On Wednesday, the Mexico Senate approved the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement by a vote of 114 to 4. Mexico is the first of three countries to ratify the trade deal. Now, all eyes are on Canada and the U.S. to approve the agreement. An implementation bill has been introduced in the Canadian Parliament. Earlier this week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Democratic concerns with labor and environmental provisions in the USMCA can “be sorted out quickly.”
A substantial part of the Canadian Prairies remains dry, as near drought conditions linger. Glacier Farm Media Director of Markets and Weather Bruce Burnett says some areas of the western prairies are in their third year of limited moisture. “We had a dry winter with drought conditions last fall in the southern two-thirds of the prairies. We’ve had virtually no soil moisture recharge in the past two years,” says Burnett.
Timely rains are needed to sustain the crop. “To get an average crop this year, we need frequent rains. We haven’t seen that yet this growing season. If we remain dry through June, there will be a lot of stress to crops and the yield potential will drop significantly.”
Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Gregg Doud confirmed Tuesday that steel and aluminum tariffs are a big hurdle in the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement discussions. “I can tell you there’s not a day that goes by at USTR someone isn’t having a conversation with Canada and Mexico to figure out how to sort this out,” says Doud.
Statistics Canada released the March preliminary plantings report this past Wednesday. For 2019, dry bean acres are expected to decrease 8.1 percent to 325,000 acres. That’s compared to 353,000 in 2018. Acreage for chickpeas is pegged at 334,000, down 24.5 percent from 443,000 in 2018. Lentils are also anticipated to drop by 9.6 percent to 3.4 million acres, compared to 3.7 million the previous year. A 11.6 percent increase in dry field peas is expected in 2019 to 4.0 million acres. That’s compared to 3.6 million in 2018.