Agriculture Celebrates China Phase One Signing

Cindy Zimmerman

Agricultural organizations are very positive overall about the signing of the historic Phase One Trade Agreement with China Wednesday, an agreement which calls for China to purchase between $40 and $50 billion in American agricultural goods each year for two years.

“Together we are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers, and families,” said President Donald Trump as he prepared to sign the agreement with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. “The agreement tears down major market barriers for U.S. food and agricultural exports. China will now welcome American beef and pork, poultry, seafood, rice, dairy, infant formula, animal feed, biotechnology and much, much more.”

Listen to soundbites from President Trump and Vice President Pence related to agriculture:
China trade agreement signing soundbites

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue attended the signing ceremony. “This agreement finally levels the playing field for U.S. agriculture and will be a bonanza for America’s farmers, ranchers, and producers. China has not played by the rules for too long, and I thank President Trump for standing up to their unfair trading practices and for putting America first. We look forward to exporting to Chinese customers hungry for American products.”

USDA released an eight-page summary of the agreement on agriculture.

USDA Secretary Perdue statement on China signing

Agricultural organizations mostly praised the agreement and many had representatives in attendance at the signing.

Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) President and CEO Daren Coppock – “This agreement will boost U.S. goods and services exports to China by a reported $200 billion over the next two years. The changes made to China’s trade policies surrounding agriculture, intellectual property, and dispute resolutions, among other aspects, will be a huge boost to the American trade economy.”

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, who will be greeting President Trump at their annual meeting for the third time later this week, says this is a great way to start the new year. “China was once the largest market for U.S. agricultural products but has dropped to fifth largest since retaliatory tariffs were introduced. This agreement will help turn around two years of declining agricultural exports.”

American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) First Vice Chair John Latham of Latham Hi-Tech Seeds represented the U.S. seed industry at the signing ceremony. “The deal is an important step in increasing U.S. ag exports and providing needed reforms to the Chinese biotech approval process, which is critical to bringing new seed varieties to market for U.S. farmers. Additionally, ASTA supports the deal’s focus on ensuring America’s seed companies have IP protection in the Chinese marketplace.”

ASTA is hopeful that discussions will continue in the near future toward a phase 2 deal to end tariffs on seed imports from China. The current 25% tariff on American seed that is multiplied in China and returned to the U.S. for seed companies to sell to America’s farmers is having a severe impact on the seed industry. ASTA and its member companies look forward to continuing to work with the Administration as it moves forward in these discussions.

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AFBF, Ag Groups, ARA, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Exports, Livestock, Trade

Ag Equipment Sales End 2019 Relatively Flat

Cindy Zimmerman

Final numbers for agricultural equipment sales in 2019 are in and the results are better than expected considering the tough year it was for agriculture.

“While growth hit a bump toward the end of the year, ag tractor and combine sales overall for 2019 ended relatively flat,” said Curt Blades, senior vice president of Ag Services at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM). “On top of that, from survey data we gathered along with the Equipment Dealers Association, majorities of both manufacturers and dealers agree inventory levels are sitting about right at the moment, which should put our members and the overall ag sector in a positive place for the near future.”

According to AEM, total U.S. farm tractor sales for 2019 were up 3.6 percent, while self-propelled combines were down 0.7 percent. December tractor sales climbed 1.1 percent compared to December of last year while combines fell by 12.3 percent.

Blades discusses 2019 and the outlook for 2020 in this interview.
Interview with Curt Blades, AEM Senior VP of Ag Services (5:15)

AEM, AgWired Precision, Audio, Equipment, Precision Agriculture

Precision Ag Bytes 1/15

Carrie Muehling

  • Ceres Imaging announced the close of a record-breaking fiscal year that included new partnerships and research, industry recognition, key hires, and the launch of transformational new products.
  • Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. announced that its novel, patented Bacillus biofungicide, Stargus®, has been fully reviewed by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and approved for immediate use by growers in California on several crops, including grapes, leafy greens, brassicas, strawberries, cucurbits and fruiting vegetables.
  • In response to an overwhelming demand for regenerative agriculture education and consulting services, Understanding Ag, LLC, announced the appointment of Walter Lynn, Jr. as its Chief Executive Officer.
  • In recognition of January 2020 as National Biotechnology Month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency launched a Unified Website for Biotechnology Regulation. The Website streamlines information about the three regulatory agencies charged with overseeing agriculture biotechnology products and is part President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products.
  • Farmers Business Network announced the launch of HedgeCommand, a grain marketing system that uses data science and economic analysis to generate truly personalized pricing recommendations for members.
  • Lewis & Clark AgriFood, a St. Louis based food and agriculture focused investment firm, announced an investment from their AgriFood and RBIC Funds in Bushel, Inc., headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota.
  • Colorado agricultural retailer Agfinity has joined the rapidly expanding CommoditAg online farm products network.
  • The recently formed biological joint venture, Plant Response, is acquiring applied microbial science company Pathway BioLogic to expand its portfolio of biological products for the agricultural industry.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

Yoho: Improving the Farm Labor Shortage

Carrie Muehling

Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida’s 3rd District was at the 2020 Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference, talking about guest worker legislation.

“This is a bill that will solve a problem for illegal immigration in this country on the lower skilled tiers,” said Yoho. “We give opportunity for people before they come into the country to apply to this program. They can be a 10-month seasonal worker, or they can apply for the five-year program. It will bring certainty and predictability to the ag labor for our producers that they need with so many variables in agriculture already. This is a common sense reform.”

Yoho said there is a shortage in farm labor and that creates unpredictability for farmers who rely on that labor. He said this bill would provide for those producers and also give an opportunity for workers to come here in a legal way. Yoho also talked about trade, and explained why he is against the United-States-Mexica-Canda Agreement (USMCA) in its current form.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Congressman Yoho here: Interview with Congressman Ted Yoho, Florida

2020 Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference Photo Album

Audio, labor, politics, Vegetables

President Trump to Attend Third AFBF Convention

Cindy Zimmerman

It’s a three peat for President Trump as headliner for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) annual convention.

The president will address the 101st AFBF convention on Sunday, January 19 in Austin, Texas. He previously addressed the 99th and 100th conventions in 2018 and 2019.

“The American Farm Bureau is honored President Trump will return for a third consecutive year to speak with farmers and ranchers who work tirelessly to produce the quality food and fiber our country needs,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We are grateful that he has made agricultural issues a priority and look forward to welcoming him to Austin at a time when there is much to talk about, from trade progress to important regulatory reforms.”

Other officials currently scheduled to attend are: Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.).

AFBF

Senator Perdue Optimistic About China Agreement

Cindy Zimmerman

Senator David Perdue (R-GA) gave keynote remarks at the Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah on Saturday and said he was optimistic about the phase one agreement with China being signed Wednesday helping agriculture.

“I’m more optimistic than maybe some people are because I’ve been involved since the beginning,” said Perdue in a brief interview after his remarks. “We have a pathway that will continue to see these small steps that will lead to a long term much more level playing field with China.”

Sen. Perdue is also optimistic about getting USMCA passed in the Senate, as soon as they get the articles of impeachment out of the way.

2020 SRFVC Interview with Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) (1:56)

During his address to growers, Sen. Perdue primarily focused on immigration reform and disaster relief.

2020 SRFVC - U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Georgia - Speech (35:11)

2020 Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference Photo Album

Audio, Produce, Trade, Vegetables

BASF Brings Choices, Quality to Cotton Growers

Carrie Muehling

BASF is working with cotton growers to ensure they have appropriate choices, while maintaining a high level of seed quality.

“From a cotton strategy perspective, BASF is really about sharing our story, and making sure growers know that we understand where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we want to go,” said BASF’s Hadley Howard at the 2020 BASF Agronomic Performance Trials (APT) Summit in Austin, Tex.

Howard said the company plans to bring a new trait to market in 2023 that will be stacked with four herbicide-tolerant traits and three insect traits. She said BASF will continue to make seed quality a priority, and shared that sustainability continues to be a focus with the e3 Sustainable Cotton Initiative. Growers can contact local seed advisors to learn more about enrolling in that program, as many are already using required sustainability practices on their farms.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Hadley here: Interview with Hadley Howard, BASF

2020 BASF APT Summit Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Cotton

AgButler Serves to Offer Farm Labor Solutions

Cindy Zimmerman

Thanks to the growing “gig economy” we can now easily get an Uber or Lyft, get food from different restaurants with GrubHub or DoorDash, find a babysitter or a handyman and more, all with our phones. Now the gig economy is coming to agriculture.

AgButler is a gig economy platform that serves as a solution to a rural labor shortage by providing on-demand jobs giving farmers and ranchers access to a high-quality labor force while boosting rural economies.

“We’re going to be connecting producers with quality laborers within a certain mile radius of the producers’ operations,” said Kevin Johansen, AgButler president and CEO, who notes that it has become increasingly difficult for farmers and ranchers to get help they need in a timely manner for jobs such as working cattle, baling hay, or transportation.

Johansen says the app also offers an opportunity for producers to make some extra money. “Young producers like myself, going back to the family farm, we could have some flexible time in our schedule so we could spend a couple of days a week and pick up some extra gigs,” he said.

AgButler has been chosen as one of the top ten semi-finalist teams in the American Farm Bureau Federation Ag Innovation Challenge at the 101st annual meeting starting this Friday in Austin, Texas, which Johansen says is a great opportunity for them to introduce the app to a wide audience.

Johansen encourages both producers and laborers to join AgButler’s First Service list and be the first to sign-up as hiring and/or skilled labor.

Learn more about AgButler in this interview with Kevin.
Interview with Kevin Johansen, AgButler (12:57)

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AFBF, Apps, Audio, labor, Livestock

Animal Ag Bites 1/13

Carrie Muehling

  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, has selected Brandi Buzzard Frobose, blogger, Kansas rancher and influencer, as the 2019 Advocate of the Year.
  • The International Dairy Foods Association is pleased to launch the Women in Dairy Network to support a stronger, more diverse future for U.S. dairy. See more in IDFA’s video explainer.
  • The Animal Agriculture Alliance announced its new website and updated resources to celebrate the beginning of a new decade.
  • Joe and Aggie Helle have been chosen as the 2020 Wool Excellence Award winners by members of the Wool Roundtable. While Joe passed away in October 2019, Aggie will accept the award this month at the American Sheep Industry Annual Convention in Scottsdale, Ariz.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

USDA Under Secretary Visits SE Fruit and Vegetable Growers

Cindy Zimmerman

Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney visited the Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference on Friday and talked trade issues with members of the GA Fruit & Vegetable Association before touring the trade show.

With the China Phase One trade deal slated to be signed next week, and USMCA getting one step closer to the Senate floor this week, McKinney had a lot to discuss in this interview from the conference. He also addresses skepticism about whether China will actually buy $40 billion in U.S. farm products this year, and concerns fruit and vegetable growers have about USMCA.

2020 SRFVC Interview with USDA Under Secretary Ted McKinney (6:17)

2020 Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Produce, Trade, USDA, Vegetables