A panel formed by Food Policy Action says Congress should pass the Senate version of the farm bill. The organization took aim at the House version of the farm bill that includes work requirements for food stamp recipients. During an event this week, Food Policy Action executive director Monica Mills said, “we want to see a farm bill that is good for the Americans we represent.” The group says the House version of the bill barely passed the chamber, while the Senate bill passed with an 86-11 vote. Work on the farm bill remains stalled as both the House and Senate are out of session ahead of the November midterm elections, and three of the top four farm bill lawmakers are up for reelection, as noted by the Hagstrom Report. Meanwhile, Erik Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council said, “Congress is at a crossroads.” Referring to the Senate bill, he says “It may not have been the bill we would have drafted ourselves … but it is a serious compromise.”

The Department of Agriculture Friday began issuing farm safety net payments for the 2017 and 2018 crop years. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced more than $4.8 billion in payments are being made starting this month through the Farm Service Agency’s Agriculture Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage and Conservation Reserve programs. The payments come as there is a temporary lapse of farm bill authorities, but Perdue says farmers and ranchers can “rest assured that USDA continues to work within the letter of the law to deliver much-needed farm safety net, conservation, disaster recovery, and trade assistance program payments.” Approximately $3 billion in payments will be made under the ARC and PLC programs for the 2017 crop year, and approximately $1.8 billion in annual rental payments under CRP for 2018. The ARC and PLC programs were authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and make up a portion of the agricultural safety net to producers when they experience a substantial drop in revenue or prices for their covered commodities.

Strong growth in both the U.S. and global economies will support increased demand in domestic and export markets through the end of the year. However, U.S. competitiveness is currently constrained by trade uncertainties and the high value of the U.S. dollar, further placing pressure on the agricultural economy as output in most industries rises. The latest Quarterly Rural Economic Review from CoBank indicates that any significant farm price improvements over last year’s prices will be limited, particularly with record U.S. yields for many of the major crop commodities adding to available supply levels. Meanwhile, the animal protein and dairy sectors continue to benefit from strong domestic demand and the promise of better access to Mexico and Canada, but will need more export market growth to absorb their current pace of output and expansion. A CoBank spokesperson says that while recently negotiated trade deals show upside, “global demand for output from the U.S. agriculture sector is being outpaced by current U.S. production.”

The U.S. International Trade Commission will review the U.S.,-Mexico-Canada Agreement next month. The Commission is scheduled to meet November 15th for an economic review of the trade agreement that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Politico reports that the ITC probe, which is required by Congress, formally launched Friday. The Commission has until mid-March to complete its report, and Congress is expected to wait until the review is finished to vote on the trade pact, however, Trade Promotion Authority rules don’t require Congress to wait for the review. The Commission is looking for how the agreement will impact the U.S. economy as a whole, along with the impact to specific sectors and consumers. The new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, is expected to be signed before the end of November by leaders of the three countries, but must be approved by the governing bodies of each nation before taking effect.

An Associated Press article says U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may meet during the G-20 summit in Argentina scheduled for late November. China says it is in contact with the U.S. amid reports of the upcoming meeting. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman offered no specifics but did say he’d seen the relevant reports. Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow tells CNBC that there is “some movement” toward a meeting at the G-20. Kudlow says, “They have lots to talk about, so we’ll see.” On the word of the potential meeting, global indexes had gained after a couple days of sharp drops. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has advised against naming China a currency manipulator, which is something that would trigger penalties, and reports say that move has eased some tensions between the U.S. and China. It’s not currently known if the U.S. will even consider lifting $250 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports, which triggered retaliatory tariffs on American imported goods. Despite the U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, the trade deficit between the two countries defied expectations and widened in both August and September of this year.

Ag groups are largely supportive of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade package. However, many of those same groups say their biggest concern right now is ending retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products Those duties were put in place after President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue told Reuters this week that, with a trade deal in hand, the tariffs usefulness when it comes to Mexico and Canada have diminished. “I think it’s time we go back to our previous relationship which had no tariffs on steel and aluminum,” Perdue adds. If that happens, it could mean USDA will scale back on the second installment of its trade aid program. Perdue tells Reuters, “If the tariffs do come off and the tariff impact lessens, it will have some impact over the mitigation efforts because those efforts were based on the fact that they would be tariff damage-related.” USDA has already made $6.3 billion available for direct payments to farmers, commodity purchases, and marketing assistance. The department was scheduled to decide on a possible second round of trade reimbursements by early December. The agency had initially budgeted up to $12 billion for the aid program.

Soybean crushers in Brazil are running low on soybeans as they face tougher competition from Chinese buyers over the remaining 2017-2018 season supplies. A Bloomberg report says crushers in Brazil worked with negative margins since the second half of September. The pace of processing has slowed since the soy rally has doubled premiums this year, putting a squeeze on domestic producers. Other plants have halted all activities and say they won’t start up again until the upcoming harvest starts in the first quarter of 2019. One industry analyst says soybean product inventories are running low, with some plants announcing they no longer have soy oil to sell. The industry group representing soybean processors says crushing margins are getting pressure from higher soybean prices. However, it didn’t really slow the pace of processing until August of this year. Brazil soybean stocks are expected to fall by 1.5 million tons to their lowest-level since 1999. September exports totaled 4.6 million tons, with 91 percent heading to China.