The National Pork Producers Council held its annual fly-in this week in Washington D.C., and TPP was at the top of their conversations with their senators and representatives. Over 130 producers from 20 states pressed their congressional lawmakers to push for a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year. They also want funding for a Foot-and-Mouth Vaccine Bank included in the next farm bill. Farm families also asked their congressional representatives to oppose a U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation, the GIPSA rule, that would restrict the buying and selling of livestock. NPPC President John Dyer of Iowa said those three issues are very important to pork producers but getting TPP passed in the lame-duck session of Congress is the primary issue they’re working on. During the Capitol Hill visit, producers are stressing just how much of a negative impact not passing TPP would have on their bottom line. “We cannot just walk away from this deal,” said Weber. “The entire economy would lose access to one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, but we also lose market share in the 11 other TPP countries, and that means lost jobs and a devastating impact on the economy.”

The House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on potential trade opportunities with Cuba and several major ag groups, including the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, weighed in on the possibilities. The National Association of Wheat Growers supports the elimination of trade barriers with Cuba, which represents a potentially large export market for wheat. Current financing restrictions don’t permit Cuba to buy on credit, but instead require cash up front, and the Wheat Growers say that puts them at a competitive disadvantage to other countries in the Cuban market. The American Farm Bureau has long pushed for trade with our neighbors 90 miles to the south. The Farm Bureau said, “Real opportunities of increased sales exist in Cuba for American agricultural products because of demand driven by a population of 11 million people. There’s no better time to provide American farmers and ranchers with the tools they need to expand exports and survive a difficult economic time.”

A Bloomberg report says anti-trust officials have their hands full as they review several pending mergers and acquisitions in agribusiness, with the newest being Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto. The $66 billion deal consolidates the biggest seed and chemical producers in the industry. Elai Katz is an antitrust attorney at a major New York City law firm, and he said antitrust reviewers around the world have to look at how all the deals would impact the world instead of considering them on a case-by-case basis. “It’s always about the future,” Katz said. “You have to imagine what the world will look like after these mergers, and that complicates things.” According to Jonas Oxgaard, a Sanford Berstein analyst, seed and crop chemicals are major expenses for producers and this combination of Bayer and Monsanto could have some political backlash. “There’s a political angle that will make this deal hard to get past regulators,” said Oxgaard. With four other major consolidation deals in the works, economists are questioning whether there’s too much consolidation in agriculture. “Have there been too many mergers, are companies getting too big, is there not enough competition,” asked Keith Fugle, a U.S. Department of Agriculture economist. “Experts have been asking questions like this in other sectors of the economy and now this trend is happening in agriculture.”

The House Ag Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the potential opportunities for American producers if trade relations were normalized with Cuba. Much of the conversation revolved around the Cuba Agricultural Exports Act (HR Bill 3687) as well as the potential removal of financial restrictions that limit trade opportunities with Cuba. “The history between the U.S. and Cuba is long and complicated,” said House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican. “The Castro regime’s stranglehold on the island nation has long prevented normalized trade relations between the countries.” He added that many are starting to believe lifting financial restrictions on agricultural trade could improve the lives of Cubans and also help American producers who are struggling through one of the worst economic downturns they’ve seen since the Great Depression. Conaway said he hopes to find a path forward to allow and expand agricultural trade to Cuba, but at the same time, he remains firmly against lifting the travel embargo.

The countries that signed on to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal decided this week that they will not renegotiate terms of the deal. The Japanese TPP Minister confirmed that the 12 countries will move ahead quickly with their individual domestic processes to implement the U.S.-led trade deal. The remarks came after a meeting held on Monday in Tokyo, Japan. The gathering was held because of growing suspicion that the deal won’t take effect in spite of being signed in February. The speculation comes from both U.S. major-party candidates for president criticizing the deal while out on the campaign trail. The Japanese Prime Minister is expected to try to achieve ratification in his country as early as September 26 during a special session of the government. The TPP deal would cover 12 countries and roughly 40 percent of the global economy.

The National Farmers Union is concerned about continued consolidation among agribusinesses. After hearing the news of a $66 billion merger proposal between Bayer and Monsanto, NFU President Roger Johnson said consolidation of this magnitude cannot be the standard for agriculture, nor should we allow it to determine the landscape of agriculture. He said, “The merger deal between Bayer and Monsanto marks the fifth major deal in the last year, preceded by an approval of the Syngenta/Chem China acquisition, as well as proposed mergers between Dow/DuPont, Potash Corp/Agrium, and John Deere/Precision Planting.” He said farm and ranch families have been on Capitol Hill asking members of Congress to conduct hearings to review the staggering amount of pending merger deals in agriculture today. “We will continue to express concern that these megadeals are being made to benefit corporate boardrooms rather than family farmers, ranchers, consumers, and rural economies,” he added.

Bayer and Monsanto announced Wednesday that they’ve signed an agreement to merge the two companies together. Bayer will acquire Monsanto for $128 dollars per share in an all-cash transaction. Monsanto’s Board of Directors, Bayer’s Board of Management and Bayer’s Supervisory Board have all unanimously approved the merger agreement. The transaction brings together two different, but complementary businesses together under one umbrella. The new company will have Monsanto’s expertise in seeds and traits, as well as its Climate Corporation platform, and Bayer’s broad crop protection product line that covers a wide range of crops. Bayer intends to finance the deal through a combination of debt and equity. The combined business will have its North American headquarters and Global Seeds and Traits division in St. Louis, Missouri. The global crop protection and crop science divisions will be located in Germany. The company will also have a strong presence in Durham, North Carolina, as well as other locations across the U.S. and the globe. The Digital Farming activities for the combined business will be in San Francisco, California.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative filed a claim against China in the World Trade Organization over market price supports for wheat, rice, and corn. The complaint says that China is using these supports in excess of its commitments under WTO rules. The Hagstrom Report said China’s support for those three commodities are roughly $100 billion over levels China committed to during its accession to the WTO. The excessive market price for wheat, rice, and corn inflates Chinese prices above market levels, creating artificial incentives for Chinese farmers to increase their production. The decision to file the complaint is a victory for rice, wheat, and corn groups that have been talking about the issue of Chinese subsidies for years. The complaint will result in WTO-led negotiations with China over the alleged level of subsidies. If the U.S. prevails, China’s choice would be to reduce the subsidies or deal with U.S.-imposed punitive tariffs on its products. The process is likely to take several years.