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U.S. farm groups criticized President Donald Trump's decision to retreat from his predecessor's opening toward Cuba, saying it could derail huge increases in farm exports that totaled $221 million last year. A trade delegation from Minnesota, one of the largest U.S. agriculture states, vowed to carry on with its planned visit to Cuba next week.
Bumper corn and soybean crops are expected in the United States this fall but the harvests will likely fall short of records projected by the U.S. government, according to estimates released on Friday from farm advisory service Pro Farmer at the end of its annual Midwest crop tour. Pro Farmer predicted that average corn yields will be 170.2 bushels per acre, or enough to produce a record 14.728 billion-bushel crop, at the end of a four-day tour of seven major production states in the Midwest.
Under the 2008 Farm Bill, its leader is supposed to serve as the agency's "chief scientist" and be chosen "from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics." But Sam Clovis - who, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment and members of the agriculture trade press, is President Trump's pick to oversee the section - appears to have no such credentials.
The NTSB issued recommendation letters to the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Interior and to the FAA regarding maintenance programs for aircraft used in fire fighting operations. The recommendations are part of a package that includes probable causes for three air tanker accidents caused by in-flight wing separations resulting from fatigue fractures.