Farm banks increased agricultural lending by 5.3 percent in 2016 and held $103.4 billion in farm loans at the end of the year, according to the American Bankers Association’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report. Asset quality remained healthy at the nation’s more than 1,900 farm banks as non-performing loans have fallen to a pre-recession level of 0.54 percent of total loans. ABA defines farm banks as banks whose ratio of domestic farm loans to total domestic loans is greater than or equal to the industry average. An ABA spokesperson stated: “We’re continuing to see a decline in farm income, but the good news is farm banks are in good shape to assist their farm and ranch customers as the ag economy takes a turn.” At the end of 2016, banks held $176 billion in farm and ranch loans. In addition, more than 97 percent of farm banks were profitable in 2016, with 60 percent reporting an increase in earnings.

Included in a budget deal to avert a government shutdown is funding for the Food and Drug Administration for consumer outreach and education regarding agricultural biotechnology. The Washington Post reports the money is to be used to tout “the environmental, nutritional, food safety, economic, and humanitarian impacts” of biotech crops and their final food products. The bill includes $3 million for the campaign, that comes after More than 50 agriculture and food industry groups had signed a letter last month urging the funding to counter “a tremendous amount of misinformation about agricultural biotechnology in the public domain.” It’s unclear what the FDA campaign will look like, or when it will launch. The Washington Post points out that the $3 million allocated is little more than a speck in the FDA’s total allocated budget of $2.8 billion. The budget specifies only that the initiative be developed in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, and include the “publication and distribution of science-based educational information.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Results from a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest a slight improvement in the economic conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states.

The Mid-America Business Conditions Index report released Monday says the overall economic index for the region rose to 61.4 in April from 60.1 in March.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the figures suggest strong growth for both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing through the third quarter of this year.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

(Missourinet) – The new U.S. Agriculture Secretary says the Trump administration will approach the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) from the stand point of protecting U.S. farmers.

NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America.

In his first Midwest news conference Thursday, Sonny Perdue told reporters there are products that Mexico produces better than the U.S. and products that Canada produces better, which he says is the essence of how NAFTA will be handled.

“From an agriculture perspective, we grow stuff very, very well,” said Perdue, “and my job as USDA Secretary is to go around the world and make sure we’re able to market and sell the products that we grow.”

His third day on the job, Secretary Perdue addressed the President’s proposed 21% cut in the agriculture budget.

“I’m prepared to defend that budget, although I would prefer it not be that way,” said Perdue. “But as an American facing a $20 trillion debt with 14 grandchildren, I don’t think it’s my moral responsibility to kick that debt to those 14 grandchildren.”

Perdue held the news conference at the USDA’s Beacon Facility in Kansas City, which, Perdue said, is where USDA operations would relocate if for some reason they could not be in Washington.

$1.2 billion of milk exports from the U.S. to Mexico are at risk as Mexico appears to be seeking new trading partners. Mexico is America’s top dairy exporter, and as the Donald Trump administration makes trade relations uneasy with its North American Free Trade Agreement counterparts, Mexico is in talks to import dairy products from New Zealand. In the first two months of 2017, Mexico increased its imports of skim milk powder from the European Union by 122 percent over last year. Mexico has also been exploring talks with dairy powerhouse New Zealand. That country’s trade minister visited Mexico in February to discuss a potential trade deal, according to Bloomberg news. University of Missouri agricultural economist Scott Brown says Mexico is “looking to make sure they have market alternatives because of the rhetoric from the U.S. on renegotiating NAFTA.” But, CoBank economist Ben Laine says “it’s not just the NAFTA talk.” He says demanding that Mexico pay for a border wall and taking a hard line on immigration likely have an impact, as well.

A former U.S. trade representative warned Canada that trade negotiations with the U.S. would be much less predictable with the Donald Trump administration. Obama-era USTR Michael Froman told Canada-based CBC News much of the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations with the Trump administration will likely be familiar ground, albeit with a less predictable partner. Froman helped lead the Obama administration to reach an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement President Trump removed the United States from upon taking office. Froman says: “We already have renegotiated NAFTA, it was called TPP.” Included in the TPP, Froman says Canada and Mexico agreed to a number of revisions that were not in NAFTA that helped make NAFTA a 21st-century agreement. He says it’s unclear what the new administration will seek that goes beyond the scope of the TPP agreement. Froman, now a distinguished fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, said it can be reasonably expected that the White House will want to address supply management in the dairy industry, and seek changes to softwood lumber, among the vocal criticisms of the Trump administration of late.

President Donald Trump says he has agreed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, rather than terminate the agreement. Following news that the White House was preparing an executive order to terminate NAFTA, the President said on Twitter Thursday that leaders called from Mexico and Canada “asking to renegotiate rather than terminate,” adding he agreed to do so. But, only if the U.S. receives a fair deal in renegotiations. Word of an executive order to terminate NAFTA angered agriculture groups. The National Corn Growers Association denounced the reports, and NCGA President Wesley Spurlock said withdrawing from NAFTA “would be disastrous,” while urging the President not to remove the U.S. from the trade agreement. Mexico is the top buyer of U.S. exported corn. U.S. Grains Council President and CEO Tom Sleight said the council was “shocked and distressed” by the news, adding there is strong support to update and modernize NAFTA. Following the outcry, President Trump said in a statement: “It is my privilege to bring NAFTA up to date through renegotiation.” He told reporters Thursday afternoon that he had been planning to terminate NAFTA “as of two or three days from now.” But now, he says: “We’re going to give renegotiation a good, strong shot,” and says renegotiation begins today.

Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, along with a bipartisan group of 14 other senators, introduced a bill that would be designed to reform the biodiesel tax credit and extend the new policy for three years. Grassley and Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell are the chief authors of the American Renewable Fuel and Job Creation Act of 2017. The act would extend the biodiesel tax credit for the next three years and reforms the incentive by transferring the credit from the blenders to the producers of biofuels. The switch would ensure that the tax credit would incentivize domestic production and taxpayers wouldn’t be subsidizing imported fuel. Biofuel imports have increased from 510 million gallons in 2014 to approximately one billion gallons in 2016. Foreign biodiesel can benefit from the existing tax credit as well as foreign subsidies, making it much harder for homegrown biodiesel to compete. Grassley says, “U.S. tax policy should support U.S. products and jobs.” Ernst added, “I’m proud to support his legislation with Senator Grassley, which will ensure that we’re not inadvertently supporting foreign-produced biodiesel.”