Soybean growers updated on trade negotiations
Even though the United States has pulled out of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement all is not lost. Soybean growers attending the American Soybean Association Open Policy Session at the 2018 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California, were glad to hear this news.
Jason Hafemeister, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the Unites States Department of Agriculture said the door is still open for the U.S. to be part of this trade agreement. Even though the other 11 countries in TPP have moved on there is still an offer for the U.S. to return and be part of this historic trade agreement.
China is a $14 billion market for U.S. soybeans. Recently this market has been threatened by new requirements for foreign matter in grain shipments to China. Gregory Iback, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, said they are taking a systems approach to this situation.
“USDA is not here to tell you how to be better farmers,” Ibach said. “This is an opportunity to refocus our efforts.”
The emergence of herbicide resistant weeds in this country has raised concerns in the foreign marketplace. China has taken notice of this as they watch shipments coming in from all over the world. In July 2016 China issued new import regulations for all crops coming into their country. The new regulation calls for all shipments to be one percent foreign matter or less.
A group from China came to the U.S. in July 2017 to discuss what the U.S. could do to meet this requirement and avoid suspension of imports from the U.S.
Ibach said with the help of the entire grain industry a proposal was put together and delivered to China right after Thanksgiving in 2017.
“This would allow us to implement a systems approach that included each segment of the industry, not just production agriculture, to help us deliver what China wants,” Ibach said.
China agreed to the proposal. So far the U.S. has had no delayed, rejected or discounted shipments due to foreign matter content.
“We are asking you to be our partners in this systems approach,” Ibach said.
