tell Reuters that the EPA is considering banning the use of dicamba after a cutoff date, likely in early 2018. The initiative is similar to rules being considered in Arkansas, which would ban the use of dicamba after April 15th. The cutoff date would aim to protect plants vulnerable to dicamba, after thousands of complaints were filed this year with states over spray drift of dicamba herbicides. State regulators and university specialists from Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and North Dakota are pressuring the EPA to decide soon on rules guiding usage because farmers will make planting decisions for next spring over the next several months.

Lower commodity prices in August pushed farm economy optimism lower, according to the Purdue-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer released this week. The barometer drifted lower in August to 132 points, down seven points from July, but still stronger than the year ago level of 96. A reading over 100 indicates optimism regarding the farm economy, while a reading below indicates pessimism. Since peaking in January at a reading of 153, monthly barometer readings have ranged from a low of 124 in March to 139 in July. The current conditions index within the barometer drove the monthly decline, which dropped 22 points to 122 as commodity prices dropped lower in August. However, recent declines in commodity prices did not noticeably dampen farmer expectations regarding future economic conditions. Still, approximately six out of 10 respondents indicated that grain-marketing opportunities over the last six months were likely better than the opportunities that will be available in the next six months.