The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s quarterly agricultural trade forecast projects fiscal year 2021 U.S. farm exports at $164 billion — the highest total on record.
The projections represents an increase of $28 billion, or 21 percent, from last fiscal year’s total, and a $7-billion increase from USDA’s previous FY 2021 forecast published in February. The previous annual export record of $152.3 billion was set in FY 2014.
Read MoreMany people in New Orleans don’t realize how crucial the Port of New Orleans is not only for Louisiana’s, but also the United States’ economy. Without it, both would be up a river without a port.
“In Louisiana, we have about 8.3 million acres of row crops,” explained Mike Strain, the Agricultural Commissioner for Louisiana. “The majority of our commodities are exported and when you look at the United States, one in three acres of America’s production is exported. Right now, 65% of the nation’s agricultural commodities that are exported come right down the river.”
Read MoreU.S. farmers will reap two of their largest corn and soybean crops ever and sell them for the highest average prices since the commodity boom ended several years ago, said the government Wednesday in its first projections of the fall harvest. The USDA also said that global soybean king Brazil would increase its share of the world market at the expense of U.S. exports.
Read MoreMore than a thousand barges — many of them likely carrying corn or soybeans — can now resume their trip along the Mississippi River after traffic was stopped due to a cracked bridge near Memphis, Tenn., according to a statement released by the U.S. Coast Guard.
"Based on information provided to us by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Coast Guard has determined that transit under the I-40 bridge is safe for maritime traffic," said Coast Guard Capt. Ryan Rhodes. "We appreciate the cooperative efforts of both the Tennessee and Arkansas Departments of Transportation, as well as maritime port partners, to ensure the safety of our waterway."
Read MoreThe port of Lake Charles is moving Louisiana rice to help feed areas of Central Africa that are in need.
Crews at the port have been packing bags of rice, weighing 110 pounds each, into the Tao Star cargo ship that will sail across the Atlantic to help some of the African countries facing conflict. More than 19,000 tons of rice are being shipped to Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Cameroon.
Read MoreSpecialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), on their website, recently wrote that, “For more than six months, U.S. ag exporters, including SSGA members who supply Identity Preserved (IP) soya and specialty grains for food manufacture, have suffered under unreasonable practices by ocean carriers.
“These practices include the declining of U.S. agricultural and other exports in favor of sending empty containers back overseas in order to keep up with the massive demand for consumer imports.”
Read MoreU.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met virtually Monday with U.S. agriculture organizations to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s trade agenda and to hear from the organization’s on specific trade priorities.
Meetings were held with the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, National Potato Council, National Milk Producers Federation and the Northwest Horticultural Council. The Ambassador expressed her desire to support U.S. agriculture producers in a worker-centered trade policy and she committed to staying in close communication, according to a readout from USTR.
Read MoreAgriculture organizations sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai highlighting the great strides the U.S. ag industry has made toward environmental sustainability and climate goals and stressing the importance of voluntary, market and incentive-based policies to help rural economies better adapt to climate change.
Read MoreRice shipments, like many other food exports, are becoming increasingly subject to inappropriately low, precautionary maximum residue limits (MRLs) set by overseas markets. Among the shipments most impacted are those bound for the European Union (EU) which considers only the potential hazards associated with the use of inputs and ignores the various risk mitigations required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that ensure those inputs can be used safely.
On February 9, 2021, the EU Commission quietly issued Regulation 2021/155, a move that makes detection of the chemical propiconazole in any food or imported food into the European Union illegal, beginning on September 2, 2021.
Read MorePresident Biden has set out a sweeping trade agenda designed to restore the U.S. economy, U.S. leadership and U.S. partnerships. A legacy of unilateral action and global tariffs, however, will take time to moderate and require due consideration of the global economic reality, as well as a political balancing act. View the Biden Administration’s full trade agenda. This article discusses what you need to consider right now.
Read MoreAgricultural producers deal firsthand with changing weather conditions, and extreme events such as drought or flooding can impact their productivity and profit. Climate change models project such events will occur more often in the future. But studies of the economic consequences of weather and climate on agriculture typically focus on local impacts only.
A new study from the University of Illinois looks at how changes in weather — including extreme events — may decrease crop profit in one state while increasing profits in other states. The secret ingredient: U.S. interstate trade. It is expected to mitigate the economic impact of climate change by up to $14.5 billion by the middle of the century.
Read MoreCOVID-19 relief legislation took top priority for the Biden Administration’s first two months, but as stimulus programs begin to take effect President Biden and Congress will turn to other issues.
Trade could be a key topic for U.S. agriculture. How will the new administration and a power change in Congress affect trade deals?
Read MoreChina is once again the U.S.’s chief customer for agricultural goods, three years after the start of a bruising trade war that prompted American farmers to try to wean themselves off their biggest market.
Following a cease-fire between the world’s two largest economies last year, U.S. farmers are shipping record volumes of crops and meat across the Pacific. The surging agricultural exports are helping power a turnaround in the U.S. farm economy, lifting commodity prices and profits for agribusinesses, and fueling expectations that farmers will devote more land than ever for some crops.
Read MoreThe Biden administration will review all national security measures put in place by former President Donald Trump, including the U.S.-China phase one trade deal signed January 2020, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made in comments Friday.
Read MoreFarmers for Free Trade says that it does not expect the administration to immediately lift tariffs but members are hopeful to see a gradual thaw of some of the global relationships over the next couple of years. The group is also advocating for a return of side stepped agreements.
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