Ag News: Tariff Lifting and Beef to Japan
**Two long-awaited trade moves are being celebrated in the beef industry.
Steel and aluminum tariffs were lifted for Mexico and Canada, and Japan lifted age requirements for U.S. beef.
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President Colin Woodall tells drovers.com, they’re thrilled to see the tariff changes because it sends a very clear message to Congress, that now's the time to get the USMCA to a vote.
He says while passage is expected in the Senate, there’s more work to be done in the House.
**USDA's meteorologist says last week's corn planting progress hit the slowest on record stretching more than 30 years with an uncertain forecast.
Brad Rippey says 49-percent of corn was planted, 31-percent behind the national average.
He tells agrimarketing.com, planting is way behind for some states, with Illinois 65 percentage points and Indiana 59 behind the five-year average of 73-percent.
Soybean planting in the U.S. is 28 percent behind average with some areas at less than 10-percent.
**Seven years after the National Agricultural Aviation Association conducted its last comprehensive industry survey, new insights about the U.S. aerial application industry are out.
The 2019 Aerial Application Survey, from 2012 to 2019, the number of ag aviation operations has grown 16%, the number of hired pilots is up 42%, and the average number of aircraft per operation is up nearly 10%.
The ag aviation industry treats an estimated 127-million acres of cropland annually.