The Department of Agriculture has agreed to use Commodity Credit Corporation funds to spend nearly $1.4 billion on a program to help farm groups market their commodities overseas, and another $1.1 billion to pay for commodity-based international food aid, according to sources. The market promotion funding would establish a Regional Agricultural Trade Promotion program that would be similar to an effort launched by the Trump administration during the trade war with China.

The farms of Neil Durrant and Adam Young are separated by 260 miles of southern Idaho, and while they both depend on irrigation water for their crops, the challenges they face in securing it are different. Durrant’s family farms about 1,500 acres in the Meridian-Kuna area in the high-growth southwest region of Idaho, the second-fastest growing state in the U.S. “Everything we farm right now is surrounded by development,” he said, adding that with development comes more demand for water.

When it comes to farm income on a per capita basis, Idaho is the unchallenged leader in the West, far surpassing even agricultural juggernaut California. Per capita farm income is derived by dividing a state’s total population by its total farm-gate receipts, which is the revenue farmers and ranchers receive for their commodity. Based on data released by USDA Aug. 31, Idaho’s per capita farm income number in 2022 was $5,794. To put it in simple terms, Idaho farmers and ranchers produced $5,794 worth of agricultural revenue for every Idahoan last year.

Discourse in recent days about China’s sputtering economic growth has centered on potential ramifications for the global economy and geopolitical conflict as well as whether political stability in China will endure. Signs China’s decades long economic boom may be winding down also raise important issues for global agricultural trade. Concerns have been on the rise ever since a robust economic rebound failed to materialize after China loosened its suffocating COVID-19 restrictions last December. Data last month showed no improvement in an extended real estate slump, rising unemployment, disappointing manufacturing activity amid an export lull and sluggish consumer spending.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made the global milling industry cautious in making capital investments, it also emphasized the importance of wheat production and flour milling. Suppliers who participated in World Grain’s annual milling projects survey said they started seeing recovery in larger-scale projects last year and the momentum is continuing through 2023.Consumer behaviors are changing with an emerging middle class around the world made up of people who will eat more on the go while still looking for less food waste. Health and wellness will play an important role in the future, including alternative proteins

Join NAWG’s advocacy campaign to engage with legislators on increasing Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs authorized in the Farm Bill. MAP’s authorized funding has not changed since 2006 and FMD funding has remained the same since 2002. Inflation and sequestration have significantly eroded our ability to compete with other countries who are steadily investing more in their agricultural export promotion efforts. Please visit NAWG’s website to participate in the grassroots efforts to make your voice heard.

Flour milling companies from nine European countries made up a delegation that visited Washington, D.C. Sept. 24-28 to learn about the 2023 U.S. wheat crop and developments involving global markets, trade policy and emerging technologies. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) hosted the team, providing a series of presentations by USW staff and representatives of partner organizations.