WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2016 - There’s some good news on the
agricultural trade front. USDA’s
first forecast for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 projects that U.S.
agricultural exports are projected to increase $6.0 billion from the revised
fiscal 2016 forecast, while imports are forecast $400 million higher.
Despite the strong U.S. dollar, USDA’s quarterly forecast projects
that exports in fiscal 2017 are expected to reach $133 billion, up from $127
billion in FY 2016. The new trade surplus is forecast at $19.5 billion for FY
2017.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the “numbers once
again demonstrate the resiliency and reliability of U.S. farmers and ranchers
in the face of continued challenges.”
Beef and pork exports are expected to be rebound modestly,
about 2 percent, after falling sharply this year.
Meanwhile, China is expected to increase imports of
soybeans, nuts and pork and move ahead of Canada as the largest U.S.
agricultural export market in 2017.
Slumping meat, egg prices keeping food prices flat. Consumers
are seeing some benefit from falling prices for meat, eggs and other
commodities. USDA’s latest
food price forecast shows that supermarket prices are only likely to
increase by zero to 1 percent this year.
A big factor is that soft export market that has boosted
domestic meat supplies. Beef and veal prices fell 1.4 percent from June to July
and are 7.7 percent lower than a year ago.
Poultry prices are down 3.2 percent from last year. Egg
prices have fallen 29 percent from 2015, when the avian influenza outbreak
hammered producers in the Midwest.
USDA expects grocery prices to rise between 1 and 2 percent
in 2017, still below the historical average inflation.
Agribusiness leaders press Trump for input on immigration. Donald
Trump’s backtracking this week on immigration policy should be reassuring to
farmers who may have feared having workers deported. But Trump hasn’t addressed
concerns about increasing the legal flow of year-around foreign labor.
But a source familiar with the discussions that agribusiness
leaders have had recently with the Trump campaign says they
were assured that no decisions would be made on immigrant labor policy without
input from farmers. The source says farm leaders made clear to the
campaign that the issue for agriculture is not “just legal status, we still
don't have enough workers.”
During appearances this week, Trump seemed to indicate that
he was open to providing legal status to many illegal immigrants and that he
would generally follow President Obama’s policy on deportations.
Frank Gasperini, executive vice president and CEO of the
National Council of Agricultural Employers, tells Agri-Pulse that he
hopes Trump is serious about allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the
country. However, Gasperini says the bigger question is whether comprehensive
immigration reform can get through Congress.
Trump shift brings him closer to public opinion. Trump’s
new position on immigration shouldn’t be difficult to defend with Republican
voters, according to new
Pew Research poll.
More than half of Republican voters think that providing
illegal immigrants a path to citizenship should be given at least equal
priority to border security. And well over 60 percent of GOP voters say that
illegal immigrants are honest and hard-working and mostly fill jobs that
American citizens don't want.
FDA told records rule unfair to rural veterinarians. The
feed industry is appealing to the Food and Drug Administration to exempt
veterinarians from having to meet electronic records requirements for antibiotic
prescriptions in animal feed.
The National Grain and Feed Association and the American
Feed Industry Association say in a petition to
FDA that most vets don't have the personnel and resources needed to implement
and maintain the needed computer systems, and that feed mills don’t have the
equipment either. The industry groups say FDA has provided a similar exemption
for new regulations issued under the Food Safety Modernization Act.
FDA is requiring increased veterinary oversight of the use
of medically important antibiotics in livestock and poultry.
Top lobbyist: GMO debate offers lesson for farm bill. Randy
Russell, a 39-year veteran of farm policy who led the industry’s lobbying for
the new GMO labeling law, says the effort shows what the food and agriculture
sectors can do legislatively when they’re united. Russell told Agri-Pulse’s
Spencer Chase in the latest Meet
the Farmhands interview that the failure of a farm bill in the House
in 2013 had been somewhat demoralizing.
“That was a low point for our industry,” Russell said.
“We’ve got a bounce back in our step in our community and I think it’s going to
be helpful going into the next farm bill.” He said that getting the GMO bill
was an “enormous team effort” that required pulling together 54 national trade
associations.
Check out the entire interview and learn about Russell’s
non-profit work as well as his growing herd of alpacas in rural Virginia.
He said it. “There were a lot of times that even people
within our coalition thought that the cart that was in the ditch was never
coming out.” - Lobbyist Randy Russell, on the difficulty of passing the biotech
labeling bill
Bill Tomson contributed to this report.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
