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CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 4, 2022
First shipment of tariff -free wheat from U.S. arrives in Vietnam
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
HO CHI MINH CITY —
Vietnam has received its fi rst
shipment of U.S. wheat after
the southeast Asian nation
eliminated its 3% import
tariff .
The shipment arrived Feb.
6 at Ho Chi Minh City car-
rying more than 68,350 met-
ric tons of soft white and hard
red spring wheat grown in
the Pacifi c Northwest and the
Northern Plains.
“It’s certainly signifi cant
because of the reduction in
the cost of U.S. wheat mov-
ing into Vietnam,” said Steve
Mercer, vice president of com-
munications for U.S. Wheat
Associates. “With prices gen-
erally high, if you can reduce
the landed cost of imported
wheat by even 3%, it matters,
it really does.”
U.S. Wheat is the overseas
marketing arm for the industry.
Soft white wheat is particu-
larly popular in Vietnam, Mer-
cer said in a press statement.
Last year, Vietnam pur-
chased 157,000 metric tons
of white wheat, said Glen
Squires, CEO of the Washing-
ton Grain Commission.
“Tremendous
news,”
wheat into Vietnam.”
“With the import tariff
reduced to zero, the Vietnam-
ese buyer saved almost $1 mil-
lion on this vessel load of U.S.
wheat alone,” Robert Han-
son, agricultural counselor for
USDA Foreign Agricultural
Service, based in Hanoi, said.
“We thank the Vietnam gov-
ernment for ending the tariff ,
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service a decision that will hold the
A bulk vessel loaded with more than 68,000 metric line on food costs and help
tons of U.S. wheat purchased by Vietnamese fl our mill- make U.S. wheat more com-
ers. The Vietnam government has eliminated a 3% U.S. petitive in Vietnam’s growing
wheat import tariff .
market.”
It’s not certain when addi-
Squires said. “The lower- for increased movement of tional shipments might occur,
ing of the tariff is a great sign U.S. wheat, Pacifi c Northwest Mercer said.
“Does this mean it’s going
to happen again? We couldn’t
possibly say,” he said.
U.S. wheat exports are
behind this year both in Viet-
nam and overall, Mercer said,
due to higher prices caused by
the short crop that was a result
of the drought.
Vietnam imports an aver-
age of about 4 million metric
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tons of wheat per year. Austra-
lia and Canada are large wheat
suppliers to Vietnam and had
duty-free access to Vietnam
for many years under regional
trade agreements.
Vietnam fi rst reduced the
U.S. wheat import tariff from
5% to 3% in July 2020. Talks
continued until Vietnam pub-
lished the fi nal decree, and
USDA and U.S. Trade Rep-
resentative Katherine Tai
announced in November
2021 that the tariff would be
eliminated.
Even with the tariff , Viet-
namese millers had doubled
the volume of U.S. wheat to
more than 520,000 metric tons
between 2015 and 2021.
In addition to soft white
and hard red spring wheat,
Vietnam imported U.S. hard
red winter and soft red winter
wheat in 2021. That returned
about $130 million to U.S.
farmers and the wheat sup-
ply industry, according to U.S.
Wheat.
I daho legislators
consider protections
for agricultural aircraft
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
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BOISE — Agricultural
aircraft would be protected
from most nuisance law-
suits under a bill in the Idaho
Legislature.
House Bill 606 would
amend the state’s Right to
Farm Act to include aerial
applicators. It would add
“the ingress and egress of
agricultural aircraft to agri-
cultural lands or treatment
areas” to the list of covered
activities.
Its purpose statement
says agricultural aircraft
must travel to and from
agricultural lands and treat-
ment areas to perform vital
functions — and a grow-
ing agricultural-urban inter-
face means “it is important
to recognize and protect the
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ability for agricultural air-
craft to access agricultural
lands.”
HB 606 would not relieve
pilots from Federal Aviation
Administration regulations
related to low fl ying and
congested areas. State and
federal pesticide application
and environmental compli-
ance standards would not
change.
David Lehman, execu-
tive director of the approx-
imately 40-member Idaho
Agricultural Aviation Asso-
ciation, said the proposal
protects ingress and egress
on agricultural land and
certain federal land where
pilots are working. It also
codifi es that fl ying airplanes
or helicopters is an allowed
agricultural use.
“The issue that has come
up in the last number of
years is increasing confl ict
with the urban-agricultural
interface,” he said. “There
are more and more issues
getting in and out of treat-
ment areas.”
For example, a Filer man
in 2013 was charged with
fi ring at a shotgun at an
aerial applicator. Lehman
said the number of com-
plaints about ag-related fl y-
ing has increased.
George Parker, who owns
an agricultural aviation busi-
ness in south-central Idaho,
told the House Agricultural
Aff airs Committee Feb. 22
that he sometimes gets four
complaints a week com-
pared to about four per sum-
mer when the area was not
growing as quickly.
Some people will com-
plain frequently, he said. He
often contacts fl ight stan-
dards offi cials or a sheriff ’s
offi ce before fl ying.
“People are moving here
for the lifestyle,” Lehman
said. “But it also means they
have to have a good under-
standing of the rural econ-
omy as well and expect agri-
cultural activities taking
place in those areas.”
He expects substan-
tial growth over the next
decade, including more
urbanization.
“We’re going to have to
have another evolution of
how agriculture and urban
(uses) interact with each
other, and it should be to
protect a vital part of our
economy,” Lehman said.
The committee Feb. 22
voted to send HB 606 to the
full House with a do-pass
recommendation.
One concern was whether
it provides suffi cient pro-
tection. Lehman and bill
sponsor Rep. Judy Boyle,
R-Midvale, said it does in
combination with existing
state law.
The Right to Farm law
states that farming is a nat-
ural right and recognizes it
as a permitted use. It allows
transporting
agricultural
products to or from and
ag facility. It also permits
“noise, odors, dust, fumes,
light and other conditions
associated with an agricul-
tural operation or an agricul-
tural facility.”