AI and Agriculture; Worker Centric Trade Policy is Dead
AI and Agriculture AI is the rage with some warning it will lead to human extinction, and others comparing its transformative impacts to the internet and smart phones. Those technologies have had their share of ethical concerns but the genie is now out of the bottle and short of government regu...
Friend-shoring Challenge
Friend-shoring or moving supply chains closer to being between like-minded nations doesn’t seem like an agriculture issue but it could become one. That is because the sector is increasingly being treated like a strategic asset, and it faces differentiated production standards as regulatio...
Unhelpful Timing; Tai Strengths and Weaknesses; IPEF’s Weakness
Unhelpful Timing The U.S. agriculture sector unleashed a pro-trade barrage on the Biden Administration this week and USDA bureaucrats wittingly or unwittingly contributed to the onslaught. U.S. agriculture is highly dependent on trade. It was first battered by Donald Trump’s trade war and...
Farm Bill Foci
While the human diet is a complex affair and animal protein, unlike many other commodities, lacks a title in the Farm Bill, it is the most egregious food to some activist groups. They specifically cite the contribution of livestock to climate change. These groups have some work cut out for them...
Ready to Discuss; Iowa Competitive
Ready to Discuss After previously calling it unsustainable, the Biden Administration has reportedly notified WTO members that it is “ready to discuss” a 10-point proposal for reforming Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) that has been drafted by developing countries. While...
Higher Octane Fuel Standards for Higher Ethanol Blend Proposed
On 7 March WPI reported: EPA issued a proposed rule on 1 March to provide a waiver of the Clean Air Act that would permit E15 use, through the summer months, in eight Midwestern states, in response to a petition from those states’ governors. However, the proposed EPA rule – if...
Uncomfortable Hearing; Real Politik is Complicated
Uncomfortable Hearing Today, USTR Katherine Tai faced the music on the Biden Administration’s trade policy and heard bipartisan disappointment. The hearing before the Senate Finance Committee was generally more cordial than the tone at times, but it couldn’t have been comforta...
Kabuki Theater; Miscalculating Farmers; Greed is a Bogeyman
Kabuki Theater Agriculture groups sent a letter to Congress this week asserting that the sector is falling behind competitors due to the lack of new free trade agreements. They want Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) renewed so that the President can negotiate “free trade agreements” (...
Ag Trade Deficit Spurs Interest in Trade Promotion Authority
U.S. ag exports hit a record $196 billion in FY 2022. For FY 2023, however, the latest forecast from USDA in February puts exports at $184.5, down $5.5 billion from the November forecast. Moreover, ag trade is expected to be a deficit of $14.5 billion in FY 2023. Imports are forecast at $199 bi...
Limiting the Options; Legislators Know Best
Limiting the Options Some policymakers in Brussels have held the view that tight limits on the use of pesticides and fertilizer can succeed if new breeding techniques (NBT’s) are used to genetically make plants hardier and self-sustaining. However, now it is reported that the German Agric...
Dutch Farmers’ Party Election
The success of a newly created farmer-based political party in the Netherlands in last week’s elections will establish the party as one of the largest in the Dutch Senate and could impact the government’s proposed nitrogen emissions reduction plans. Here’s a rough timeline of...
Testy on U.S. Trade Policy; Trade and GDP; Prospective Plantings
Testy on U.S. Trade Policy USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack testified this week before the Senate Agriculture Committee and while most of the hearing was tame, the one contentious issue was trade. The Panel’s Republicans echoed the demands of their farming constituents by telling the Biden Admi...
AI and Agriculture; Worker Centric Trade Policy is Dead
AI and Agriculture AI is the rage with some warning it will lead to human extinction, and others comparing its transformative impacts to the internet and smart phones. Those technologies have had their share of ethical concerns but the genie is now out of the bottle and short of government regu...
Friend-shoring Challenge
Friend-shoring or moving supply chains closer to being between like-minded nations doesn’t seem like an agriculture issue but it could become one. That is because the sector is increasingly being treated like a strategic asset, and it faces differentiated production standards as regulatio...
Unhelpful Timing; Tai Strengths and Weaknesses; IPEF’s Weakness
Unhelpful Timing The U.S. agriculture sector unleashed a pro-trade barrage on the Biden Administration this week and USDA bureaucrats wittingly or unwittingly contributed to the onslaught. U.S. agriculture is highly dependent on trade. It was first battered by Donald Trump’s trade war and...
Farm Bill Foci
While the human diet is a complex affair and animal protein, unlike many other commodities, lacks a title in the Farm Bill, it is the most egregious food to some activist groups. They specifically cite the contribution of livestock to climate change. These groups have some work cut out for them...
Ready to Discuss; Iowa Competitive
Ready to Discuss After previously calling it unsustainable, the Biden Administration has reportedly notified WTO members that it is “ready to discuss” a 10-point proposal for reforming Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) that has been drafted by developing countries. While...
Higher Octane Fuel Standards for Higher Ethanol Blend Proposed
On 7 March WPI reported: EPA issued a proposed rule on 1 March to provide a waiver of the Clean Air Act that would permit E15 use, through the summer months, in eight Midwestern states, in response to a petition from those states’ governors. However, the proposed EPA rule – if...
Uncomfortable Hearing; Real Politik is Complicated
Uncomfortable Hearing Today, USTR Katherine Tai faced the music on the Biden Administration’s trade policy and heard bipartisan disappointment. The hearing before the Senate Finance Committee was generally more cordial than the tone at times, but it couldn’t have been comforta...
Kabuki Theater; Miscalculating Farmers; Greed is a Bogeyman
Kabuki Theater Agriculture groups sent a letter to Congress this week asserting that the sector is falling behind competitors due to the lack of new free trade agreements. They want Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) renewed so that the President can negotiate “free trade agreements” (...
Ag Trade Deficit Spurs Interest in Trade Promotion Authority
U.S. ag exports hit a record $196 billion in FY 2022. For FY 2023, however, the latest forecast from USDA in February puts exports at $184.5, down $5.5 billion from the November forecast. Moreover, ag trade is expected to be a deficit of $14.5 billion in FY 2023. Imports are forecast at $199 bi...
Limiting the Options; Legislators Know Best
Limiting the Options Some policymakers in Brussels have held the view that tight limits on the use of pesticides and fertilizer can succeed if new breeding techniques (NBT’s) are used to genetically make plants hardier and self-sustaining. However, now it is reported that the German Agric...
Dutch Farmers’ Party Election
The success of a newly created farmer-based political party in the Netherlands in last week’s elections will establish the party as one of the largest in the Dutch Senate and could impact the government’s proposed nitrogen emissions reduction plans. Here’s a rough timeline of...
Testy on U.S. Trade Policy; Trade and GDP; Prospective Plantings
Testy on U.S. Trade Policy USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack testified this week before the Senate Agriculture Committee and while most of the hearing was tame, the one contentious issue was trade. The Panel’s Republicans echoed the demands of their farming constituents by telling the Biden Admi...