WTO
COOL appeal may come in the new year
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told DTN it may be January before the United States files an appeal of the World Trade Organization ruling against U.S. country-of-origin meat labels.
Slaughter cattle set record price, feedlot total drops
Bids for slaughter cattle hit a record $170 per 100 pounds last week amid limited supplies in Kansas, Texas, Nebraska and Colorado, says Beef Today. Cash prices were up $6 per 100 pounds on live cattle.
Appeal and negotiate on COOL, don’t repeal it, say backers
The United States should appeal an adverse WTO ruling on country-of-origin labels on beef, pork and chicken meat, said four farm and consumer groups.
WTO again says U.S. meat-orgin labels distort world trade
For the second time, the World Trade Organization ruled U.S. meat-origin labels are a violation of global trade rules. The ruling, which can be appealed, opens the door to retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods if the regulations are not modified. Appeals generally are not successful at this stage at WTO but they can delay an adverse decision for a couple of months.
Ruling on COOL is “weeks, if not days” from announcement
The World Trade Organization ruling on U.S. meat-origin labels could be public in "weeks, if not days" in the words of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, says Feedstuffs.
WTO rules for US over India’s livestock trade rules
The World Trade Organization agreed with U.S. complaints and ruled that India's restrictions on imports of hogs, poultry meat and chicken eggs violate world trade rules.
Keep your COOL, senators ask Appropriations Committee
The World Trade Organization is unlikely to rule until "well into 2015" on U.S. meat-labeling rules, say 32 senators in a letter arguing against unilateral surrender in the dispute with Canada and Mexico.
US gains peace with Brazil on cotton with $300 million pact
Brazil agreed to end a decade-old World Trade Organization case against U.S. cotton subsidies and to a peace clause for the life of the 2014 farm law in exchange for $300 million and technical assistance for its cotton sector.
US farm law turns toward protectionism, analyst says
Parts of the 2014 farm law "send a message to trading partners that U.S. agriculture is becoming more protectionist," writes UC-Davis economics professor Colin Carter in Choices, the journal of agricultural economics.
WTO rules against US meat-label rules for second time
The World Trade Organization has ruled in favor of Canada and Mexico in the six-year-old dispute over U.S. rules that require packages of beef, pork and poultry to carry labels saying where the meat was produced, says the Wall Street Journal.
Monsanto expects to sell new herbicide-tolerant soy in 2016
Monsanto Co, the giant seed company, expects to begin sales in 2016 of soybeans engineered for tolerance to a wider range of herbicides, says the St Louis Business Journal.
USDA says STAX will be offered for 2015 cotton crop
The new subsidy STAX will be available to upland cotton growers beginning with the 2015 crop, said USDA's Risk Management Agency in a bulletin to insurers and its field offices.
Appeals Court upholds country-of-origin meal labels
A U.S. appeals court upheld USDA rules that require cuts of beef, pork and poultry to carry labels listing where the meat was born, raised and slaughtered, says the AP. Meatpackers challenged the 2013 regulation as a violation of free speech. The meat industry says the labels are bookkeeping headache and drive up costs.
Foes try to de-fang meat-labeling law in USDA bill
Foes hope to shorten the lifetime of the country-of-origin meat labeling law with help of the Agriculture Department funding bill pending in the House.
US-Brazil cotton settlement reported, USDA says not so
"Brazil is likely to receive $400 million from the United States as part of an agreement to compensate the South American country" in the decade-old cotton subsidy dispute, says Agro-South.
Canada says US will ride COOL “right to the bottom”
The United States will not change its meat-labeling regime before an expected World Trade Organization ruling in July, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gary Ritz told reporters following a meeting of farm ministers from Mexico, Canada and the United States, says Country Guide. Ritz said he told Ag Secretary Vilsack that Canada is ready to retaliate over the U.S. country-of-origin labeling rules.
Appellate court to hear mandatory meat-label case
The U.S. Court of Appeals in DC is scheduled to hear arguments today over USDA regulations that require cuts of beef, pork and poultry meat to carry labels saying where the meat was born, raised and slaughtered, says Feedstuffs. It's the latest hearing for a case that began July 2013.
US tries to avert Brazil retaliation over cotton subsidies
The United States is "negotiating" with Brazil and trying to avert the potential imposition of $830 mln in retaliatory tariffs in the decade-old cotton dispute, AgSec Vilsack told the Senate Agriculture Committee. Brazil won a World Trade Organization case against U.S. subsidies several years ago and repeatedly held off retaliation while working with the United States to settle the issue.
U.S. sugar import rules need an update, says GAO
The government should replace outdated sugar import rules that guarantee higher revenue to domestic growers and drive up food costs, said the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday. “The program creates higher sugar prices, which cost consumers more than producers benefit, at an annual cost to the economy of around $1 billion,” it said.