USMCA Affordability and More New World Screwworm Discovered
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Purdue Universities’ new ‘USMCA Affordability Study’ finds that tariff reductions under North American trade agreements have helped lower food prices by roughly $700 per year, or about 7% of household food expenditures.
The study shows that every 1% reduction in food tariffs corresponds with about a 2.8% decrease in consumer food prices.
The study warns that without USMCA, tariffs could rise by an average of 7.4%.
**The USDA confirmed three additional cases of the flesh-eating New World screwworm, two more in Texas and another in New Mexico.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the two Texas cases affected a calf in La Salle county and a goat in Gillespie county.
APHIS clarified a fifth case was reported Monday in a dog in the Texas-bordering Andrews county, the first case detected in New Mexico.
**AccuWeather meteorologists say El Niño conditions have likely developed in the tropical Pacific and could have significant implications for U.S. agriculture over the next
two years.
Some experts say the pattern could strengthen rapidly and even develop into a rare "Super El Niño."
AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok says this El Niño will most likely begin soon and strengthen quickly, bringing wetter conditions to parts of the Southwest, with drier weather in some already drought-stricken regions.
