**China is buying U.S. rice for the first time.

According to agweb.com, customs officials have cleared American rice for import, but it's not clear how much China will buy.

Johnny Sullivan of Producers Rice Mill says "China is a monster of a market, one we’ve been trying to break into for decades. He says, in short, given its rice consumption rate, China could chew through the entire U.S. crop in 14 days.

The news comes as leaders from the two countries continue trade talks.

****Expert are again trying to make projections for agriculture in the new year, but it’s not easy. Cattle markets that have outperformed expectations have bewildered economists the past two years.

Agweb.com reports, even as beef supplies have grown to near-record levels, consumer demand has helped support cattle prices at levels few imagined 24 months ago.

Supplies of beef are likely to reach a peak for this cattle cycle during 2019, as economists say expansion is near its end.

**While California remains the nation’s top milk producing state, no one comes close to Wisconsin in cheese production.

In 2017, Wisconsin produced nearly 3.4 billion pounds of cheese, 27% of the nation’s cheese production.

More than half of Wisconsin’s cheese output came from Italian-type cheeses, at 1.7 billion pounds, 32% of the nation’s production.

Wisconsin was also the largest cheddar cheese producer, making 704 million pounds, 19% of the country’s output.

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