Permanent Disaster Relief and USTR on Canada & USMCA
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**U.S. House Ag Committee Chair David Scott, of Georgia’s 13th District, announced last week the committee is working to establish a permanent disaster relief program for farms.
Scott tells www.gfb.org, he’s working to create a separate, immediate disaster aid fund, so it doesn’t have to go through the regular appropriations process.
He says it just takes too long, and many of our farms are done away with because we move too slow.
www.gfb.org/media-and-publications/news.cms/2021/1046/rep--david-scott-considering-permanent-disaster-assistance-program
**The U.S. Trade Representative made a request Tuesday to initiate a dispute settlement under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to challenge Canada’s allocation of dairy tariff-rate quotas, or TRQs.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says this is an important step for American ag, and one that brings the U.S. dairy sector closer to realizing the full benefits of the USMCA.
He says Ambassador Tai's action will help ensure Canada upholds its USMCA commitments and lets our other agricultural trading partners know they must play by the rules.
**U.S. organic sales in 2020 jumped 12.4%, reaching $61.9 billion, according to a new Organic Trade Association survey.
www.thepacker.com reports, the 2020 growth rate was more than twice the 2019 pace of 5%.
U.S. organic food sales in 2020 surged 12.8% to reach a new high of $56.4 billion. In 2020, almost 6% of the food sold in the U.S was certified organic.
www.thepacker.com/news/organic/2020-sees-record-organic-sales-ota-reports?mkt
