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American pet food production in 2018 surpassed 8 million tons, about 4.5 percent of the estimated 177 million tons in total feed production.

Agriculture Secretary Perdue is planning to head over to the White House this week to make a presentation on how the department is proposing to dole out $15 billion to $20 billion in what is tentatively being called the “Farming Support Program” for producers who continue to bear the brunt of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, government officials tell Agri-Pulse.

Multiple sources agree that African Swine Fever, first confirmed in China on Aug. 2, 2018, in the northeastern city of Shenyang, is ravaging the Asian giant’s pork industry in a way that will have impacts on global protein production and feed consumption for several years in the future.

Buckets of water have fallen on the nation’s corn and soybean acres, creating wet conditions persisting into late May.

Farmers growing corn, wheat, and soybeans can expect increased support under a new trade mitigation package set to be announced later this week.

Democratic presidential candidates are trying to make agribusiness consolidation into a campaign issue, and some Republicans as well as farmers also worry that recent mergers are increasingly making it harder for growers to make a profit.

Agricultural sources often get blamed for polluting waterways, but this spring's flooding prompted several Midwestern cities and other sources to discharge a "witch’s brew" of pollutants into rivers and streams.