News

Gregg Doud Confirmation Letter

On October 12, 2017 NAEGA joined a letter to the members of the Senate Finance Committee supporting the confirmation of Gregg Doud as Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the USTR. In the letter, the signees affirmed the importance of the position in advancing agricultural interests at the highest levels of trade negotiations and emphasized Mr. Doud’s exemplary personal and professional background.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

NAFTA Negotiations Extended

Originally intended to conclude in December 2017, schedulers are now conceding that talks to reform the North American Free Trade Agreement will stretch into at least February 2018. While both the U.S. and Mexico were hoping to finish negotiations before their respective 2018 federal elections, impasses on key issues have forced delegations from all three countries to accept that additional rounds, of possibly longer length, will be needed in order to reach any agreement.

You can read more about this development here.

Enlist E3 Soybeans

U.S. farmers will now have access to Enlist E3 soybeans for 2018 planting through an agreement between Dow AgroSciences and ADM. Enlist E3 soybeans are tolerant to applications of 2, 4-D choline, glyphosate and glufosinate, which allows farmers to control the most resistant weeds while also curbing the development of weed resistance.

Read the press release here. To find out how to participate in this program, visit Enlist.com.

COCERAL on Glyphosate

This week COCERAL was joined by EuropaBio, European Crop Protection, COPA COGECA and Consumer Choice Center in an advertisement in Politico regarding Glyphosate approval by the European Union. The European Union announced that it will soon vote on whether to approve Glyphosate. Widely used since 1974, the safety of Glyphosate has been thoroughly researched, with 90,000 pages of evidence and 3,300 peer reviewed studies confirming its suitability for sustainable agriculture. Both the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency, along with many other scientific bodies worldwide, consider the herbicide to be safe.

You can read the advertisement here.