John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country.  This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association.  They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America.  Thank you.

 And now for today’s commentary –

What should we focus on today?  Let’s start with African Swine Fever.  ASF is the deadliest disease threatening the pork industry.  It is estimated that China has lost as much as 30% of their swine.  We don’t have any vaccine to protect our pigs.  Fortunately, the virus does not infect humans.  With the liquidation of so many animals in China, pork prices have skyrocketed.  Our pork exports to China are off the chart.  ASF is spreading to other countries including eastern Europe.  We need to do everything we can to keep it out of the U.S.  If we get African Swine Fever, other countries will shut down all our pork exports.

Now that we are talking about trade let me suggest that of all the legislation that needs to be passed, perhaps the most important is USMCA.

USMCA is the new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada – an improved and updated NAFTA.  It should be easy to get it passed but it won’t be.  Some Democrats want changes in the deal.  It’s also a fact that they don’t want Trump to win anything.  President Trump isn’t helping the effort since he wants to keep steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada.  Senator Grassley said, “we’ve got to get rid of the tariffs or nothing is going to happen.”  He is right.

Last subject – GMO’s and Gene Editing.  Science is making it possible to do things that former generations never imagined.  Most of the corn, soybeans and some other crops that we grow are not what they used to be.  With genetic engineering, they resist root worms and other critters that can damage the plants.  The plants are not affected by our weed killers either.  We get a big bump in yield with less labor and energy.

We have a gene editing technique called CRISPR which has given us cows born without horns.  GMO technology makes it possible to move a gene from one organism to another.  When scientists do gene editing they can just alter one particular gene in an animal.  They are not bringing in outside genes.  All this science has opened the door to the most shocking announcement. But not surprising, a Chinese scientist moved ahead with gene-editing of humans.  What’s next – designer babies?

Until next week, this John Block reporting from Washington, D.C.  If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go on-line to www.johnblockreports.com.