U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says the U.S. and China must reach a trade agreement by March. Lighthizer said March 1st is a “hard deadline” for a long-term deal to be reached between the two nations, according to Politico.

Lighthizer says the administration wants additional market access for U.S. producers and structural changes by China to protect American technology. If an agreement cannot be reached, more tariffs are expected, according to Lighthizer. Currently, while tariffs remain in place, the two nations agreed to a ceasefire that will stop any future tariff announcements, if the two nations stay engaged in trade talks.

U.S. agriculture is eager for China to remove tariffs on U.S. farm products, and awaiting the Trump-announced China purchases of agricultural commodities, as part of the recent G20 talks between China and the United States.

House and Senate farm bill negotiators have released their long-awaited compromise bill that now heads for the full House and Senate.

As expected, the ’18 farm bill deal recedes to the Senate in leaving out tougher House GOP food stamp work requirements but pares SNAP funding by almost $1.1 billion. That, through improved data accuracy, quality control and cuts in aid to community food projects.

The final version keeps and expands the EQIP and CSP conservation programs and increases CRP acreage from 23-million acres to 27-million. Producers are given new flexibility to choose between ARC and PLC, with PLC reference prices allowed to float upwards based on 85-percent of five-year Olympic average, if there’s a rebound in market prices.

The AGI or adjusted gross income eligibility limit for farm payments remains at $900,000 and there’s no limit on the number of farm managers eligible for payments. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley had sought a limit of one, “actively-engage” manager. Instead, the final bill allows first cousins, nieces and nephews with invested capital, labor and management, to receive farm payments.

Ag staffers defended the practice in a Monday press briefing as a compromise to keep relatives on the farm, where costs are high and the average farmer’s age is more than 60.

Also, in the final bill is a new Dairy Margin Coverage program to help smaller dairies. Industrial hemp can now be covered by crop insurance contracts but is not eligible for Title 1 subsidies.

Leadership of the farm bill conference report late Monday released the text of the bill to be considered by Congress later this week.

The 2018 farm bill, titled the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, reflects a hard-fought bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a five-year farm bill to strengthen U.S. agricultural, according to leadership. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts thanked his counterparts, in announcing the text, for “coming to and staying at the table to reach a bipartisan” agreement. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway says “passing a farm bill this week that strengthens the farm safety net is vitally important.”

The conference report was signed by the Senate and House Farm Bill conferees and will be considered with a vote in both chambers, likely Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

Schools across the country now have additional options in serving students meals that are both healthy and appealing according to the USDA. The USDA issued a final rule on school meals last week that said the rule increases local flexibility in implementing school nutrition standards for milk, whole grains, and sodium (salt).

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says the final rule will deliver forward-thinking strategies that ensure school nutrition standards are both healthy and practical. “USDA is committed to serving meals that are both delicious and satisfying,” Perdue says. “These common-sense flexibilities provide excellent customer service to our local school nutrition professionals while giving children the world-class food service they deserve.”

The USDA actions will benefit almost 99,000 schools that feed 30 million children annually through the USDA’s school meal program. The new rule lets schools provide low-fat flavored milk to children in school lunch programs. It requires half of the weekly grains in school food programs to be whole grain-rich. It also gives schools more time to reduce salt levels in school meals.

However many nutrition and children’s health groups have expressed concern over the news rules, saying that they are progressing backwards over the nutrition standards that have made progress over the past decade. Including the loosening of sodium guidelines in the new rules.

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland released data that showed an increase in import tariffs and falling U.S. exports due to new tariffs and international retaliation. They say tariff costs to U.S. businesses have never been higher, the data was drawn from the U.S. Census statistics on tariffs.

The data includes the first look at the full weight of the tariffs that were imposed on $200 billion in Chinese imports, as well as the impact of trade retaliation. The data also shows that U.S. businesses paid $6.2 billion in tariffs during October, which is the highest monthly amount in U.S. history.

It’s also more than twice the amount that businesses paid in tariff costs last year. A Tariffs Hurt the Heartland release says the numbers don’t lie, “Americans are paying these taxes and they’re paying more than ever before,” says group spokesman Charles Boustany. The tariffs aren’t making our country wealthier, they’re doing the exact opposite.”

Boustany says the data shows that the tariffs have been an unmitigated failure in achieving any of the Administrations’ goals. The former Congressman says, “American businesses, farmers, manufacturers, and consumers are suffering under the weight of the current tariffs and are reeling from the continued uncertainty over whether they’ll be increased further.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi caused doubt about whether or not Congress will approve the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement.

The Canadian Press says Pelosi met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in her Capitol Hill office before issuing a statement that said the trade pact does have some positive aspects to it. However, she says, “It’s just a list without real enforcement of the labor and environmental positions.” In the statement, Pelosi said she and Lighthizer had a “constructive conversation.”

The chief trade negotiator says that he wants Democrats to not only vote for the deal but to “be happy with the agreement.” Meantime, President Trump is now threatening to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. That might potentially leave lawmakers either ratifying his trade agreement or going back to the pre-NAFTA trade laws. Pelosi called Trump’s tactic “disappointing but not surprising.