Farmland rental rates are not expected to change much in 2019. A new forecast by Farmers National Company predicts cash rental rates for 2019 to stay the same as 2018, for the most part. The company notes that despite current low grain prices, many farmers had the opportunity to forward price corn and soybeans at similar or better prices than last year. Also, the company says the soybean tariff payment will help offset some of the price decline. Good yields in many regions, according to the report, will help stabilize gross revenue for farmers, and most farmers do not like to give up acres that they are farming, which leads them to maintain rents to keep the lease another year. Incomes for landowners have come down since the peak several years ago, and now they are looking for stability or an increase in the coming seasons. Landowners’ farm incomes have been squeezed in some states by increasing property tax rates that put pressure on maintaining rental rates. In the end, the return on investment for farmland owners hopefully has bottomed out as interest rates have started to climb.

Negotiators from Canada returned to Washington, D.C. Tuesday in an effort to reach a deal on the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland joined U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as the U.S. looks to wrap up talks with Canada quickly. However, talks are not expected the rest of the week with a looming hurricane along the Eastern U.S. and scheduled meetings for Freeland in Western Canada. Reuters reports that officials say the main sticking points are Canada’s dairy quota regime, Ottawa’s desire to keep a dispute-resolution mechanism, and Canadian media laws that favor domestically produced content. That falls in-line with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s comment earlier in the week, saying Canada must scrap the Class 7 milk program. Dairy trade was the focus of pre-NAFTA concerns more than a year ago from the Trump Administration. U.S. dairy wants more market access to Canada.

Getting a farm bill done before current law expires at the end of this month may not happen, as congressional leaders have not ruled out an extension. The 2014 farm bill expires on September 30th, and lawmakers have few days this week to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions of the new farm bill. Politico reports leaders haven’t ruled out extending the farm bill deadline to give themselves more negotiating time, though Republicans in both chambers say they hope they can avoid that. The House version of the bill includes work requirements as part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that are not in the Senate bill. Oklahoma Representative Frank Lucas, a former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, says the Senate has taken “a very hard-core position,” adding that the House language on work requirements won’t be in the final bill, as passed by the House. However, Lucas says the Senate “is going to have to give,” adding “there is a compromise out there somewhere.” However, lawmakers must reach that compromise quickly to get an on-time farm bill.

The Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration announced a joint public meeting to discuss the use of cell culture technology to develop products derived from livestock and poultry. Scheduled for October 23-24, 2018, the meeting will be hosted by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the FDA. USDA says the meeting will focus on the potential hazards, oversight considerations, and labeling of cell cultured food products derived from livestock and poultry. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the of the discussion that: “we must consider how to inspect and regulate to ensure food safety, regardless of the production method.” The first day of the meeting will focus primarily on the potential hazards that need to be controlled for the safe production of animal cell cultured food products and oversight considerations by regulatory agencies. The second day of the meeting will focus on labeling considerations.

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are expressing concerns over the Department of Agriculture’s reorganization plans. Senators Pat Roberts and Debbie Stabenow wrote Secretary Sonny Perdue recently, noting that stakeholders have expressed concerns over the USDA plan to place economics functions under the Office of the Secretary and to move most of the employees of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture out of Washington, according to the Hagstrom Report. Roberts and Stabenow say stakeholders are worried that relocating positions outside of Washington will lead many employees to leave USDA and cause a loss of expertise, along with making it difficult for USDA researchers to work with other federal agencies on issues such as infectious diseases. The Economic Research Service has been under the undersecretary for research, education and economics. However, Perdue plans to put the Office of the Chief Economist under the Office of the Secretary and ERS under the chief economist. Last week, USDA extended the comment period for the proposal to October 15th.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says Canada must make changes to dairy trade with the United States as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations. Speaking on C-SPAN, Perdue said U.S. farmers don’t have the same access to Canada that Canada has to the U.S., specifically referring the Class 7 dairy products in Canada. Perdue says: “Class 7 has got to go.” Dairy trade is one of the final sticking points as part of the NAFTA talks between the U.S. and Canada. Talks were expected to resume this week between the two. Canada’s Chrystia Freeland said of the negotiations that: “It’s going to take flexibility on all sides.” However, no specifics on the progress made towards reaching an agreement have been announced. There is no clear deadline set for the talks, but optimism remains that an agreement can be reached this month.

A coalition of more than 150 business groups, including several in agriculture, wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer this week regarding trade. The Hagstrom Report says the groups fear additional 10 percent or 25 percent tarrifs, put in place under Section 301 authority, will backfire. The letter says, “Continuing the tit-for-tat escalation with China only serves to expand the harm to more U.S. economic interests, including farmers, families, businesses, and workers.” The letter adds that unilaterally imposing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in goods invites retaliation and has not resulted in meaningful negotiations or concessions. Rather than lead to negotiations, the groups say the tariffs continue to miss the mark. The tariffs actually raise costs on American businesses and consumers. They say without any timeline for when the tariffs will be removed, the added costs and negative effects on businesses, farms, and citizens will only compound over time. Groups signing the letter include the Ag Transportation Coalition, the Corn Refiners Association, and many more.

Senate Ag Committee Leaders said the farm bill compromise offered by House Ag Chair Michael Conaway doesn’t go far enough. Politico says Conaway described it as a “significant compromise.” The disagreement has slowed the efforts to reconcile the House and Senate Farm Bills. Senate Ag Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow says the offer isn’t even close to something that the Senate can accept. The differences don’t lie in just the SNAP program. There are unresolved differences remaining in the commodity, conservation, and energy titles. Ag Chair Pat Roberts also says the two sides aren’t as close as he’d like with time growing short. Only seven combined legislative days remain before the September 30th deadline, which is when the current bill expires. The House is actually scheduled to be out of Washington during the entire week of September 17th, which means less time for handling some of the other big issues like negotiating a government spending deal. Roberts says things went in reverse on Thursday after a “very good conversation” on Wednesday. After the meeting on Thursday, Roberts says, “Today, that walked back a little bit.