U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to back out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, a $62 billion market for U.S. farmers, provides a fresh threat to a slumping agricultural economy that has grown increasingly dependent on exports. Agricultural groups expressed disappointment over the move and urged the new administration to find alternative ways to boost product shipments to Asian countries. Trump announced the cancellation on Monday, quickly fulfilling a campaign promise. [node:read-more:link]

A west-central Illinois company has withdrawn its notice of intent to build a 20,000-hog-capacity barn.  Carthage, Ill.-based Professional Swine Management LLC withdrew its notice from the Illinois Department of Agriculture last week after meeting with the Fulton County Farm Bureau. Citing “sustained protests” from farmers complaining of potential river and stream pollution from waste at the site, the newspaper stated that Professional Swine Management, which provides comprehensive management to family-owned breed-to-wean and wean-to-finish pork facilities, withdrew its notice. [node:read-more:link]

More than 130 agricultural trade groups and companies have sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in a way that expands on gains it helped the sector achieve. [node:read-more:link]

one of his first moves as President, Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). By signing the order, President Trump says he seeks to negotiate trade deals with individual countries. [node:read-more:link]

A dairy farm near the disaster-struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan began shipping raw milk again. It was the first milk shipped for processing and public sale from an area previously designated for evacuation following the March 2011 nuclear disaster at the seaside plant in Fukushima Prefecture, according to the prefectural government. Milk produced at the farm in the Naraha district had been checked for radioactive cesium every week from last May to December, with no reading ever surpassing the government-set limit of 50 becquerels per kilogram. [node:read-more:link]

The court decision against this farm family demonstrates why there is so much anger against Washington bureaucracy.  he story starts in June, 2002, and was finally determined on April 11, 2016. Arland and Cindy Foster farm in Miner County, S.D. Their farmland is in Prairie Pothole country. EPA, under its WOTUS regulation, seeks to regulate Prairie Potholes. USDA also regulates Prairie Potholes because in 1985 USDA was authorized to determine whether certain farm lands qualify as wetlands. The Fosters initially sought a wetlands determination for 0.8 acres in 2002. [node:read-more:link]

Thirteen states are asking a federal judge to block a last-minute Obama administration environmental rule aimed at preventing coal mines from fouling thousands of miles of streams. The states on Tuesday filed a petition in U.S. District Court seeking an injunction against the Stream Protection Rule, a proposal from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.  The rule would prohibit changes to land near coal mines, which would stop miners from dumping debris near streams and rivers. It would also require new testing and monitoring of streams near coal mines. [node:read-more:link]

Ample supplies of beef and an expected rise in pork production will keep retail prices for both proteins on a downward path in the coming year, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) predicted in its 2017 Food Price Outlook.  Beef and veal prices paid by consumers declined 6.3 percent in 2016 as the increased pace of cattle slaughter, especially during the second half of the year, and higher carcass weights result [node:read-more:link]

Dairy farmers are officially on the 2017 legislative docket. Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley presented a relief funding bill to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday. “It’s hard to imagine drought after all the moisture we’ve had over the last couple months,” Bradley said. [node:read-more:link]