A comprehensive study by Brandon Willis, a lawyer, academic, and former administrator of USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA), examined the implications of the Heritage Foundation recommendations to eliminate the farm bill's safety net, deeply cut and phase out crop insurance, make unilateral concessions in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and repeal U.S. domestic trade laws.Willis labels the report flawed because it "selectively uses data" to draw certain conclusions. Heritage said agricultural risk is no different than the risks of other businesses. But Willis countered that Heritage ignores data showing the "rate of return on agricultural assets exceeded the return on nonfarm assets in only one of 32 years,” and that the higher income volatility for agriculture is due to "weather-related risks and global markets distorted by high foreign subsidies, tariffs, and non-tariff trade barriers,” and that exit rates in agriculture are higher than other businesses even with a safety net in place.China Delays Food Import Regulations for Two Years
China will hold off implementing new food import regulations until October 2019, the country has notified the WTO. "The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China is currently studying the comments from relevant countries/regions," said the notification."According to the comments and application received, we hereby decide to provide a transitional period of two years: from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2019." The U.S. and European Union (EU) had pushed for a delay in the regulations, maintaining it could negatively impacts billions of dollars in trade. The rules would have required all food imports to have health certificates, even for products that are considered low risk.
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