During a Wednesday event, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue released the Department of Agriculture Farm Bill Principles. Perdue announced the principles as part a trip to Pennsylvania, while holding a town hall meeting. Through interacting with producers, USDA says the agency developed the principles to share with Congress as lawmakers craft the next farm bill. A document released by USDA says the agency supports a farm bill that provides a farm safety net to help farmers during down economic times, promotes crop insurance as a risk management tool, increases access to farmland for new and beginning farmers, and supports conservation programs. USDA also says the next farm bill should seek to improve U.S. market competitiveness and help open international trade markets. As for nutrition programs, USDA says the next farm bill should support work as the pathway to self-sufficiency, well-being, and economic mobility for individuals and families receiving supplemental nutrition assistance.

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) are expressing concern that a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership that excludes the United States puts overseas demand for U.S. wheat at serious risk. “On January 23, 2017, exactly one year ago, President Trump announced the United States would pull out of the TPP. The announcement today that the eleven remaining TPP members have concluded talks on a revised deal without us sends another discouraging signal to our long-time wheat importing customers in Japan,” said Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy. Japan imports an average of 3.1 million metric tons of U.S. wheat every year. After full implementation of the new TPP, Japan’s import tariffs on Canadian and Australian wheat would drop by about $65 per ton. “That would put U.S. wheat producers at a total price disadvantage of more than $200 million per year from TPP alone,” Conner said. “As the agricultural community warned when the President made the announcement, withdrawing from TPP was shortsighted and unnecessary, and now U.S. wheat farmers could take the hit.” “As expected, the remaining members of TPP are moving forward without the United States,” said Gordon Stoner, NAWG President and a wheat grower from Outlook, Mont. “If nothing else, this announcement should serve as a rallying cry for farmers, ranchers and dairy producers calling for the new trade deals we were promised when the President walked away from TPP. The heat needs to be turned up on the administration and on trade negotiations with Japan. An already stressed agriculture sector needs the benefit of free and fair trade now.” The so-called TPP-11 countries include Canada and Australia, which are major competitors to the United States in the Japanese wheat market. Other TPP countries with rapidly growing demand for imported wheat include Mexico, Vietnam, Malaysia, Chile and Peru. Singapore, Brunei and New Zealand round out the remaining TPP partner countries.

Just as Trans-Pacific Partnership nations seemed ready to leave Canada behind, the nation has reached an agreement to sign the trade pact. Renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the agreement comes after talks in Japan this week, according to CBC News of Canada. With Canada now on board, with the approval of its agriculture sector, the TPP 11 agreement is scheduled for a signing ceremony in March. A senior Canadian official says the deal also opens Canada’s beef exports to Japan at the expense of America cattle farmers. U.S.-based National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the U.S. withdrawal from TPP is a “missed opportunity.” NCBA will have a representative in Canada attending the North American Free Trade Agreement talks later this week. An NCBA spokesperson says: “We encourage negotiators in Montreal to continue building on the progress made in previous rounds so the United States can focus on tearing down trade barriers in Asia and around the world.”

A recent report by CoBank expects the farm economy to tighten again in 2018, and experts say that will lead to more farmers filing Chapter 12 bankruptcy. DTN-The Progressive Farmer reports that wheat and dairy producers are among the hardest hit, with an increase in Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in Kansas and Wisconsin, reaching the highest level since 2012 last year. the number of Chapter 12 filings has been on the rise since 2014 when there were about 380 filings. That number spiked to just more than 500 in 2017. Chapter 12 is designed specifically for farmers with regular annual income and allows them to stop debt collection and establish repayment plans of three to five years with creditors. The law also allows farmers to restructure debt without forming creditors’ committees. Meanwhile, the report points out that trade is “mission critical” for agriculture in 2018. CoBank says: “U.S. agriculture has a lot at stake as these negotiations unfold, and the rhetoric is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

Trade officials gathering this week in Tokyo are trying to forge ahead on the Trans-Pacific Partnership without the United States but are bogged down by Canada. The member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, also known as TPP 11, reached a basic agreement on the pact in November. But, Canada is holding out to secure protection of its cultural industries and has said it will not be rushed into signing a deal that other members hope to conclude by March, according to Reuters. TPP nations are “committed” to advancing the deal forward as quickly as possible. While not likely, the nations could exclude Canada, as an Australian official says: “Our focus is on bringing a new TPP agreement into force as soon as possible with those who are ready to move.” Farm groups, including the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, last week urged Canada to commit to the agreement. Without the new TPP, the Association says: “Canadian beef producers will watch helplessly as our exports to Japan erode.”

Trade negotiators are in Montreal for the next round of talks regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement. The session could be the last round of significant talks before the Mexican presidential campaigns which lead up to a July first election, making negotiations too difficult, according to the Hagstrom Report. The talks will last until January 29th, when the top U.S., Mexican and Canadian trade officials are scheduled to meet. The Canadian Press reports the nation will be hosting an “angry” U.S. trade delegation, and many expect contentious issues to be addressed, including agriculture. The talks come as Bloomberg claims the U.S. and Canada agree on 40 percent of the topics being negotiated, and that Mexico may be able to accept terms for vehicles. Mexico claims that trade negotiators are close to completing work on ten of the 30 NAFTA chapters. Still, the fate of the agreement remains unclear, as the Trump administration has routinely threatened to end the trade pact. President Trump has also said that a new NAFTA will greatly benefit U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Arkansas lawmakers approved, without discussion, a partial-ban on a herbicide that drifts on to other crops where it wasn’t applied and causes damage. An Associated Press report says the prohibition faces a court challenge by the maker of the weed killer. The Legislative Council approved the Arkansas Plant Board’s plan to ban dicamba use from April 15 through October 31. The Council is the legislature’s governing body when lawmakers aren’t in session. Earlier this week, a subcommittee recommended the council approve the ban. The Plant Board first proposed the ban after receiving over 1,000 complaints about dicamba. Monsanto is a maker of dicamba and has asked a state judge to prevent the restriction from going into effect. Arkansas is one of many states that have gotten complaints about dicamba drifting into adjacent fields from the ones it was directly applied to, causing damage in soybeans that aren’t resistant to the herbicide.