A group of 44 U.S. Senators have signed a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell calling for a timely and open debate on the Senate farm bill, the ‘Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012’. According to the Senators, the bill takes steps to reduce the deficit and decrease government spending by 23-billion dollars. The letter continues, – the bill, earlier passed the Senate Ag Committee, sets an example of how Senators can come together in a bipartisan way to craft meaningful, yet fiscally responsible, policy.

The bill streamlines conservation programs and helps prevent fraud and abuse in nutrition programs. Also, the risk management, conservation, research, trade promotion and nutrition programs in the legislation impacts nearly every American. Many of these programs will expire at the end of the year if no action is taken to reauthorize the farm bill.

Those Senators signing the letter are: John Barrasso, Max Baucus, Michael Bennet, Richard Blumenthal, Roy Blunt, Scott Brown, Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell, Bob Casey, Dan Coats, Kent Conrad, Chris Coons, Mike Crapo, Mike Enzi, Al Franken, Kristen Gillibrand, Chuck Grassley, Kay Hagan, Tom Harkin, John Hoeven, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Daniel Inouye, Mike Johanns, Tim Johnson, John Kerry, Mark Kirk, Amy Klobuchar, Herb Kohl, Pat Leahy, Dick Lugar, Claire McCaskill, Jeff Merkley, Jerry Moran, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Jim Risch, Bernie Sanders, Jeanne Shaheen, Olympia Snowe, Jon Tester, John Thune, Mark Udall, Tom Udall, and Ron Wyden.

Source: NAFB News Service

Ag Groups Focus on Crop Insurance

The House Agriculture Committee continues key farm bill hearings this week, and as it does a dozen farm groups have sent a letter to House Ag Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson on the importance of crop insurance. In their letter the groups state – Federal crop insurance provides an effective risk management tool to farmers and ranchers when they are facing losses beyond their control. They note – it reduces taxpayer risk exposure; it makes hedging possible to help mitigate market volatility; and it provides lenders with greater certainty that loans made to producers will be repaid.

One of the groups that signed the letter was the National Corn Growers Association. NCGA has previously stated that crop insurance remains the number one priority in the new farm bill as well as a market oriented, risk management tool to cover multi-year price declines.

Other groups signing the letter were: American Farm Bureau Federation; American Soybean Association; American Sugarbeet Growers Association; National Association of Wheat Growers; National Barley Growers Association; National Cotton Council; National Farmers Union; National Sorghum Producers; National Sunflower Association; U.S. Canola Association; and the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council.

Source: NAFB News Service

Agriculture lender Farm Credit Services of Mid-America announced 2012 first quarter earnings of $ 72.9 million, compared to $ 48.7 million in the same period in 2011. Owned and managed assets surpassed $ 18 billion, a 6.8 percent increase over March, 2011.

Farm Credit’s first quarter performance was directly related to the strong agricultural economy and robust farm land values. “While farmers are able to pay down debt, we saw an increase in new loan activity, particularly on mortgage loans,” said Bill Johnson, president and chief executive officer.  “For the first quarter, loan closings were up more than 20 percent for farm land purchases and almost 50 percent for consumer mortgages.”

Credit quality of the association’s portfolio was also stable. Adversely classified loans decreased to 3.8 percent of the loan portfolio compared to 3.9 percent at December 31, 2011.

The association’s commitment to rural America remained strong and Johnson sited conversion activity as one example of that commitment. “Since the beginning of the year, Farm Credit has converted – or refinanced – nearly 15,000 customer loans representing more than $ 2.2 billion in volume with a customer interest expense savings of $ 57 million over a three year period. Our fee for conversions is minimal with very little paperwork involved and our customers are often surprised that we can lower their interest rate even on fixed rate loans.”

Another way the association provided value to rural communities was through the availability of long-term fixed rate financing for farms. “Almost 50 percent of our customers have fixed rate loans of 10 years or longer. In today’s volatile farm environment, one way to ensure that the cost of farmer’s financing remains consistent is through fixed rates.”

Johnson added that the association’s strategic plan calls for continued growth. “We’ll do that by making certain that our products and programs fit our customers’ needs and adapting to the changing demands of a new agriculture marketplace.  It’s all about providing value to those who live and work in rural America.”

To see the complete results, go to www.e-farmcredit.com, select News, then Quarterly Report.

About Farm Credit Mid-America

Farm Credit Mid-America is an $ 18.3 billion financial services cooperative serving more than 95,000 farmers, agribusinesses and rural residents in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The association provides loans for all farm and rural living purposes including real estate, operating equipment and housing and related services such as crop insurance, and vehicle, equipment and building leases. For more information about Farm Credit, call 1-800-444-FARM or visit them on the web at www.e-farmcredit.com.

Source: Farm Credit Mid-America

The U.S. and Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement is now in force. According to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, – as of Tuesday, U.S. agricultural exporters receive duty-free access on more than half of the products we currently export to Colombia, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years. Estimates show that the tariff reductions in the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement will expand total U.S. exports by more than 1.1-billion dollars, while increasing U.S. GDP by 2.5-billion.

For agriculture, the agreement with South America’s third-largest economy achieves two key trade objectives for the United States: it immediately provides vastly improved access to Colombia’s market, and it levels the playing field with respect to third-country competitors. Under the agreement, American farmers and ranchers can expect to see their exports grow by more than 370-million dollars, or more than one-third of the current total.

Colombia will immediately eliminate duties on wheat, barley, soybeans, soybean meal and flour, high-quality beef, bacon, almost all fruit and vegetable products, wheat, peanuts, whey, cotton, and the vast majority of processed products. The Colombia TPA also provides duty free tariff rate quotas on standard beef, chicken leg quarters, dairy products, corn, sorghum, animal feeds, rice, and soybean oil.

Steve Wellman, President of the American Soybean Association, and a soybean farmer from Syracuse, Nebraska, says – the pact expands a valuable and growing export market for American soybeans, meal, oil and products that require soy inputs like dairy, meat and poultry. The agreement also helps us regain lost market share in Central and South America’s third largest economy. Last year, the U.S. exported more than 182-million dollars in soybeans and soybean products to Colombia.

China, Japan and South Korea Considering FTA
After a decade of discussions, China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to soon launch negotiations on a three-way free trade pact. Officials say the Japan-China-Korea FTA will be – an extremely important piece of economic cooperation. According to the official Xinhua news agency, leaders also – agreed to a three-way investment treaty – one stepping stone to the bigger and much more contentious goal of a free trade deal.

Negotiations are expected to be difficult. Standing in the way are tensions on the Korean peninsula, political distrust, trade barriers and diverging investment policies. The three nations are major traders, and together accounted for 19.6 percent of the world’s economy and 18.5 percent of its exports in 2010.

Source: NAFB News service