The USDA cash count for farmers (USDA): In the five weeks since the Trump tariff payments began, the USDA has sent nearly $4.7 billion to farmers and ranchers for this year’s crop and livestock production.
A $790 million pledge for smallholder farmers (World Resources Institute): At the UN Climate Action Summit, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and several governments committed $790 million to CGIAR, a global group of non-profit agricultural research centers, to help small farmers deal with climate change.
China exempts U.S. soy from high tariff (AgriCensus): China’s Commerce Ministry told soybean processors that it would exempt 1.5-1.6 million tonnes (57 million bushels) of U.S. soybeans from a 30 percent import tariff, sparking the purchases of up to 1.5 million tonnes of the soy in one day, according to a market source.
USDA meat inspection is short-handed (MCIR): A nine-month investigation by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found hundreds of vacancies for meat and poultry inspectors at USDA’s meat safety agency. Inspectors are assigned to two or three times the number of meat processing plants than is usual.
Farm income is up, but not enough (Agricultural Economic Insights): Rising debt and eroding working capital mean farm income “has not improved enough to stabilize financial conditions,” write the authors of an economics blog.
Latin America and the Sino-U.S. trade war (AAEA): Choices magazine examines the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war on Latin American commodity production, including trade flows in fruits, vegetables and other products to the United States.