Cows eat from a feeder at the Smilaire Registered Holsteins farm, a dairy supplier to Sartori Co. cheese, in Waldo, Wisconsin, U.S., on Tuesday, July 3, 2018.

A new report sees few reasons for optimism in the U.S. agricultural sector, pointing to the global slowdown impacting demand, the continued trade war with China and flooding in the nation's farm belt.

"U.S. agriculture will face challenges in 2019 as slowing domestic and global economic growth rates, trade talks continue and weather casts uncertainty in the short- and long-term markets," the latest quarterly rural economic review from CoBank's Knowledge Exchange division said.

According to CoBank, U.S. commodity markets remain focused on negotiations between U.S. and China to resolve the trade war that has caused retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of U.S. farm products, including soybeans and pork. And the ratification in Congress of the trilateral U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, a replacement for NAFTA, also faces hurdles.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report Monday it expects China's demand for oilseeds and related products to grow in the current marketing year but at a slower pace due to African swine fever. The disease has devastated domestic hog production in Asia's largest economy, reducing the need for feed.

For calendar 2018, the U.S. shipped $3.14 billion worth of soybeans to China, down 74 percent from 2017, when it was $12.25 billion, according to WISERTrade data.

"Soybean exports to China are still well under where they were in 2017 before the trade dispute started last year," Dan Kowalski, vice president of CoBank's Knowledge Exchange division, said in an interview Monday. "So we're still far away from where we need to be."

The report said "a slowing global economy may force animal protein and dairy sectors to scale back planned production increases as the year unfolds." It also raised concern for grain demand and points out the continued financial stress of American farmers.

"U.S. agricultural producers and markets are in for a challenging year with economic uncertainty," Kowalski wrote in the report.

CoBank said the agriculture sector is "still seeking relief" and adds that the poor fall weather and wet start to the year affected the Midwest and could result in "elevated risk" for some industry players.