Karen Withers will be taking the reins for American Seed Trade Association’s International Executive Committee for the coming year. Withers works for Pennington Seed handling their international sales, so she’s well versed in trials and tribulations that come with work on the international level. She’s also had two years serving the committee as vice chair, joining the year before that as …
NCGA Takes Farmers to Trade School
Last week’s National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Trade School brought more than 50 farmers, ranchers and representatives of state agriculture associations to Washington in order to deepen their knowledge about trade issues and drum up support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Capitol Hill. “Trade policy has a significant impact on me as a farmer. The success of my business …
ITC Study Predicts #TPP Benefits for Farmers
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) this week released a report on the expected impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on various industries and agriculture fares especially well. The report finds that, “Among broad sectors of the U.S. economy, agriculture and food would see the greatest percentage gain relative to the baseline projections, output would be $10.0 billion, or 0.5 …
Senate Ag Committee Urges T-TIP
The 13th round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) beings today in New York. In preparation for the new round of talks U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, along with 26 other Senators, set a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Forman, to ask for a strong framework for …
Vilsack Traveling to Japan, Vietnam
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has made plans to attend the G7 Agriculture Ministers Meeting in Niigata, Japan. Following the meeting he will then travel to Vietnam to highlight the agricultural relationship between the two countries and point out the importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to the each as well. At the G7 meeting, Vilsack and other participating ministers will discuss …
Vilsack Traveling to Germany and France
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will be traveling to Berlin and Paris next week. April 4-5 he will be in Berlin, discussing rural economic development opportunities related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with German officials and farmers. Christian Schmidt, the German Mister of Food and Agriculture, as well as other government officials will also meet about the benefits to …
Ethanol Trade Mission to Peru
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) took part in a recent trade mission to Peru led by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack which included discussions about increasing cooperation with that country when it comes to ethanol production and exports. In this edition of the ZimmCast, RFA General Counsel Ed Hubbard talks about the March 13-15 trade mission which visited Lima and the …
TPP is a Priority for SoyGrowers this Week
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and its impact on the soybean growers of this nation is a top issue for the American Soybean Association. Their annual spring meeting is being held this week in Washington D.C. and President Richard Wilkins has taken the opportunity to highlight what the agreement will mean to producers in a down farm economy. “We recognize that with …
NFU Contests TPP Benefits for Ag
The National Farmers Union was unimpressed with the economic analysis on the benefits of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) for agriculture released by Farm Bureau this week and promoted by USDA. “To broadly categorize agriculture as benefiting from this agreement is not giving due diligence to the serious concerns that are not addressed by TPP,” said NFU president Roger Johnson. …
AFBF and USDA Team to Unveil TPP Benefits Report
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall got together to discuss the benefit of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for agriculture as AFBF released an economic analysis of the pending trade agreement. “Until today, we didn’t have a specific documented review or study of that benefit,” said Vilsack, said in thanking Farm Bureau for doing the …