French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday the leaders of the world’s major industrialized nations were close to an agreement on how to help fight the Amazon forest fires and try to repair the devastation. “There’s a real convergence to say: ‘let’s all agree to help those countries hit by these fires’,” he told reporters Saturday. He said the G7 countries comprising the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Canada, were finalizing a possible deal on “technical and financial help”. (Reuters)

Martin Barbre, administrator of the USDA’s Risk Management Agency, will hold a series of listening sessions with Illinois farmers next week. “With the Farm Progress Show being in Illinois this year, we decided to set up listening sessions all across the state,” said Barbre. “What I’m looking for is simply – how do our policies affect you? Is there something you see that we could do better? I want to hear the good things that are working for you.” (FarmWeekNow)

AgriVisor manager Joe Camp’s crop tour extended to 10 states, covering a large portion of the Corn Belt. As his tour closes this week, Camp reflected on USDA’s large crop expectations. The Aug. 12 report called for a 13.9 billion bushel crop on an average yield of 169 bushels per acre. “I don’t see it,” Camp said on RFD Profit Watch. “In part, because I haven’t seen some of these states that are going to make up big yields and help to pad this total.” Camp expects Nebraska to be a key contributor, and some southern states to contribute more

The USDA is shrinking payments offered to employees who applied for buyouts rather than relocate to the greater Kansas City area, said a union of employees at USDA research wings. The one-time payouts are being reduced from $25,000 to $10,000 to accommodate the volume of applications. A USDA spokesperson said the change was made in order to offer payments to all eligible employees, rather than offer only the higher amount on a first-come, first-served basis. (The Hill)

U.S. economic growth is expected to “gradually” slow over the next four years under the weight of President Donald Trump’s trade policies, less consumer spending and an ebb in government buying, Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeeper predicted Wednesday. In its latest economic outlook, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the economy will expand 2.3 percent this year and then grow at an average annual rate of 1.8 percent over the next decade. (Politico)

USDA has started delivering payments under the 2019 Market Facilitation Program. Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce says 200,000 farmers so far have applied for the program, which provides payments based on the department’s county-by-county assessments of trade damage. Nearly 600,000 farmers signed up for the 2018 version of MFP, so enrollment in MFP 2.0 is certain to grow substantially before the Dec. 6 signup deadline. Fordyce says FSA will announce the 2018-2019 disaster assistance program in the “next few weeks.” (Agri-Pulse)