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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
U.S. agricultural exports must contend with a wide range of trade barriers not based in science that impede access to overseas markets, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its latest National Trade Estimate Report.
It’s long been a point of pride in American agriculture that the United States exported more than it imported in farm commodities, but that surplus has vanished and may not be coming back anytime soon.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s index of global food commodity prices eased again in January, led by lower prices for grains and meat, and is down 10.4% from a year ago.
The Department of Agriculture’s annual Crop Production report surprised traders with increases to the 2023 corn and soybean yield, pulling prices for both commodities lower in what could be the start of a longer trend.
The first thing U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack did after the U.S. lost its second USMCA dairy battle with Canada was vow to keep on fighting – reminiscent of statements released by U.S. lawmakers and U.S. dairy groups, but that fight may be at an end after two exhaustive legal fights that both ended in a decision by a three-member dispute panel.
The USDA’s Economic Research Service on Thursday lowered its forecast for U.S. agricultural exports in fiscal year 2024 to $169.5 billion. That’s down $2.5 billion from USDA’s previous forecast in August and down $9.2 billion from exports in FY 2023.
It’s all political. That’s the message from the U.S. to the three-member U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement panel that will be ruling on the U.S. complaint against Mexico’s attempt to block imports of genetically engineered corn.