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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Agricultural
Tiny Bug, Big Trouble, Great Science
You may have never seen this tiny bug that's causing big trouble. But agriculturists and scientists have. The spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii, is an agricultural pest that is super tiny. It's approximately 2 to 4 millimeters in length with a wingspan...
Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzuki, on a raspberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A U.S.-China trade war would cost California farmers
Loss of China's preferred trade status could hurt crop, dairy and livestock exports
The Biden administration recently announced large, increased tariff rates for Chinese electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors, and aluminum and steel products. This raises the possibility of another trade war with China that could impact agriculture.
Economists from UC Davis and North Dakota State University evaluated the potential implications of the U.S. revoking China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. They found that if China retaliated against a change in China's PNTR status, it could lead to a 9.5% increase in China's agricultural import tariffs, resulting in potential trade losses to California agriculture of around $1 billion annually.
California agriculture was hit hard by the 2018-19 trade war with China, and many industries have still not recovered from its effects. Despite this, there is increasing support in Congress for further restrictions on trade with China, with proponents asserting that China is not complying with the World Trade Organization's regulations.
The authors' research suggests that some product groups – such as horticultural products, dairy, livestock and meats – would likely experience even steeper than average increases in import tariffs.
“The impact on import tariffs for non-agricultural sectors would be even larger, with the average import tariff going up from 3.9% to 32.5%,” said co-author of the study Colin A. Carter, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis.
For all California agricultural exports, they estimated an average decline in export value between 28.4% and 34.8% when comparing a scenario where China's PNTR status is revoked to one where it is not. This translates into an estimated trade loss of between $800 million and $1 billion, using 2023 California agricultural exports. Some crops that rely heavily on China for exports, such as tree nuts, would be more severely impacted by these effects, particularly considering that some of them are still subjected to residual tariffs from the 2018-19 trade war.
The last trade war between the United States and China led to significant decreases in crop prices and lost export opportunities. As co-author Sandro Steinbach, Associate Professor in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics and the Director of the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies at North Dakota State University notes, “Once access to a market is lost, gaining it back is difficult, as the 2018-19 trade war has shown.”
To learn more about the potential implications of the United States revoking China's preferred trade status, read the full article by Carter and Steinbach: “Revoking China's Preferred Trade Status Would Be Costly for California Agriculture,” ARE Update 27(4): 1–4. UC Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, online at https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1715033514/20982/.
ARE Update is a bimonthly magazine published by the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics to educate policymakers and agribusiness professionals about new research or analysis of important topics in agricultural and resource economics. Articles are written by Giannini Foundation members, including University of California faculty and Cooperative Extension specialists in agricultural and resource economics, and university graduate students. Learn more about the Giannini Foundation and its publications at https://giannini.ucop.edu/.
Congrats to UC Davis Distinguished Professor Lynn Kimsey: Exceptional Faculty Member
Congratulations to UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, who was recently selected the recipient of the 2023 Exceptional Faculty Award from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). A...
UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, is the recipient of the 2023 Exceptional Faculty Award from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Kyle Lewald of Joanna Chiu Lab: Targeting the South American Tomato Leafminer
If you love tomatoes, you hate any and all pests that attack them. That would include the larvae of Tuta absoluta, a South American tomato leafminer. In its adult stage, it's a moth in the family Gelechilidae. In its larval stage, it's a major agricultural pest. Since 2008,...
Larvae of Tuta absoluta, a South American tomato leafminer, damaging a tomato leaf. (Photo courtesy of A. Mussoll)
Bill Patterson and Doris Brown: Friends of CA&ES and Friends of Bohart Museum
The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) annually singles out individuals "for their achievements, support, leadership and service to the college with an Award of Distinction honoring those contributions." So wrote Helene Dillard, dean of CA&ES, in her...
Entomologist and butterfly collector Bill Patterson looks through a drawer during the international Lepidopterists' Society meeting in 2017 at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum, looks through specimens with Bill Patterson. (Photo by Ashley Han)
Entomologist and butterfly collector Bill Patterson chats with entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum, during the international Lepidopterists' Society meeting in 2017 at UC Davis. Both are recipients of the CA&ES Friend of the College Award: Patterson in 2022, and Smith in 2015. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Entomologist Bill Patterson (center) of Sacramento and the international Lepidopterists' Society president Brian Scholtens (right), entomology professor at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, discuss butterflies with scientist-author Robert Michael Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. UC Davis hosted the 2017 meeting of the Lepidopterists. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
