Ag News: Beef Trade to Slow
**U.S. beef trade has been doing spectacularly for the first half of 2018, but indications are trade will slow on the world stage going forward.
In the recently released World Trade Organization the World Trade Outlook Indicator read 100.3, down from the previous 101.8 and close to the baseline 100.
An index of 100 means flat trade, with neither expansion nor contraction of the exchange of goods across the globe, meaning trade is expected to slow in the coming third quarter.
**The USDA and the U.S. Forest Service have announced a new strategy for managing catastrophic wildfires and the impacts of invasive species, drought, and insect and disease epidemics.
Specifically, a new report titled ‘Toward Shared Stewardship across Landscapes: An Outcome-based investment Strategy’ outlines the USFS’s plans to work more closely with states to identify landscape-scale priorities for targeted treatments in areas with the highest payoffs.
A key component of the new strategy is to prioritize investment decisions on forest treatments in direct coordination with states using the most advanced science tools.
**Bayer can now begin integrating Monsanto following the completion of the divestment of certain science businesses to BASF. Bayer became the sole owner of Monsanto on June 7th.
One of the requirements of the U.S. Department of Justice was that Bayer and Monsanto remain separate companies and continue to operate separately until completion of these divestments to BASF, which has now taken place.