Farm Radio

The Senate Thursday morning passed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk. The Senate vote, 89-10, moves the agreement ahead of the impeachment trial in the Senate. President Trump is expected to sign the agreement sometime next week during a formal ceremony, perhaps while the impeachment trial is underway. House Democrats took more than a year to make changes to the original agreement negotiated by the Trump administration. For agriculture, USMCA is expected to increase U.S. exports by $2 billion.  The vote comes just one day after the United States signed a new trade agreement with China, which promises to increase agricultural exports overseas by tens of billions of dollars.  On Twitter, President Trump proclaimed, “The farmers are really happy with the new China trade deal and the soon to be signed deal with Mexico and Canada.” The President said he hopes farmers remember he used tariff funds to “help them get through the tough times....

WASHINGTON (Jan. 15, 2020) — The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association today applauded the signing of a Phase-One trade agreement with China, saying this agreement will lay the groundwork for American-produced beef to be highly competitive in the world’s most populous market. “The Phase-One Agreement with China will be a game changer for the U.S. beef industry," said NCBA President Jennifer Houston, who joined President Trump at the White House for today's event. "For many years, Chinese consumers have been denied access to high-quality U.S. beef—the same U.S. beef we feed to our families. The removal of these massive trade barriers gives Chinese consumers access to the U.S. beef they desire, and it gives America’s cattlemen and cattlewomen the opportunity to provide U.S. beef to a growing consumer-base that represents one-fifth of the global population and a middle-class that is greater than the entire U.S. population. “We cannot begin to express our thanks to Presi...

ames Mintert and Michael Langemeier, Center for Commercial Agriculture James Mintert and gives his breakdown on the Purdue/CME Group  Ag Economy Barometer  December results at  purdue.ag/barometervideo . The  Ag Economy Barometer  drifted sideways in December, to a reading of 150 compared to 153 in November. Although the barometer changed little in December, there was a shift in producers’ perspective regarding both their farms’ and the production ag sector’s economic health. Producers expressed less confidence than a month earlier about current economic conditions as the  Index of Current Conditions  registered a reading of 141, a decline of 12 points compared to November’s index value of 153. In contrast, producers’ expectations for the future remained strong as the  Index of Future Expectations  rose slightly, to a reading of 155 compared to 153 a month earlier. This month’s  Ag Economy Barometer  survey was conducted from ...