This new year could be the most important year for US agricultural trade policy since at least the mid-1990s, said Purdue University Agricultural Economist Russell Hillberry, in a 2020 outlook paper. It is difficult to know what the future holds for agricultural trade as much depends on the outcome of the presidential election and how … Read More

A signing of the Phase 1 trade deal with China could go a long way toward enhancing President Trump’s book with farmers and ranchers as it is supposed to bring down high tariffs, allowing freer imports of US agricultural commodities, a market analyst said. There are rumors the pact will be signed soon, perhaps even … Read More

Looking ahead into 2020, the Purdue University Agricultural Economics department said in an extensive outlook report that several issues will hold over from this year into next, providing uncertainty for farmers and ranchers. The outlook focuses on Indiana agriculture, but there are many parts of it that can apply to individual growers and livestock producers … Read More

On Nov. 14, Chinese officials lifted the ban on US poultry meat, a move that was called “a significant positive signal for the US broiler industry” by the USDA’s Economic Research Service in its monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook. The development should be helpful to US producers who have been ramping up production, despite … Read More

Beef byproduct values have improved slightly in the last weeks, but remain in a relatively tight range where they have been for most of the year and are close to last year’s numbers. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service provides values per cwt on a weekly basis.  The Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver creates a simple … Read More

Total US stocks of frozen red meat and poultry on Nov. 30 were down from a month earlier, according to the monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Monday. Total frozen red meat supplies were down 2% from Oct. 31 but up 2% from last year, the report said.  Total frozen … Read More

Seasonally large slaughter hog supplies weighing on hog prices, along with robust pork demand pushing up product prices, yielded the widest processor spreads of the year in November, according to the monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook from the Economic Research Service. November gross processor spreads averaged about $68 per hog, almost 79% more than … Read More