Federal

From the National Association of Wheat Growers Cover crops and no-till soil health practices can reduce erosion and runoff, increase organic matter retention and enhance biodiversity. The National Association of Conservation Districts and Datu Research, LLC recently released a set of case studies detailing the economic advantage of adopting these practices. After adoption, the case studies found the net farm incomes had ... Read More »

From the National Association of Wheat Growers The United States’ first request to China to establish a dispute settlement panel in a WTO case involving tariff rate quotas has been denied. The panel would address concerns that China has been blocking billions of dollars in wheat, rice and corn imports and was requested following bilateral discussions within the WTO’s agriculture ... Read More »

From NAWG On Aug. 28 and 29, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) President David Schemm and CEO Chandler Goule visited wheat farmers in Bismarck, N.D., Pierre, S.D., and Mitchell, S.D., to learn more about how the drought is impacting growers. As part of the trip, NAWG met with the North Dakota Grain Growers Association’s board of directors and discussed ... Read More »

From NAWG As formal renegotiation discussions for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) begin in Washington, D.C., the National Association of Wheat Growers ( NAWG) continues to stress “do no harm.” In the next couple of weeks, negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will commence the second round of NAFTA renegotiations in Mexico City, before heading to Canada for ... Read More »

Farmer John Duarte has agreed to pay $330,000 in civil penalties and purchase $770,000 worth of mitigation credits to resolve a federal lawsuit after he was accused of plowing wetlands on his property in Tehama County, Calif., according to the Capital Press. In 2013, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had sought $2.8 millions in fines as well as mitigation credits ... Read More »

From agweb.com It’s an historical day for the United States as the first round of negotiations to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), got underway Wednesday morning in Washington D.C. In effect since January 1994, NAFTA created a Free Trade Zone between Canada, Mexico and the United States. President Donald Trump has called the trade pact “the worst ... Read More »

From U.S. Wheat Associates Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) are crucial workers at U.S. export grain elevators. Overseas wheat buyers in the Asia-Pacific region likely recall the challenges faced in 2015 during a lengthy contract negotiation that occasionally interrupted the West Coast supply chain. Although the dispute was finally settled with a contract through June 2019, ... Read More »

In mid-July, officers and staff of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) flew into the other Washington to talk about the impacts of proposed budget cuts to wheat growers. The group jammed more than 20 meetings into four days, including a visit to the White House to meet with Ray Starling, special assistant to the president for agriculture, trade ... Read More »

From NAWG This week, the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates submitted joint comments on trade agreements violations and abuses to USTR, per the April Executive Order, that have impacted U.S. wheat growers. In general, violations and abuses to wheat are due to domestic subsidies that exceed World Trade Organization commitment levels, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulatory standards, plant ... Read More »

From NAWG On Tuesday, July 25, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing titled “Commodities, Credit, and Crop Insurance: Perspectives on Risk Management Tools and Trends for the 2018 Farm Bill.” National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) President and Kansas farmer David Schemm testified to the committee on the need for growers to have access to a strong safety net ... Read More »