Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s move to name Anne Hazlett as his assistant on rural development is drawing criticisms. Perdue announced Hazlett as his assistant on rural development this week, replacing the former undersecretary role for rural development. Hazlett has been the chief Republican counsel on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Hazlett will oversee the Rural Utilities Service, the Rural Business Service, and the Rural Housing Service within USDA, and report directly to Perdue. However, Senator Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, says many rural groups are concerned with the move that eliminated the undersecretary position because it lowers rural developments profile at USDA, according to the Hagstrom Report. In a USDA news release, the department said: “It is important to note that the systems, functions, and internal structure of the Rural Development agencies will not be changing.” Perdue defended the change during testimony to Senators Tuesday, saying Hazlett is working today at USDA, while the nominations for undersecretary positions remain delayed in the vetting process.

Concerns over the U.S.-led effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement has prompted Mexico to consider other options for pork imports. National Hog Farmer magazine reports U.S. pork industry leaders shared that message at last week’s World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. For instance, if the U.S. would abandon NAFTA, Mexico would be poised to place a 20 percent duty on pork, which has sent Mexico searching for other potential suppliers. Last year, 26 percent of U.S. pork was exported with the largest volume shipped to Mexico, accounting for 90 percent of the pork imported into the country. And, global pork trade is extremely competitive as other leading pork-producing countries are eager to step up and supply Mexico with pork. National Pork Producers Council immediate past president John Weber says that while gaining new market opportunities is a leading offense priority, its top defensive priority is NAFTA. He says: “We want to protect pork exports to two of our biggest markets – Canada and Mexico.”

The United States and China are expected to sign an agreement Thursday to promote U.S. dairy products. Politico reports the two countries are expected to sign a memorandum that will allow further market access for U.S. dairy producers. U.S. Dairy Export Council CEO Tom Vilsack said last week that he has been working for months to reach an agreement between China and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A policy change announced by China in 2014 and implemented last year required certification of U.S. dairy products to meet Chinese food safety standards, something the FDA called “challenging to accomplish.” A new registry program approved by China will allow immediate access to more than 80 U.S. milk processors to China.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday 65 projects would receive funding through farm to school grants designed to increase the amount of local foods served in schools. Grants range from $14,500 to $100,000, awarding a total of $5 million to schools for farm to school planning, implementation, or training. Projects selected are in urban, suburban and rural areas in 42 states and Puerto Rico, and are estimated to serve more than 5,500 schools and two million students. Cindy Long, Deputy Administrator for Child Nutrition Programs at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, says the grants “foster healthy eating habits among America’s school-age children.” According to the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census, schools with strong farm to school programs report higher school meal participation, reduced food waste, and increased willingness of the students to try new foods, such as fruits and vegetables.

More information on individual projects can be found at www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/grant-awards

The National Farmers Union is urging the Donald Trump administration to craft a new, fair trade framework for international trade deals that benefits rural America through the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In public comments submitted to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, NFU President Roger Johnson highlighted the alleged shortcomings of the United States’ current free trade model, citing its contribution to the massive U.S. trade deficit and abandonment of U.S. sovereignty to the detriment of farming and rural communities. He urged Lighthizer to use the NAFTA renegotiation as an opportunity to create a new, fair trade framework for future trade deal negotiations. In his comments, Johnson urged the Trump administration to rework NAFTA to allow for domestic sovereignty over laws regarding food and agriculture.

Experts expect farmland values to decline as agriculture enters the projected fourth year of lower farm incomes. Agricultural real estate business Farmers National Company says agricultural land values in most areas can be expected to continue to gradually decline over the next several years, if commodity prices and farm incomes remain at current low levels. However, despite anticipated additional declines in land prices in most areas, there are positives on the horizon for land values. Those include potential improvements in farm and ranch incomes after bottoming out. Further, Farmers National Company says that if the industry sees limited stress-sales of farmland and no other shocks to the markets, land values will move to stabilize over the next several years.

The U.S. has finalized details under a plan to send U.S. beef to China for the first time since 2003. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin (mi-new-chin) made the announcement Monday. The announcement means the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has posted the requirements for its Export Verification program for U.S. establishments shipping to China, which will enable packers to apply for approval to export to China. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has also updated its online Export Library specifying China’s requirements for certifying U.S. beef being shipped there. China has emerged as a major beef buyer in recent years, with imports increasing from $275 million in 2012 to $2.5 billion in 2016. However, the United States has been banned from China’s market since 2003. The United States is the world’s largest beef producer and was the world’s fourth-largest exporter, with global sales of more than $5.4 billion in 2016. Until the ban took effect, the U.S. was China’s largest supplier of imported beef, providing 70 percent of their total intake.

R-CALF, the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, is calling on the U.S. federal government to investigate a corruption scandal by meat processor JBS. R-CALF USA sent a comprehensive, 11-page request to President Trump, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for a full investigation and strict antitrust enforcement action into the corruption scandal. Citing news reports that JBS admitted bribing nearly 2,000 politicians, R-CALF USA wrote that JBS’s business model included unlawful practices to influence policy makers and that is is possible JBS deployed that same business model in the United States. JBS is the second-largest beef packer in the United States and owns the nation’s largest cattle feeding company, which the group contends was used by JBS, in conjunction with imported cattle and beef, to manipulate the cattle markets in 2015 and 2016, causing fed cattle prices to fall by more than $850 per head.