Need a quick catch up on the news? Here are seven agricultural stories you might have missed this week.

1. Cabinet-level negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico meet again in Washington this week in an attempt to reach a breakthrough on updating the North American Free Trade Agreement this month. Several contentious issues remain. House Speaker Paul Ryan says NAFTA negotiators have to have the paperwork to Congress by May 17 in order for a vote to occur during the December lame duck session on the renegotiated trade deal. – Farm Futures

2. Liam Condon, who is a member of Bayer’s Board of Management, responsible for Bayer’s Animal Health Unit and president of the Crop Science Division headquartered in Monheim, Germany, will lead the combined Bayer-Monsanto executive leadership team once Bayer’s proposed acquisition of Monsanto is complete. – Farm Futures

3. The latest farmland sales in Nebraska have a wide spread, ranging from $2,300 to $7,300 per acre. – Kansas Farmer

4. Between 1992 and 2012, almost 31 million acres of farmland were lost, equal to all the farmland in Iowa, according to a new report, “Farms Under Threat: The State of America’s Farmland,” by the American Farmland Trust. – Farm Futures

5. An open house was recently held at Fairview Colony’s two new barns. Fairview Colony is in the midst of a swine development program that will send 16,000 finished hogs to slaughter annually. The hogs are raised without using any antibiotics.  – Dakota Farmer

6. The price outlook for hogs has weakened and costs have increased. There should be a bit of profit above all costs this spring and summer, with prices in the low $70s, but losses are expected to be large in the final quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2019, according to Purdue Extension economist Chris Hurt. — Indiana Prairie Farmer

7. Think high-rise hotels are just for people? Think again. In southern China, sows are living a thousand to a floor in seven-floor sow breeding operations. – Reuters 

And your bonus: Cotton planting in progress at Doug Scott Farms near Sikeston, Missouri. (video) - Facebook