Ben Nuelle

President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser has dropped a bombshell with his accusation that Trump directly pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping to help his re-election by purchasing U.S. farm commodities.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will be the star witness at back-to-back hearings today, first with the House Ways and Means Committee and then in the afternoon with the Senate Finance Committee.

The Trump administration is under increased pressure to delay issuance of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s draft scientific report.

There is continued uncertainty this week surrounding the use of dicamba herbicide. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wants to know by Tuesday why EPA decided to allow continued over-the-top use of dicamba on soybeans and cotton despite the court’s order vacating those registrations.

Chinese importers purchased enough U.S. soybeans this week to fill 11 Panamax-sized ships, signaling that the country is counting on the upcoming U.S. harvest to fulfill its needs in the final five months of the calendar year. The buyers are likely state-owned companies such as COFCO of Sinograin.

The Department of Agriculture slightly raised 2020/21 beginning and ending corn stocks in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released Thursday, but traders showed little reaction.

The American Farm Bureau Federation has given the Senate a 4 1/2-page list of priorities for the next coronavirus aid package, which the chamber is expected to consider in July.

Buckle up. A new farm economy forecast is projecting farm earnings will dive this year and again in 2021 without a big influx of additional government aid.

California wineries are facing a new world of shifting to plastic, using face masks, and maintaining social distancing as the state government allows tasting rooms to reopen on a county case by case basis this Friday.

Some wineries say state guidelines should be clearer as they reopen tasting rooms to a new COVID reality that has undermined the elegance of the overall experience by forcing owners to require plastic cups, face masks, and social distancing.