Ag Trade Deals and Education Events

Local agricultural news the past couple weeks included updates on the NAFTA/USMCA trade agreement and local educational events. There was also a recent Farm Economic Summit locally as well as a few upcoming events early next year related to agriculture and education. Coverage and links for the economic summit are below. WILL had a couple articles on the USMCA passage. First with reaction from the Illinois Farm Bureau:

llinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert said Tuesday the new U.S. trade agreement with Canada and Mexico will make two of the state's top export markets even stronger.

“We are just ecstatic,” Guebert declared. “Between corn and dairy products, fruits and vegetables, cheeses, you name it, we’ll send it to Mexico and or Canada.”

Illinois farmers exported $2.8 billion in goods to Canada and Mexico in 2018. According to the Illinois Farm Bureau oilseeds and grains led the way at $796 million. The bureau said Illinois exported $660 million in corn to Mexico, which accounted for about 30% of the state’s global corn exports last year.

Guebert said the Farm Bureau lobbied for the trade deal after what he called a "tough" year for farmers, due partly to the trade war with China which has shrunk U.S. export markets.

More at that full article here. The 21st Show also discussed the impact and had an interview with an trade economist here. Excerpt from the show description:

House Democrats and President Trump agree that a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico is good for our economy. With Illinois being the third largest agricultural exporter in the nation, what will that mean for farmers in the state?

Illinois exports about $28 billion worth of goods to Canada and Mexico. A lot of those are agricultural goods grown on Illinois farms. Illinois is the third largest agricultural exporter in the nation. This means changes to the trade agreements the United States has with other countries will directly affect the thousands of Illinois residents who work in the agriculture industry for better or worse.

More at the segment link here and the full show link here. The News-Gazette's latest Crop, Stock & Ledger article had coverage from the Farm Economic Summit:

It was noted by the speakers that 2019 has been a year full of surprises and the agriculture community still does not know all the effects this may have for crop production and demand in the future. While a “Phase One” Trade Agreement has been signed with China, its details have not been released. What will be the ramifications of this trade agreement as well as the other trade agreements going forward for U.S. agricultural trade around the world? The final crop yield totals and quality of the late harvested crops are still not known, so this is another variable.

That full article available at the eEdition here (subscription) and includes additional information on program deadlines, tools, and variables. It also highlighted the first of upcoming educational events, this one in January:

The Illinois Specialty Crop Conference (ISCC) will be Jan. 8-10 in Springfield. This engaging conference is hosted by Illinois Specialty Growers Association in partnership with University of Illinois, Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Department of Agriculture...

For more information and to register, go to the Illinois Specialty Growers Association website: specialtygrowers.org/iscc.

There was more information on the upcoming events in February in a separate Crop, Stock & Ledger column earlier this month in the News-Gazette:

Extension specialists from the UI will present research information on critical crop production issues at four regional Crop Management Conferences.

The East-Central Illinois Crop Management Conference is Feb. 4 at the iHotel.

Register at https://go.aces.illinois.edu/IL2020CMC.

More on tap in February

A final event to put on your educational calendar is the 2020 Soil and Water Management Webinar on Feb. 20. Risks and solutions to such topics as extreme weather, irrigation, groundwater and loss of topsoil and nutrients will be discussed. Certified Crop Advisors can receive 4.5 hours in Soil and Water Management CEU’s by attending this webinar, which will be conducted at multiple Extension offices across the state, including Bloomington and Decatur.

More at the full article in the eEdition here (subscription). More information and a link to on-line registration on the Soil and Water Management Webinar here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage of the recent Farm Economic Summit this week:

The past two years, and 2019 in particular, have been a wild ride for farmers.

“So many unusual events occurred in 2019,” said Scott Irwin, an agronomist at the University of Illinois.

He spoke Friday at the annual Illinois Farm Economics Summit about “all the turmoil with the trade story with China” and “the weather.”...

And despite the wild ride, net farm income overall in the U.S. is forecasted to increase in 2019, according to the USDA...

He said weather and related issues were big factors in income, as well as government policy, such as the aid package and the trade issues.

Full article available here. Slideshow presentations from the event and more information are available from the summit website here.