The U.S. Drought Monitor weekly update shows more wet weather ahead for the Midwest. Much of the Corn Belt received adequate or above needed moisture this growing season. However, pockets in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma were extremely dry. Recent rains have turned the tables, and much of the Midwest is experiencing wet harvest conditions. The Drought Monitor notes that a wet weather pattern is in store for much of the southern and eastern United States as the NWS six-to-ten-day outlook for October 30th – November 3rd calls for near-to above-normal precipitation over much of the nation, with drier-than-normal weather limited to the West Coast and lower Southeast. The latest data from the Department of Agriculture show that the nation’s corn and soybean harvest were roughly halfway finished early this week, with the expecting of further progress. However, that progress, given the forecast, looks to be stalled again next week.

The biggest move by China against the U.S. in the tit-for-tat trade war could be a movement towards abandoning U.S. soybeans. China, facing a potential shortage following its 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, is already purchasing from other suppliers and proposing to cut the amount of protein used in livestock feeds. CNN reports that one of China’s top feed industry groups proposed animals could get by with less than needed protein “at the moment.” The proposal would be hard to carry out for China, as millions of farmers would need to reduce the amount of foreign soybeans eaten by their pigs. China is also encouraging its domestic agriculture to produce more soybeans, but analysts say China is a long way from being able to produce anywhere near enough. Still, any shift in the market away from the U.S. poses great harm to U.S. producers as the United States sold more than $12 billion worth of soybeans to China last year.

President Donald Trump may be planning to permanently place Andrew Wheeler as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Pro Farmer reports that Trump this week said of Wheeler: “He is acting, but he is doing well, right? So maybe he won’t be so acting for so long.” President Trump made the comments during the White House’s State Leadership Day Conference. Acting roles are typically limited to 210 days in a post, with Wheeler having now a little more than 100 days under his belt as acting head of EPA. Wheeler, who has not been nominated for the post, took the acting role in July when then-administrator Scott Pruitt resigned. Wheeler inherited an agency in the midst of a large deregulation effort and a controversial biofuels agenda. However, Wheeler just last week said his agency can expand E15 sales to year-round without Congressional approval, a move ordered by President Trump and applauded by many agriculture groups earlier this month.

The Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration is inching towards a joint regulatory approach for cell-cultured, or so-called lab-grown meats. Agri-Pulse reports Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb “drew no lines in the sand” throughout a two-day meeting on the subject. Gottlieb told reports that FDA and USDA have worked together in the past, adding “I think this is going to be another one of those cases.” Memphis Meats, a company producing lab-grown meats, along with the North American Meat Institute, filed a joint letter as the first to suggest a joint regulation between USDA and FDA. The letter suggested that FDA handle pre-market safety approval, and then oversight can be shifted to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. There is no timeline reported for the regulation, but Perdue said if it can be done in 2019, “that would be probably pretty fast for federal purposes.”

Much of the U.S. can expect a mild winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency released its seasonal outlook this week that covers December 2018 through February 2019.

The forecast expects mostly warmer-than-normal weather this winter for the western two-thirds of the country, with no areas of the U.S. expected to see prevalent cooler-than-normal conditions. As for precipitation, much of the lower Southwest, Mid-South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions have the greatest chance to see wetter-than-normal conditions this winter. Parts of the Great Lakes Region and portions of Montana and the western Dakotas are more likely to see drier-than-normal conditions. Much of the rest of the country has equal chances to see wetter or drier weather this winter, NOAA predicts. The agency’s precipitation map, in particular, looks a lot like how a signature El Niño winter typically plays out in the U.S. That’s no accident – with NOAA currently pegging the chance of those conditions developing this winter between 70 and 75 percent.

Canada and Mexico want the U.S. to remove steel and aluminum tariffs now that a NAFTA 2.0 framework is in place. Canada has asked the U.S. to lift the tariffs “as soon as possible.” Mexico’s top negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement, now the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, says Mexico should not sign the agreement until the tariffs have been lifted, according to Politico. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, along with Mexican counterparts, urged the U.S. to lift the tariffs earlier this week. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has previously called on Trump to remove the barriers, as well. Earlier this month, Perdue said that with an agreement now between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, “I think it’s time we go back to our previous relationship which had no tariffs on steel and aluminum.” Perdue says benefits of the agreement would be limited until the tariffs were removed.

President Donald Trump is tentatively scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Group of 20 nations, or G20 summit next month. The two are expected to discuss the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Bloomberg News that U.S. goals are on the table and that the two leaders “will meet for a bit” during the event. He said he anticipated staff-level meetings between Chinese and American officials ahead of the November 30th summit. However, Kudlow warned not to expect any major breakthrough between the two leaders. He did say that a broad agreement “on some basic principles and trading rules” including intellectual-property theft, forced transfer of technology, and tariffs on agricultural products “would be most welcome.” Formal talks have stalled since August as the U.S. accused China of unwilling to engage on trade issues.