President Donald Trump is nominating a former Senate Agriculture Committee aide and agriculture industry economist as the chief agricultural negotiator from the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office. The White House confirmed Gregg Doud as the nominee. Doud is currently the president of the Commodity Markets Council, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association. He worked for the Senate Agriculture Committee between 2011 and 2013, and worked for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as an economist for eight years, according to Agri-Pulse. The American Farm Bureau Federation calls Doud “experienced in all levels of agricultural policy and economics.” If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the Kansas native will take the post previously held by Darci Vetter in the Obama administration.

New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English says bilateral trade talks between New Zealand and the U.S. are not likely anytime soon. His comments follow meetings between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay last week. English says that given how the U.S. has framed trade policy as largely benefiting the U.S., that it “would be quite difficult to get an agreement that would benefit” New Zealand. However, during the meetings last week, McClay did express a mutual concern over Canada’s dairy trade provisions, a sticking point for the United States heading into North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations this fall. However, it’s not likely to be addressed in a new NAFTA, according to trade experts. Last year New Zealand exports to the U.S. were valued at $5.6 billion, and imports from the U.S. were valued at $5.7 billion. The U.S. is the biggest market for beef and wine from New Zealand, and the nation’s second-largest dairy market.

As the Unites States plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico have declined over the first few months of 2017. The Wall Street Journal reports that Mexican imports of U.S. soybean meal dropped 15 percent, the first decline in four years. Meanwhile, chicken exports to Mexico where down 11 percent, the biggest decline since 2003. Finally, U.S. corn exports to Mexico dropped six percent. Mexico is the largest export market for soybean meal, chicken and corn for the United States. The Wall Street Journal attributed the declines to friction between Mexico and the U.S. from NAFTA renegotiations, as Mexico is moving to reduce its reliance on the U.S. for commodities. The declines also come as U.S. farmers deal with low commodity prices and excess supply that has reduced farm income over the last few years.

President Donald Trump’s Friday announcement on reinstating limits on travel to and business with Cuba may result in lost economic opportunities for corporations, small businesses, and farmers. The new policy will keep U.S. companies from doing direct financial transactions with companies controlled by the Cuban military. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says the opportunity for American agriculture to export more products to Cuba may suffer under the new policy. The only buyer of U.S. agricultural goods in Cuba is called Alimport, a state-run entity that isn’t connected to the business arm of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, known as GAESA. Paul Johnson of the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, says agriculture will largely not have to worry about that. “However,” he says, “if you look closer at GAESA, they do have companies in distribution, logistics, and housing, so the paths are going to cross.” GAESA also controls the Port of Mariel, which is where most American goods coming into Cuba are received. Cuba has been limiting American agricultural imports while Latin American countries and the European Union have been making recent inroads into the Cuban market.

A new report out from CoBank says rising global demand for pork and stronger profitability will create a strong incentive for American pork processors to expand their capacity. Increased competition among processors may lead to a tightening of packer margins and give producers much more favorable prices in the months ahead. CoBank economist Trevor Amen says, “U.S. pork processing capacity will increase as much as 8-10 percent by 2019, when five processing facility construction projects are complete and fully operational.” He expects hog production to rise between two and four percent over the next two years to help meet the increasing demand. Small to mid-sized pork producers in the Midwest will likely account for the bulk of the increased production numbers. Three state of the art processing facilities are currently under construction, with two in Iowa and one in Michigan. Those facilities are expected to be able to process more than 10,000 hogs per day. Two smaller facilities in Missouri and Minnesota are currently being renovated. Amen says the traditional market response to increased capacity is price volatility in the short term, but bargaining leverage will eventually shift in favor of producers.

DuPont and Dow Chemical announced on Thursday that their proposed merger has been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Dow Chair and CEO Andrew Liveris says he’s very pleased the DOJ approved the transaction. “With today’s DOJ clearance, we’ve taken a significant step forward in bringing together these two iconic enterprises,” he says. Ed Breen, Chair and CEO of DuPont says, “We are on track to close our merger, with the subsequent spinoffs expected to unlock significant value for shareholders.” Part of the proposed agreement with the U.S Justice Department will require DuPont to sell off certain parts of its crop protection portfolio. Dow will also be required to divest itself of two petrochemical products in order for the merger to proceed. Those requirements are similar to those imposed by the European Union and other jurisdictions that have given conditional approval to the merger. The proposed agreement with the Justice Department is still subject to court approval. This agreement means there will be no further requirements in the U.S. for this deal to close. The companies expect the merger to finish in August of 2017, with the required spin-offs to take place within 18 months later.

Wind farms and solar panels that dot the map of rural America now account for more than 10 percent of U.S. power generation. Bloomberg News reports wind farms in Texas, Oklahoma and elsewhere accounted for eight percent of electric generation, while residential and commercial solar installations provided about two percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that during 2016, wind and solar accounted for about seven percent of power generation in the U.S. The record set in March comes after developers added a record 22.2 gigawatts of wind and solar in 2016. However, clean energy is seasonal, as solar power flourishes in the summer when the days are longer, and wind energy thrives in the spring and summer as wind speeds increase. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects the total clean energy output to fall back below the 10 percent level later this summer.