If U.S. agriculture fails to achieve great inroads into the Japanese market via the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), it can thank American automakers. Capitol Optimism Sentiment in the U.S. Capitol has swung from visceral partisanship to mild optimism. Conferees on a new farm bill left a meeting today noting "great progress." Meanwhile, some of the negotiators on a new budget agreement were also expressing cautious optimism, apparently seeing the possibility of a deal that would supplant the widely disliked automatic sequester cuts. Legislation is not made on a single day's optimism, but it is a notable turn of events. On the farm bill, commodity group lobbyists appeared to have been reigned in from the aggressive effort in defending a sh...