Agriculture: Food for Life is the theme for this year’s National Ag Day. The National Ag Day Program was started in 1973 by the Agriculture Council of America. According to the Ag Day website, Ag Day “is about recognizing – and celebrating – the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program encourages every American to:
Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.”
As a part of the day, the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance is hosting a panel: The Consumer, the Farmer and Sustainability. You can learn more about this session and other Ag Day events by visiting https://www.agday.org/dc-events.

Bayer’s plan to get antitrust approval from the U.S. Justice Deparment hasn’t satisfied the expectations of U.S. officials. Two sources told Bloomberg that those officials are worried that the merger could hurt competition. The department feels the Bayer proposal to sell off assets doesn’t go far enough. The U.S. government wants Bayer to sell off more of its assets in order to resolve its concerns. While negotiations between the two sides are continuing, those sources tell Bloomberg that a settlement is still likely months away. Representatives for Bayer, Monsanto, and the Justice Department all declined to comment on the story. Bayer’s $66 billion takeover of Monsanto is part of a recent wave of consolidation in the agriculture seed and crop chemical firms. The companies are still seeking approval from U.S. and EU regulators after two other major deals were approved. Those combinations were Dow Chemical and DuPont, as well as China National Chemical Corporation and Syngenta.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, March 22, regarding the Trump Administration’s trade policy. The Hagstrom Report says that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will be the lone witness at the proceedings. The committee chair, Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, has been critical of President Donald Trump’s announced trade tariffs. Hatch says in a news release, “After the biggest tax rewrite in more than three decades, it is essential that the president’s trade agenda builds on the pro-growth, pro-jobs success.” Hatch says he and Trump both share the same goal of making trade work for all Americans. The best way to do that is by pursuing new trade deals that will open up new markets for American goods and services, boosting access to new customers. Hatch adds, “I have made it clear that tariffs are nothing but a tax on American businesses and consumers and I look forward to discussing with Ambassador Lighthizer how the administration can mitigate the damage they cause. Committee members will also have the opportunity to ask the ambassador more about how the administration would use an extension of bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority, which it requested in its Trade Policy Agenda.”

European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom is continuing to petition the United States for exemptions to the upcoming steel and aluminum tariffs. Politico quotes her as saying the tariffs will shake the transatlantic relationship between the countries if they go into effect. She told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross during a phone call that the EU “as a close security ally of the U.S., expects to be fully excluded from these measures as a whole.” Brazil’s Ambassador to the U.S. recently laid out an argument that could possibly fit well with the five criteria the U.S. is said to be looking at in the exemption process. The lobbying blitz to avoid the upcoming tariffs also includes Hong Kong. That country’s Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development implored the U.S. to exempt the island nation from the “totally unjustified” aluminum duties until they can engage in a full dialogue with the U.S prior to any unilateral action. The Secretary points out that Hong Kong is the economy with which the U.S. has the highest trade surplus. Hong Kong will fight the duties both at the World Trade Organization level, where it’s already expressed formal concern, as well as through bilateral discussions with the U.S.

Trade officials in Mexico say they hope to close seven chapters in the next round of North American Free Trade Agreement Talks, planned for Washington, D.C. next month. Mexico trade officials told Politico the goal of the next round is to close seven chapters that are 90 percent complete and include telecommunications, digital trade, technical barriers to trade, energy, state-owned enterprises and financial services. Mexico expects the talks in the next round could close a total of 13, or 14 chapters, if all goes well. Agriculture trade, including the trade of dairy products, are not expected to be negotiated until the final rounds of the trade talks. And, an American Farm Bureau Federation economist speculates the talks won’t be finished by the end of this year. Negotiators from the U.S., Mexico and Canada have closed six chapters and four annexes so far, but as all three countries face various elections later this year, which will slow the process.

Disagreements among the House Agriculture Committee members regarding the nutrition title are stalling movement on the farm bill. Committee Chairman Mike Conaway of Texas says there will not be a farm bill markup next week, citing the committee’s progress in “negotiating to a yes” from both Republicans and Democrats. Conaway and House Democrats are in conflict over the way the nutrition title handles the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to the Hagstrom Report. That decision means that Conaway will not meet his goal of holding a markup on the farm bill in the first quarter of 2018. Ranking Democrat on the Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, says Democrats on the committee cannot support the bill in its current form. Last Week, Peterson said the Republican proposal regarding nutrition is similar to what killed the current farm bill the first time it came to the House floor in 2013.

Farmers for Free Trade is gearing up for a half-million-dollar ad campaign for a new television ad warning against the aggressive trade policies of President Trump. Farmers for Free Trade says those policies make agriculture a prime target against trade retaliation. The ad will highlight Montana grain and oilseed farmer Michelle Erickson-Jones. It’s scheduled to run on Fox and Friends, Lou Dobbs, and Morning Joe, as well as online. In the ad, Erickson-Jones says, “We depend on free trade policies to maintain our export markets. The crops we grow here on this farm are exported across the globe. Policies that restrict trade would be devastating for farms like ours.” She goes on to say in the ad that she’d like to pass their farm down to her children and ends by asking the president to protect free trade and keep our agricultural economy strong. Farmers for Free Trade co-chair Richard Lugar says, “America’s farmers and ranchers depend on policies that open markets and are hurt by policies that throw up barriers to trade.”