6 years, 6 months ago AFBF
U.S. Ag Groups Want Intervention of GI Review
Farm and food groups want the Trump Administration to address a trade consideration between Mexico and Japan regarding geographical indications. Japan and Mexico are considering giving exclusive status to various European geographical food and drink names. In a letter to President Trump, the groups say that the European Union is currently negotiating with both nations on lists of protected geographical indications, and “seeks to secure a monopoly on certain common names for meats, cheeses, wines and other beverages, such as parmesan, bologna and vintage.” The letter was signed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, The U.S. Dairy Export Council, and the Wine Institute. Japan and Mexico, which are finalizing new and updated trade agreements with the EU, are closing comment periods on the terms early this month. The groups say they are not opposed to “proper” geographical indications such as ‘Idaho Potatoes.’ However, they say the EU has been aggressively seeking to confiscate generic terms that derive from part of the protected name or are otherwise in common usage, such as ‘parmesan.’
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CME Analysis Warns of La Niña Risks
An analysis by CME Groups says the La Niña weather phenomenon may be coming back for real this time, after a head fake last year. La Niña is associated with cooler, wetter conditions along the U.S.-Canadian border, warmer, drier conditions in much of the southern United States, and impacts weather patterns worldwide. CME Group Senior Economist Erik Norland says past La Niñas have roiled agricultural markets, sending prices on” wild rides,” often lower amid exceptionally high levels of volatility. Research shows cooler-than-normal water is pooling along the Equator on the America's side of the Pacific Ocean. One potentially worrisome feature of agricultural markets today, Norland writes, is that corn, wheat and soy complex options implied volatilities are trading at or near record lows. He says: “This might mean that markets are woefully unprepared for a potential La Niña that would bring a wave of volatility.” Since 1959, the world has experienced eight significant episodes of La Niña and 12 significant episodes of El Niño, a warming of currents.
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USDA Announces Farm Safety Net Payments
The Department of Agriculture announced this week that more than $9.6 billion in payments would be made through farm safety net programs. USDA started sending out the payments this week as part of the Agriculture Risk Coverage, Price Loss Coverage and Conservation Reserve programs. USDA is issuing approximately $8 billion in payments under the ARC and PLC programs for the 2016 crop year, and $1.6 billion under CRP for 2017. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says many of the payments will be made to landowners and producers "that have recently been ravaged by drought, wildfires, and deadly hurricanes." More than 500,00 farmers will receive ARC payments and more than 250,00 farmers will receive PLC payments.
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Farmers Union and Cattlemen’s Association Urge USDA to Finalize Farmer Fair Practices Rule
Two farm groups are urging the Department of Agriculture to finalize the Farmer Fair Practices rule under the Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration. The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association and the National Farmers Union say the rule will go into effect in less than three weeks, barring any setbacks from USDA. The two groups say the rule would protect family farmers and ranchers from abuse by concentrated markets. They are calling on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to allow the Farmer Fair Practices Rules, and an interim final rule on “competitive injury,” to be finalized. The seven-year process to finalizing the rules, according to USCA and NFU, saw “industry groups funded by the meatpacking conglomerates stall their progress through backchannel legislative and regulatory means.” Groups like the National Pork Producers Council oppose the rules because of concerns they will restrict producers’ ability to sell and packers’ ability to buy livestock and lead to further consolidation of the livestock industry.
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EU, Canada, Settle 21 Year Beef Fight
Canada and the European Union have settled a 21-year dispute of hormone-treated meat, according to Reuters. In a filing with the World Trade Organization this week, Canada and the EU announced the settlement on the dispute that began in 1996. Under the terms of the settlement, Canada gives up any right to retaliate over the decades-old complaint, which alleged the EU was breaking WTO rules by banning hormone-treated beef. The use of hormones in Canada had blocked Canadian beef exports to the EU. Through negotiations on CETA, the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the EU and Canada reached an agreement on a limit of hormone-treated beef for export to the EU. The eventual deal allowed Canada to raise its exports to the EU in stages to 50,000 metric tons of duty-free beef, as well as 80,000 metric tons of pork and 100,000 of wheat.
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San Francisco Enacting Law to Require Stores to Report Antibiotics Use in Livestock
A new ordinance in San Francisco requires grocery stores to report antibiotic use in the raising of livestock at the city’s approximately 120 stores that sell meat to the public. The San Francisco Examiner reports that the order by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors wants the grocery chains to collect the information and provide annual reports to the city’s Department of Environment for distribution to consumers. The lawmakers say the goal of the ordinance is to spark a marketplace shift to antibiotic-free meat and poultry, and say the use of antibiotics to speed up growth or protect confined animals has been partly blamed for an uptick in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The new ordinance does not target processors or producers but includes penalties, including a civil penalty of as much as $1,000 per day, for grocery chains that do not comply with the reporting standards.
