U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) continued a tradition of promoting the value of U.S. agricultural products together with other USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cooperator organizations by co-hosting the annual U.S. Agricultural Cooperators Conference Sept. 12 to 14, 2023, in Da Nang, Vietnam. This conference is designed as a value-added service for Southeast Asian buyers served by USW, and co-hosts U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC).

Donald Trump has proposed a 10% tariff on all imports and would also like the ability to impose reciprocal tariffs on any country that exceeds the 10% tariff level on imports from the U.S. Trump calls upon the ghosts of the Republican past for his policy, reminding those of us who’ve forgotten, and that would be all of us, that future president William McKinley had been responsible for a similar policy in 1890 during his time as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

President Joe Biden ordered federal agencies Wednesday to do a 120-day review of how they can help restore wild fish runs in the Columbia River, while supporting hydropower and benefits dams provide to agriculture. Environmental groups suing the U.S. government over dams welcomed the announcement, but urged the administration to go farther and plan to remove four dams on the Lower Snake River. The presidential directive didn't mention dam breaching. Kurt Miller, executive director of the pro-hydropower Northwest River Partners, said the order affirmed the multi-purpose importance of the dams.

In recent months, the future of the four Lower Snake River Dams has been cast into uncertainty. The Biden Administration’s Council on Environmental Quality and dam-breaching advocates have been involved in ongoing litigation against the Army Corps of Engineers, who control the operations of the dams, over the future of the dams. While they just secured a 60-day extension with the intent of achieving a “de facto” breach of the dams by opening the gates to reduce the water below the minimum operating levels for hydroelectric generation, they continue to ignore the stakeholders who will be most affected by their decision.ams

Grain markets are no longer just a local concern. Agricultural market discussions today must factor in global perspectives. When analyzing the price of wheat, for instance, producers must not only consider the market in the United States but also those of other key suppliers from overseas, such as Russia, Australia, Ukraine, and the European Union. The conversation becomes more complicated when examining the demand side. Indeed, US producers must now grapple with increasingly complex uncertainties when marketing their products. Consequently, in the modern global agricultural landscape, developing effective risk management is a crucial skill.

Drought continues to dominate a large part of North America from Mexico through the central United States to more than two-thirds of Canada’s Prairies. Some of this dryness has been ongoing since 2020 and this year’s dryness affected many crops, including spring wheat, canola, sunseed, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sugar beets and a host of other crops. No further production losses are anticipated except possibly in Mexico, where the growing season usually lasts well into the autumn. An assessment of the year’s lost grain and oilseed production is still underway while new dryness problems have emerged for winter crops in Ukraine, Russia and Australia.

Wheat is a global staple food and plays a pivotal role in the livelihoods of billions of people. Although long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been recognized as crucial regulators of numerous biological processes, our knowledge of lncRNAs associated with wheat (Triticum aestivum) grain development remains minimal. In summation, this pioneering study provides a comprehensive map of wheat lncRNAs. The wLNCdb, with its plethora of information and advanced toolset, lays the groundwork for future exploration and analysis of the functions of lncRNAs.