Speaking to reporters earlier this week, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said producers need to speak up and tell the public how they are producing more food with less water, less pesticides and less plowing.

“We need to take back the concept of sustainability, because nobody works harder on sustainability than the American farmer and rancher,” he said.

He says agriculture has never been more sustainable. [node:read-more:link]

Though a future agriculture commodity market in Cuba holds promise, it will depend on whether the industry can convince the new administration and Congress about the benefits to U.S. farmers and ranchers of normalizing trade with the communist island.  There are a number of additional barriers that will need to be removed to open agricultural trade with Cuba. Three trade experts highlighted the issues for farmers and ranchers Monday at the American Farm Bureau Federation national convention in Phoenix. [node:read-more:link]

China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) [CNNCC.UL] and Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta AG (SYNN.S) have proposed minor concessions to the EU's competition watchdog to address concerns over their $43 billion merger plan, sources told Reuters.  One person close to the deal said it was unlikely ChemChina would have to sell its Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd (ADAM.N) unit. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has left the agriculture secretary as the last department head to be named to his Cabinet, while a meeting with the chief executives of two agribusiness giants gave a hint at a roster of farm issues the incoming president will face. [node:read-more:link]

China has increased punitive tariffs on imports of a U.S. animal feed ingredient known as distillers' dried grains (DDGS) from levels first proposed last year, potentially escalating a trade spat between the world's two largest economies.  The ruling is a major victory for China's fledgling ethanol industry, which had complained the U.S. industry was unfairly benefiting from subsidies, and followed a year-long government probe. It also deals a blow to U.S. ethanol manufacturers already bracing for Beijing's higher import taxes on their main product. [node:read-more:link]

The country, a core member of OPEC, plans to invest $163 billion to boost its use of alternative energy over the next three decades.  That should increase clean energy's share of UAE consumption from 25% to 50% by 2050. The country also hopes to increase energy efficiency by 40% over the same period.UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said the new energy strategy should save the emirates $190 billion over three decades.  Low oil prices are forcing major producers, including Saudi Arabia, to rethink their economic strategies. [node:read-more:link]

New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans this week to close the Indian Point nuclear power plant, which supplies electricity to New York City and surrounding areas. [node:read-more:link]

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. just logged its second warmest year on record – a span covering 122 years of data. The average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 54.9°F, which was 2.9°F above the 20th century average.  2016 ranks only behind 2012 (55.3°F), and it represents the 20th consecutive warmer-than-normal year for the U.S. Globally, 2015 holds the current title of warmest year on record. In addition to the near all-time record warmth, during 2016, the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Monsanto Company announced recently that it has reached a new global licensing agreement with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for the use of the novel CRISPR-Cpf1 genome-editing technology in agriculture.  The CRISPR-Cpf1 system represents an exciting advance in genome-editing technology, because it has potential to be a simpler and more precise tool for making targeted improvements in a cell’s DNA when compared to the CRISPR-Cas9 system.  Researchers believe that the CRISPR-Cpf1 system may offer an expanded set of benefits for advancing and delivering improved agricultural products [node:read-more:link]