The Trump Administration issued its annual trade policy report to Congress on March 1, including approval of USMCA, the revised North American trade pact, as a key goal for 2019. In its report, the Administration refers to USMCA as a new regime and the most advanced trade agreement ever negotiated Read more…
This week, USRPA joined 21 other farmer organizations on a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. The letter supports timely implementation of the farm bill as well as a request to update several farmer decision tools. The letter requests that USDA provide the financial resources needed to modernize Read more…
As the partial government shutdown continues without an end in sight, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that many of the Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices will temporarily reopen on Thursday, January 17, Friday, January 18, and Tuesday, January 22 to perform certain limited services for farmers and ranchers. FSA Read more…
Since December of 2017, the US Rice Producers Association (USRPA) has conducted a series of meetings with the Central American Rice Federation (FECARROZ) in an effort to analyze the effects of full implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominica Republic to the rice industries of both the U.S. and Read more…
Texas Rice Council held their regular October planning meeting in Houston this week with Tommy Turner of El Campo presiding as President of the organization. Rice farmers from the various counties of the Texas rice region participated and commented on their harvest results and conditions. Of particular concern to everyone Read more…
The new trilateral trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada (USCMA) takes a very forward-looking approach to support agricultural innovation. A new Agricultural Biotechnology Section confirms “the importance of encouraging agricultural innovation and facilitating trade in products of agricultural biotechnology, while fulfilling legitimate objectives, many are pointing to the Read more…
The rice industry continues to move along with even more news to digest since the last report. The weekly export sales report indicated another boost in net sales nearing a total of 58,000 MT for the week. This number remains far from optimal but is still enough to be considered Read more…
Things have become more lively in the rice industry over the week as more information becomes available and the market factors appear to be more favorable to movement. The export sales report for the week reported low volume for the current installment, a roughly 70% decrease over the volume of Read more…
The 2014 farm bill will expire on Sunday. Latest reports indicate that none of the 12 titles of the farm bill have been resolved. Although Conference leadership expresses their desire to finalize the farm bill in October in order to quickly approve a final agreement in November, without a final Read more…
Mexico Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo is in Washington, D.C. this week to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to continue high-level NAFTA talks. This week the two countries will focus on auto rules of origin and the inclusion of a sunset clause. Over the past two weeks, the U.S. Read more…