LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts will travel to Mexico in August for an international trade mission.

Ricketts said Monday that Mexico is the second largest agricultural export market in North America and he plans to look for opportunities to expand Nebraska’s relationship with the country.

Mexico accounts for nearly $1 billion of America’s $6.4 billion annual export revenue. Nebraska exports corn, soybeans and beef to Mexico.

Ricketts says he hopes to thank the country for its business and find more ways for Nebraska to highlight and expand agriculture connections.

He has traveled to Asia and Europe in previous years for trade missions.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s farmland values saw a decline for the second consecutive year after decades of increases.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue released a report Friday showing that agricultural land values fell by almost 2.8 percent. The values dropped by 0.15 percent last year, which marked the first decline after nearly 25 years of increases.

Residential and commercial property values increased this year by 5.4 percent and 6.9 percent respectively.

Experts said the farmland property values follow the price decline for corn, soybeans, beef and other commodities over the past few years.

“It’s a reflection of the farm economy right now,” said Jay Rempe, an agricultural economist with the Nebraska Farm Bureau.

The decline can be seen as a “rebalancing,” said Eric Thompson, director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Bureau of Business Research. Farmland values were at “unusually high levels” early this decade, he said.

A modest drop in farmland values won’t bring extensive property tax relief, according to Craig Weber, a farmer north of Kearney.

“It’s going to take a lot of 2.7 percents to get our property taxes where they’re a little more reasonable,” Weber said.

Farmland values took the biggest hit in Hitchcock County, where they dropped by more than 10 percent.

Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed reforming agricultural land valuations last year to lower property taxes on farmers and ranchers, said Taylor Gage, the governor’s spokesman.

“The governor has continued to fight for property tax relief in spite of the failure of senators to adopt his proposal,” Gage said.

Weber said the agriculture industry is “cyclical,” and that “we’ll be headed back to more profitable times.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Although spring storms initially slowed spring planting progress in Iowa and Nebraska, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports farmers have nearly caught up to five-year averages in the past week.

Iowa farmers have 40 percent of the corn crop planted, about three days behind the average at this point in the season. Three percent of corn plants have emerged, a slower pace than the five-year average of 9 percent.

The USDA said Monday in its weekly crop update that Iowa soybean planting is at the average of 12 percent completed.

Farmers in Nebraska have 42 percent of the corn planted, near the 46 percent average. About 2 percent of the plants emerged behind the five-year average of 10 percent.

Soybean planting is slightly ahead of schedule with 16 percent completed.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Omaha attorney Jonathan Papik was sworn in to the Nebraska Supreme Court on Monday by U.S. Supreme Court Judge Neil Gorsuch.

Papik served as Gorsuch’s law clerk, and the judge said Papik has a natural judicial temperament.

“Where character is concerned, Jonathan Papik arrived in my chambers fully formed,” Gorsuch said, describing his former clerk as a hard-worker who was “precise in his reasons, confident, but never brash.”

Gorsuch was appointed to the Supreme Court last year by President Donald Trump to replace Antonin Scalia.

Papik was nominated by Gov. Pete Ricketts to replace Justice Max Kelch, who resigned after less than two years on the bench following an ethics complaint filed against him. Papik is Ricketts’ third nomination to the state Supreme Court.

Ricketts said Papik has a sharp mind, the respect of his colleagues and is dedicated to understanding the constitution how it was written.

Papik also clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman in the U.S. Court of Appeals after graduating with honors from Harvard Law School. He has practiced law as a partner at Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather for nearly eight years.

Papik, who was born in Stromsburg, said he feels blessed for the opportunity to serve as a judge.

“As a judge, there’s not a lot I can say about how I will do my job,” he said. “It’s improper to say that I would rule this way or rule that way on a particular issue or particular case, but I can commit before everyone here today that I will do my absolute best to apply the law faithfully and impartially.”

The 36-year-old Papik is the youngest judge to serve on the high court. His wife and three young children placed his judicial robe on him during Monday’s official ceremony.

Papik will represent the 4th Judicial District, which includes portions of Douglas and Sarpy counties.