Unemployed Down/H-2A Up and China Retaliates

Unemployed Down/H-2A Up and China Retaliates

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.

**As the number of unemployed Americas hit a near 44-year low last week, the number of H-2A visa requests have more than doubled.

Agweb.com reports on department of labor numbers that show six-month H-2A visa requests sitting around 113,000, or 65% higher than when President Trump took office.

Still, farmers and industry analysts alike are watching closely as a pair of ag-friendly immigration reform bills making their way to the House floor this week.

https://www.agweb.com/article/farmers-more-than-double-h-2a-requests/

**In response to the $34 billion tariffs President Trump placed on Chinese goods Friday, Beijing retaliated with a long list of tariffs including corn, soybeans, wheat and several dairy products.

According to U.S. dairy export council data, U.S. exports to China, our fourth largest export customer in 2017, have been up in 2018.

Fortunately, these tariffs don't go into effect until July 6th so Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer tells agweb.com, he hopes that gives negotiators from both countries time to reach some kind of agreement before then.

https://www.agweb.com/article/china-places-tariffs-on-us-dairy-products/

**The top producing potato states had 59 million hundred-weight of potatoes in storage June 1st, up 9% from the same time last season.

As reported on thePacker.com, the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that 15% of the fall 2017 crop was still in storage, which is 2 percentage points more than last season.

The top three potato producing states are, Idaho, Washington and Wisconsin.

https://www.thepacker.com/article/usda-june-potato-storage-report-shows-9-increase

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