JBS drops ractopamine for hogs (Reuters): With an eye toward pork sales to China, meatpacker JBS USA said it will not buy hogs for slaughter from farmers who use of the growth-promoting drug ractopamine, banned by China, the EU and Russia.
Russia plants more wheat (FAO): Growers in Russia, the No. 1 wheat exporter, are expanding plantings for the 2020 harvest, responding to government policies that encourage exports, while the world reaps a record-large wheat crop this year.
Trade war squashes cranberry exports (NPR): China was a new and booming market for U.S. cranberries until the trade war led to a 40-percent tariff on American cranberries and creating an opening for Canada and Chile, the two other cranberry powers of the world.
High tech down on the farm (CBS News): Chief executive Beth Ford of the dairy cooperative Land O’Lakes says technology, from predictive modeling to satellite imaging, helps producers survive economic stress.
Trade war payments fall short (ABC News): Although President Trump says trade war payments will allow farmers to “make the same sort of money,” a handful of farmers say they have taken backup jobs, such as truck driving, to make up for lost farm income.