Joi Jackson

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. It seems like overnight we went from a booming economy to shutting everything down.  Schools are closed, businesses are working online to avoid contact.  “Social distancing” is the new way to live.  In some states they are even closing restaurants and bars.  And what ever happened to “March Madness?”

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. I will be on my farm in Illinois this week and next week I will report what I find.  For now, realizing that almost 30% of our ag production is exported, world markets can be the difference between farm profitability and loss.  We now have negotiated favorable agreements with

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. It’s a New Year.  2020 got here so fast.  I want to look back at 2019.  For the American ag industry, I think the weather made our production challenges more difficult than I can remember, and we have farmed through some tough years.  Last spring was so wet it

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. Just when I had concluded that we couldn’t get anything done here in Washington, everything happened at once. We have a trade deal with China.  According to the Washington Post “China will spend $50 billion on US farm goods, tightening its intellectual property protections and opening its financial services

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. I want to cover some trade issues today, but first let’s take a look at our farm economy. It’s better than it was last year – better than it was the year before. $92 billion net income is the forecast. Where is it coming from? The answer according to

By former USDA Secretary  John R. Block. I have a number of subjects I will put on the table today.  I want to open by reporting that I thought the National Association of Farm Broadcasters had an outstanding convention last week in Kansas City.  I loved it.  Then I went to my farm in Illinois on

By former USDA Secretary  John R. Block. All we hear about are the trade deals we can’t get completed.  Our new agreement with Mexico and Canada (USMCA) sits in limbo without Congressional approval.  We withdrew from the newly negotiated Asian trade deal the day President Trump took office.  We are still deeply concerned if we

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. The meat industry in the U.S. has been shaken by the explosion of fake meat.  Go into your favorite fast food restaurant and you can order a burger that’s not meat.  It tastes like a hamburger, but it is soybeans and peas and who knows what.  Beyond Meat is

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. Ever since the past administration rewrote the WOTUS (Waters of the U.S.) rule, farmers have complained about the government’s over reach.  President Trump has acted.  Agriculture Secretary Perdue had this to say- “Repealing the WOTUS rule is a major win for American agriculture.  President Trump is making good on

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. They are back.  House Members and Senators, after a long summer recess, are back to work.  Let’s hope they can get something done.  Our fiscal year ends September 30 so they have 3 weeks to pass a stop gap spending bill if we don’t want a government shutdown.  There

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. Some listeners might get tired of hearing about trade disputes.  Why are they important?  Well, for the ag industry it makes the difference between profit and loss because we export 20-30% of our farm production.  Chinese tariffs have been very costly.  Our government will be providing assistance to farmers

By former USDA Secretary John R. Block. We all have priorities.  I was delighted when USMCA — our new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada — was completed and agreed to.  The next step is to get all three countries to vote acceptance.  We lifted our steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which opened