Your Pro Farmer newsletter (Feb. 8, 2025) is now available

There was a lot of back and forth on trade policy over the past week, with President Donald Trump initially saying 25% tariffs would go into effect Feb. 1 on imports from Mexico and Canada – and then delaying action for 30 days for both countries. An additional 10% tariffs on Chinese imports went into effect Feb. 4, with Beijing delaying its targeted retaliation until Feb. 10 in an apparent willingness to negotiate. The only thing certain about Trump’s trade policy is uncertainty. We cover all the movement, along with analysis of the situation on News page 4. Needed rains arrived in portions of Argentina, providing temporary relief from crop stress, though more will be required to avoid additional yield losses. In Brazil, soybean harvest and safrinha corn planting remain delayed. The U.S. cattle herd continues to shrink and there are no signs of expansion, but cattle futures faced heavy long liquidation last week. With a huge jump expected in government payments this year, USDA forecasts an improvement in farm income. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.