Lighthizer on NAFTA Talks and Senate's Farm Bankruptcy Aid
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**U.S. trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says negotiations with Canada and Mexico on a new NAFTA agreement are moving quickly but it is still too soon to know whether the sides will reach a conclusion before elections in Mexico and the U.S.
In a Brownfield report, Lighthizer says talks "are moving at warp speed but we don't know whether we're going to get to a conclusion."
The next round of talks are currently going on in Ottawa through Wednesday.
**The USDA reports soybean export inspections have started the new marketing year on a neutral to bullish pace.
According to Brownfield, wheat came out at over 464,000 tons, nearly 45,000 lower than the week ending September 7th and down almost 110,000 from the week ending September 15th, of last year.
Soybeans were pegged at more than 928,000 tons, a decrease of over 178,000 on the week, but an increase of more than 167,000 on the year. So far this marketing year, soybean inspections are 2,035,333 tons, more than 120,000 over last year.
**The Senate has unanimously passed legislation to assist farmers who have fallen on hard times financially.
Minnesota Senator Al Franken and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced the Family Farmer Bankruptcy Clarification Act of 2017 to fix a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that prevented a bankruptcy reform bill from becoming law.
That legislation was passed by Congress in 2005 to address unique financial situations of family farmers who are reorganizing their assets following bankruptcy.