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2017 Year in Review

Among the top agriculture stories of 2017, the year began with the inauguration of President Donald Trump.  One of his first items of business was to pull the U.S. out of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement.  That was followed by the president’s call to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Stakeholders made clear their priorities for the next farm bill.  Listening sessions of the past year will soon give way to committee and congressional debate on the 2018 farm bill.

Farms, farm families and livestock were in the destructive path of wildfires and hurricanes in several states this year.  In Brownfield’s reporting of these disasters, we found that nature’s worst brings out the best in people.

The process continues toward fewer cooperatives, and chemical and seed companies, the result of consolidation in agribusiness.  The 2017 release of new herbicide technology based on older dicamba chemistry has resulted in a vast number of damage complaints in cotton and soybean growing areas.

The agriculture economy is still not good and commodity prices are relatively weak.  These stories and more are part of Brownfield’s 2017 Year in Review. For more of Brownfield’s Year in Review programs click here.

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