Gregg Doud, president of the Commodity Markets Council and former Senate Agriculture Committee aide, was named this week as President Trump's nominee to succeed Darci Vetter, from the Obama administration, as the new Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the US Trade Representative's Office.

Doud is well known throughout the ag community as a knowledgeable and capable economist, who once worked
at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association for the better part of a decade. Several commodity associations voiced their support for Doud's nomination this week, putting faith in him as the man that will hopefully find more markets in which to sell US agricultural goods for the collective effort to revitalize the US ag economy.

"Doud is a farm policy veteran with a wealth of experience and a solid understanding of the vital role trade plays in the U.S. agriculture economy," ASA Vice President John Heisdorffer said. Click here to read his full remarks.

"CropLife America supports the nomination of Gregg Doud as chief agricultural negotiator," stated Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CLA. "Gregg's prior experience in agriculture coupled with his knowledge of trade will play a vital role within the USTR. The importance of international trade to American farmers and ranchers cannot be overstated, and we look forward to working with Gregg to continually move U.S. agriculture forward to the benefit of growers, consumers and the U.S. economy." Click here for CLA's full statement on Doud's nomination.

"Trade is a top priority for U.S. wheat farmers and this nomination is welcome news to America's wheat farmers," stated National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Chandler Goule. "With the Administration currently working on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and our desire to see the Administration move aggressively to expand our markets abroad, we encourage the U.S. Senate to quickly confirm Doud as chief agricultural negotiator." To read NAWG's complete release, click or tap here.

In the beef industry, wholesale boxed beef prices are used to gain insight into consumer demand. In recent days, Choice beef prices have climbed up above $2.50/lb. - very strong demand indeed compared to year-ago prices. But with the Choice/Select spread backing off the $30/cwt where it was earlier this week, now hovering at approximately $27.53 as of Tuesday at midday, Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Glynn Tonsor tells me that this price swing may have peaked out for the year.


"That's a very wide Choice/Select spread," Tonsor remarked. "It's very common that from roughly February, early March, we increase the Choice/Select spread until about this time of year. Usually sometime in June is when that spread peaks."


And Tonsor says we are right on track for that to happen now. In fact, last year's spread peaked this very same week. The important thing to look at though, says Tonsor, is that a high spread is an indication, or a demand signal, for quality. By breaking it down into primal cuts, he says you get a clearer picture of which specific cuts are actually driving the market - instead of looking at the carcass as a whole.


"What I want to call our attention to is trends versus last week, and more importantly, last year on those primals," he said, pointing out that the total cutout is up 13%, while rib cutout is up 19% and conversely the loin, down 2% - all the other cutouts are up atleast 17%. "Loin sticks out like a sore thumb; a bit of a drag if you will, on that total carcass. So, Choice/Select spread is good on the balance but it's being driven by parts of the carcass - not all of the carcass."


Listen to Dr. Tonsor and I discuss the Choice/Select spread topping-out, and what has really been behind the wheel that's been driving it up, on yesterday's Beef Buzz - click here.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington Monday, lodged against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a lawsuit at the request of independent cattle industry association, R-CALF, and the Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW).

The suit claims that the USDA allegedly allows beef and pork to be classified as "domestic products," even when those meat products are imported from other countries. The plaintiffs argue this action confuses consumers and harms American farmers.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Public Justice and the Terrell Marshall Law Group, cites the Meat Inspection Act, which requires that the more than 800 million pounds of beef born, raised and slaughtered annually in other countries and then imported to the United States should include labeling indicating the meat's country of origin. They accuse the USDA of violating these regulations.

"Consumers understandably want to know where their food comes from, and proper labeling would not only allow consumers to make informed choices at the market, but would also be a boon for American farmers," said David Muraskin, a Food Safety and Health Attorney at Public Justice. "With this suit, we're fighting policies that put multinational corporations ahead of domestic producers and shroud the origins of our food supply in secrecy."

Scott Nielson, president of CPoW, echoed that sentiment: "Cattle Producers of Washington proudly raise a safe wholesome product under the rules and regulations required by our lawmakers. We should not be forced to compete with beef from other countries that do not have the same health and safety standards without the ability to allow the American consumer to make an informed decision about what they are feeding their families."

You can read more about the lawsuit and the position being taken by RCALF and CPoW, by clicking or tapping here.

Casey Chumrau began her career with the US Wheat Associates six years ago in their Washington, DC office. In 2015, she moved to Santiago, Chile where today she works as the marketing manager for South America, covering six countries there, including Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Columbia. When it comes to Chile, though, Chumrau says their buying needs are tremendous.

"They are an enormous bread consumer," she said. "They are the third largest bread consumer per capita in the world."

This week, Chumrau is leading a group of Chilean millers and wheat buyers around the Southern Plains, allowing them the opportunity to tour farms and grain companies around our nation's breadbasket, speaking with local producers and industry leaders along the way. Earlier this week, the Oklahoma Wheat Commission hosted the group for dinner, where I had the chance to speak with Chumrau about her work with the Chileans.

On average, Chumrau says Chileans consume about 95 kilos of bread per person. Most of Chile's flour purchases are used to make bread, but she says they have robust pasta production as well. Additionally, the cracker and cookie segment is picking up pace as well.


"Principally, they are an all-purpose bread flour wheat consumer," she said. "So, that would be a HRW from the United States, but they also, of course, do blend. They're a very sophisticated, very mature market."

Hosting trade groups have become an integral part to maintaining international relationships with our foreign wheat buyers, who know exactly what they're looking for. Chumrau says by hosting these trade teams, we build confidence in our trading partners about the product we sell, the systems we have in place and the people behind them.

You can read more about the Chilean trade team's visit this week, or listen to Casey and I's entire conversation, simply by clicking or tapping here.

In this week's Cow/Calf Corner newsletter, Glenn Selk dedicates his article to reviewing some of the basic rules of population genetics and describes how they can ultimately affect the management decisions you make for your herd.

"Iowa State University scientists studied records of 3144 heifers from 6 herds in 5 states. In the Iowa State study, the heritability of "pregnancy rate" was .13," writes Selk.

Selk breaks some of the reproduction terms down for us, defining "pregnancy rate" as the percentage of the heifers exposed to artificial or natural breeding that were diagnosed pregnant after their first entire breeding season.

"First service conception rate" is the likelihood that the heifer became pregnant on the first attempt to breed her.

And finally, "Heritability" is that portion of the difference in the performance of cattle that is due to genetics.

He says a heifer's environment can be calculated into a heifer's probable chances of becoming pregnant as well.

"The heritability of "first service conception rate" was even lower at .03. This implies that 97% of the differences in the "first service conception rate" are due to the management environment in which the heifers were raised," he explains. "These low heritability estimates suggest that only slow progress could be made by selecting sires and dams that produced heifers with greater pregnancy rates. This data also reminds us that management is still the key to successful pregnancy rates in replacement heifers."

Take a look at Selk's complete review of the study done at Iowa State, testing the heritable qualities of reproductive traits in replacement heifers, by clicking over to our website. 

 
A group of Arkansas farmers are suing Monsanto and BASF over dicamba-based herbicide spray drift that kill neighboring crops not tolerant to dicamba. The lawsuit comes as Arkansas's Plant Board voted Tuesday to limit Dicamba applications of Engenia herbicide to hooded sprayers only with a one-mile downwind buffer. Enginia is the only dicamba-based herbicide that can be used in Arkansas after April 15th.

The lawsuit filed last week claims Monsanto and BASF implemented and controlled the dicamba crop system, releasing seed technology without a corresponding, safe, and approved herbicide. The farmers allege that Monsanto and BASF sold the dicamba crop system while knowing it could wipe out crops, fruits and trees that are not dicamba tolerant. The farmers claim that those who do not plant dicamba tolerant crops are left with no protection from the herbicide.

Arkansas is investigating 135(and growing) dicamba drift complaints this year. They have established a website on the state's response to the problem- click here for the Dicamba website of the Arkansas Agriculture Department.