Top Stories
Doubts around year-round E15 linger
Agreement on legislation to allow year-round E15 sales continued to elude farm and oil interests despite a Sunday deadline. A draft plan by the House GOP’s Rural Domestic Energy Council failed to win support by the weekend from mid-sized oil refiners who killed year-round E15 in an earlier defense bill. Despite breaks for those refiners from having to bear the cost of small refiner exemptions, it didn’t seem to be enough. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is a long-time E15 booster. Despite not...
Hopes are for a permanent E15 fix by summer?s end
We have been going around in circles for a few years over the ability to obtain E15 year-round sales. We had a solution back in 2019 but we all know about the court battle that rescinded the Trump EPA work-around. This means it is up to Congress to make a decision...
Beef exports set new monthly records, pork exports reach 2022 high
U.S. beef exports set new volume and value records in May, according to the latest data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). May beef exports reached 135,006 metric tons (mt), up 1% from the previous high posted in May 2021. Export...
Weather & fuel prices create rocky start to the ag aviation season
Agricultural aviators have gotten off to a rocky start nationwide this year between weather and fuel prices. As the year continues to move on, it?s a busy time for these aviators. But how are the weather and fuel prices continuing to affect those agricultural...
Congresswoman Hinson talks domestic energy situation
A trip to the gas pump has been hurting more and more over the past few months and there isn?t really an end in sight. We hear a lot of ideas floated around. The President has even told Oil companies to flat out lower their prices, which can be a problem when you look...
Dairy industry speaks out at farm bill listening session
Dairy producers from several National Milk Producers Federation cooperatives urged Congress to create greater opportunities as they write the next farm bill. The dairy farmers are looking for opportunities to promote environmental stewardship, promote exports, and...
Canada?s Front of Package food warnings excludes ground pork, beef
New Front of Package nutritional labelling regulations were announced by the Canadian federal government and Health Canada. Affected food manufacturers have until January first of 2026 to comply with the requirements and change their existing labels. For those of you...
Video
More Ag News
Economist details FBN planting intentions report
Farmers Business Network released its annual planting intentions report earlier this week ahead of the Friday release of the USDA prospective planting report. Kevin McNew the chief economist at FBN says the survey provides some surprising data.McNew says that...
U.S. Export Sales Report (3-30-23)
Ahead of tomorrow?s prospective plantings report, today?s export sales report was fairly mild. Corn had a decent report following last week?s excellent numbers, and soybeans were low once again. Allendale commodity broker Greg McBride provided a breakdown of this...
Lawmakers welcome Vilsack support of PASS Act
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week expressed support for their Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security, or PASS Act. The legislation would ensure USDA is fully involved in reviewing foreign acquisition of American agricultural land and companies,...
Feenstra talks Farm Bill and WOTUS
As farmers are busy preparing for spring planting, our state legislators are busy working on ag policies. Iowa 4th District Congressman Randy Feenstra talked about what he?s been working on in his office, from this year?s farm bill to WOTUS.When talking with producers...
SNAP disputes raised again as Americans want food security
The Farm Bill: we know it, we love it, and it is being renegotiated again this year. Every five years the largest piece of agriculture and food security legislation needs to be revised. That means every five years we see the usually bipartisan ag committees come...
