Ag News Tidbits for Week of December 3, 2018
The 2019 Farm Bill agreement has been reached in the Senate and House Ag Committees. Still needs to be written and voted on By Congress. Lots of factors including it being a Lame Duck Session and the passing of George H.W. Bush are holding the process up. A trade deal has been reached between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It will replace NAFTA if ratified by U.S. Congress. It is called the USMCA. China has agreed to halt trade wars with the U.S. and will be buying farm goods again. The sticking point is that there is still a high 25% tariff) on ag commodities by China. Farmers are expressing concern over the lack of a new farm bill in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer. The monthly survey in November asked producers how concerned they were regarding the farm bill. 75 percent of respondents said they were either somewhat or very concerned about the lack of a new farm bill with 33 percent of respondents indicating they were very concerned. Just 24 percen...