Grains
23Jun

Court Allows EPA Existing Stock Provisions to Remain

On Friday, judges in California with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a petition to halt all use of Engenia, FeXapan and XtendiMax dicamba herbicides. Instead, it will allow farmers to use existing stocks of the dicamba products under specific rules of EPA’s cancellation order. EPA’s final cancellation order on the three dicamba formulations provided the following guidance:
  • Distribution or sale is prohibited unless it’s for product disposal or returns to the registrant (BASF, Corteva or Bayer).
Farmers and commercial applicators can use the existing stocks in their possession as of June 3, 2020, when the Court mandate took effect. Applications must be in line with previously approved labels, including temperature restrictions, windspeed restrictions and application date cutoffs. The cancellation says all applications must be completed no later than July 31, 2020, unless individual states call for earlier cutoffs. “At the height of the growing season, the Court’s decision has threatened the livelihood of our nation’s farmers and the global food supply,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in an earlier statement. “Today’s cancellation and existing stocks order is consistent with EPA’s standard practice following registration invalidation, and is designed to advance compliance, ensure regulatory certainty and prevent the misuse of existing stocks.” Background On June 3, 2020, three California judges issued an opinion and a mandate that vacated the federal registrations for three over-the-top dicamba products, including Engenia, FeXapan and XtendiMax herbicides. The vacatur was immediate and the Court cited the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act. Five days after the vacatur order, EPA issued a cancellation order that allowed for specific uses of the dicamba products in existing stocks while ending sales and distribution. Last week, plaintiffs in the case that lead to the vacatur of three over-the-top dicamba products filed another motion that would remove EPA’s current allowances for use of existing stocks. They claimed it went against the court order and EPA should be held in contempt. The petitioners also asked the court to reexamine claims that the dicamba products violated certain parts of the Endangered Species Act.
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20May

USDA releases plan on $2.1 billion in COVID-19 payments to growers

With up to $2.1 billion for specialty crop producers at stake, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided the first details of the Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program direct payment plan. The direct payments are the second part of USDA’s coronavirus relief. The first, the Farmers to Families Food Box program, announced $1.2 billion in contracts May 8 for food box deliveries of fresh produce, dairy, and pre-cooked meat. Funding for produce box sourcing and distribution was earlier estimated at $100 million per month for six months.

Direct payment plan

Under the direct payment program, payments will be based on losses where prices and market supply chains were disrupted. The compensation will help growers deal with lost demand and short-term oversupply during the 2020 marketing year as a result of COVID-19, according to a news release from USDA. “These payments will help keep farmers afloat while market demand returns as our nation reopens and recovers,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in the release. “America’s farmers are resilient and will get through this challenge just like they always do with faith, hard work, and determination.” Producers that fall into one of the following categories may be eligible to receive direct payments: Sales with a price loss of 5% or more between January 15 and April 15, 2020. Almonds, artichokes, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lemons, iceberg and romaine lettuce, dry onions, peaches, pears, pecans, bell and other types of peppers, rhubarb, spinach, squash, strawberries and tomatoes are eligible; Shipments that left the farm by April 15 and spoiled due to no market or for which no payment was received. All specialty crops are eligible for this payment; and Shipments that have not left farm or mature crops that remained unharvested by April 15. All specialty crops are eligible for this payment. Beginning on May 26, growers of eligible commodities may apply for assistance through their local USDA Farm Service Agency Service Center, according to the release. Application forms and additional information is at farmers.gov/cfap. The USDA said there is a payment limitation of $250,000 per person or entity for all commodities combined, although the USDA said corporations, limited liability companies or limited partnerships may qualify for additional payments if members actively provide personal labor or personal management for the farming operation. Producers will also have to certify they meet the Adjusted Gross Income limitation of $900,000 unless at least 75% or more of their income is derived from farming, ranching or forestry-related activities, according to the USDA, and producers must also be in compliance with Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation provisions. The USDA encouraged specialty crop producers to complete applications before May 26.

Program details

The direct payment funding comes from $9.5 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability (CARES) Act and $6.5 billion from the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to compensate producers from market disruptions. Under the direct payment program, producers will receive 80% of their maximum total payment upon approval of the application. The remaining portion of the payment, not to exceed the payment limit, will be paid at a later date as funds remain available. The USDA first announced the $16 billion program for all farmers and ranchers in mid-April: The direct payments are going to:
  • $9.6 billion for the livestock industry ($5.1 billion for cattle, $2.9 billion for dairy and $1.6 billion for hogs);
  • $3.9 billion for row crop producers;
  • $2.1 billion for specialty crops producers; and
  • $500 million for other crops Direct Assistance for Farmers and Ranchers.

Produce Industry reaction

The following associations issued statements on the USDA’s direct payment plan. Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association President Mike Joyner: “We appreciate the administration’s efforts to help agriculture overcome many of the challenges we have faced during this pandemic. Florida specialty crop producers experienced devastating losses from the shutdown of the foodservice supply chain and slowdown at retail – losses far greater than the direct payment limits announced today will cover. We will continue to work with Congress and the administration to secure additional relief for hard-hit Florida growers of fresh fruits and vegetables.” National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles: “Given the scope of this crisis, we knew the initial funding would be insufficient to meet the need of family farms. Based upon the limited resources announced today under this direct payment program, the potato industry is strongly urging Congress to act rapidly to provide more resources and flexibility to fill this huge gap and maintain producers’ livelihoods.” United Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Tom Stenzel: “We applaud the announcement of a direct payment program for fruit and vegetable growers, which can also help relieve some of the debts owed by distributors who lost the ability to pay when the foodservice sector was shut down. Combined with the Farmers to Families produce box program, these are steps in the right direction. But we still need to work closely with Congress to provide additional needed support to agriculture in the next round of legislation on Capitol Hill. It’s essential that administration and Congress focus on programs that target resources for growers, grower-shippers and others in the produce distribution supply chain that have had direct job losses and immediate financial impact from government mandated closures.” Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia: “The administration is doing what it can to help as many farmers as possible from a limited source of relief funds. The tough part of this is that even with the increased cap on relief payments to individual farmers, the actual losses are far greater for many. By way of example, the average sized lettuce farm in the West is 250 acres and requires about $5,000 per acre to grow the crop. The relief payment cap means the farmer who lost the entire crop when the food service industry was closed will have no relief for all but 50 acres of that loss. “We appreciate all the administration has already done, especially on regulatory and administrative challenges, to keep our industry operating through the crisis. I urge the president and (Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue) to closely monitor the full scope of economic damage done to fresh produce growers and other farmers and ranchers, and to work with Congress to close the gap in future COVID-19 relief efforts.”  
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19May

Corn Planting Hits 80% Complete, Soybeans Cross Halfway Mark

U.S. corn planting is sailing toward the finish line. As of May 17, 80% of the U.S. crop has been planted. That’s up 13 percentage points from last week and nine percentage points above the five-year average for the middle of May, according to USDA's latest Crop Progress report. Ahead of the report, market analysts were expecting corn planting to be 82% to 84% complete. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin are all 80% planted or more. North Dakota and Pennsylvania are the furthest behind in planting with 20% and 15% planted, respectively. Corn emergence is at a normal pace, with 43% of the crop emerged. For soybeans, 53% of the U.S. crop is in the ground. That is up from last week’s 38% planted. The five-year average for mid-May is 38% planted. Ahead of the report, market analysts were expecting soybean planting to be 51% to 54% complete.Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota and Nebraska are all 70% completed or higher for soybean planting. On the flip side, North Dakota is currently 9% planted in soybeans, followed by Missouri with 27% planted. Both paces are significantly behind each state’s five-year average. Currently, 18% of the U.S. soybean crop is emerged, which is ahead of the five-year average of 12% emerged by mid-May.For cotton, 44% of the U.S. crop is planted, which is in line with the average planting pace. The U.S. spring wheat crop is 60% planted, which is behind the five-year average of 80% planted by mid-May. The U.S. sorghum crop is 32% planted, which is a normal planting pace.  
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12May

$22 to $56 An Acre ROI Realized in Row Crop Conservation Case Studies

How farmland is used today will determine the quality and quantity of food produced in the future. It also will influence the future health of soil, water and air quality. “Long before we run out of the agricultural land we need to feed us, we’ll run out of the agricultural land we need to heal the planet,” notes John Piotti, president of American Farmland Trust (AFT). AFT’s research shows that by applying just two regenerative practices on cropland, such as cover crops and crop rotation, for example, agriculture can reduce the equivalent of 87% of all greenhouse gases. “We could become not only carbon neutral, we could become a carbon sink. That’s what we need agriculture to do,” he says. Yet Piotti says farmers must gain financially from conservation agriculture. He points to eight farmer case studies AFT developed recently to help other farmers identify how soil health practices can benefit them and provide a return-on-investment. With each case study, AFT conducted benefit-cost analyses. It also used USDA’s Nutrient Tracking Tool and USDA’s COMET-Farm Tool to quantify the water quality and climate benefits of these practices. The eight case studies feature almond farmers in California, corn-soybean farmers in Illinois and Ohio, and diversified crop farmers in New York.
 
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05May

Planting Progress Well Ahead of Average for Corn and Beans

Planting Progress Well Ahead of Average for Corn and Beans  
  • Corn planting was 51% complete vs 48% expected, 27% last week, 21% last year, and 39% average.
  • Soybean planting was 23% complete vs 21% expected, 8% last week, 5% last year, and 11% average.
  • Spring wheat planting was 29% complete vs 30% expected, 14% last week, 19% last year, and 43% average.
  • Cotton planting was 18% complete, 13% last week, 16% last year, and 17% average.
  • FBN’s Take On What It Means For The Farmer: Excellent corn planting progress was made across the central Corn Belt with Iowa notably advancing to 78% completion. The western Corn Belt usually has about 10% of intended bean acres planted at this time, but producers made great strides last week with Iowa 46% done and Nebraska finishing 32%. Minnesota and North Dakota are about 1-2 weeks behind average planting spring wheat, while cotton sowing continues on pace. The weather forecast for the Midwest should allow for another week of strong progress.
Corn Exports Are Strong While Beans and Wheat Lag 
  • Corn exports for the week ended 4/30/20 were better than expected at 47.9 million bushels.
  • Exports of corn need to average approximately 40 million bushels per week to meet USDA’s 1,725 million bushel projection for 2019/20.
  • Soybean exports last week were only 11.7 million bushels, down from 20.6 million last week and 22.2 million last year.
  • Export inspections for beans were well below the 27 million bushels that will be needed each week to meet USDA’s marketing-year forecast.
  • Wheat shipments of 19.7 million bushels were about as expected, but well below the pace needed to meet USDA’s last projection.
  • FBN’s Take On What It Means For The Farmer:  While China has made some recent purchases, soybean exports continue to disappoint. There was hope that China would secure larger amounts of old crop beans which has not been realized. Without greater buying, the USDA’s 2019/20 export projection of 1,775 million bushels is in danger of not being met.
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28Apr

Iowa and Minnesota Double Average Corn Planting

A week of cooperative weather set planting at near record pace across the corn belt last week. Corn acres planted jumped to 27%, up from 7% the previous week. Much of that progress was in two key states according to Chip Flory of AgriTalk Radio. “A couple of the states really stand out, we've got Iowa 39% planted, we've got Minnesota at 40% planted, 40% planted in Minnesota,” Flory said. “Both states are about double the five year average pace. This means that in the Last week, Iowa planted about 5.2 million acres of corn. Minnesota planted about 3.3 million acres of corn.” The rapid pace and dry weather are a welcome change from the rainy 2019 planting season. “We've got more done by April 27 than we did by May 27 of last year,” Flory noted. It’s not just the wide weather window that sparked a jump in corn acres planted. Farmers like Ryan Meyerkorth of northwest Missouri are reporting very good soil conditions. “The conditions couldn't be better for us right now,” Meyerkorth told U.S. Farm Report’s Tyne Morgan.  “The ground’s working like it hasn't for several years, so we've been able to really get after it and get a lot planted here in the last week.” Myerkorth said he planted 35% of his corn crop last week. Despite the progress in the heart of the corn belt, there are areas that are behind in planting, and they could stay behind. “North Dakota hasn't planted an acre of corn yet,” Flory noted. “Normally, North Dakota would only have 4% of the crop planted, but still, they're off to a slow start. Pennsylvania, nothing planted, they would normally have about 7% planted. In Ohio, 3% planted versus 8% for a five year average. And those are some of the areas that are expected to see the most rain.”
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24Apr

House passes $500 billion Coronavirus Bill and oversight panel

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday, funding small businesses and hospitals and pushing the total spending response to the crisis to an unprecedented near $3 trillion.
The measure passed the Democratic-led House by a vote of 388-5, with one member voting present. House members were meeting for the first time in weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers, many wearing masks, approved the bill during an extended period of voting intended to allow them to remain at a distance from one another in line with public health recommendations. The House action sent the latest of four relief bills to the White House, where Republican President Donald Trump has promised to sign it quickly into law. The Republican-led Senate had passed the legislation on a voice vote on Tuesday. But threats of opposition by some members of both parties prompted congressional leaders to call the full chamber back to Washington for the House vote despite state stay-at-home orders meant to control the spread of the virus. The House also approved a select committee, with subpoena power, to probe the U.S. response to the coronavirus. It will have broad powers to investigate how federal dollars are being spent, U.S. preparedness and Trump administration deliberations. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the panel was essential to ensure funds go to those who need them and to prevent scams. Republicans said the committee was not needed, citing existing oversight bodies, and called the panel's creation another expensive Democratic slap at Trump. The committee was approved on a vote of 212-182, along party lines.
The bill reserves $60 billion of the Paycheck Protection Program funding for small lenders and minorities, clarifies that farmers are eligible for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and provides funding specifically for rural hospitals. A handful of lawmakers opposed the legislation, including Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a severely affected area of New York and believes Congress should do even more - and Republican Thomas Massie, known as "Mr. No" for his frequent opposition to spending bills. "This is really a very, very, very sad day. We come to the floor with nearly 50,000 dead, a huge number of people, and the uncertainty of it all," Pelosi said during debate on the bill. Congress passed the last coronavirus relief measure, worth more than $2 trillion, in March, also with overwhelming support from both parties. It was the largest such funding bill ever passed. TROUBLE AHEAD The next step will be harder. The two parties have set the stage for a fight over additional funding for state and local governments reeling from the impact of lost revenue after Republicans refused to include such funds in the current relief bill. Trump has said he supports more funding for states, and has promised to back it in future legislation. Congressional Republicans have resisted. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested in a radio interview on Wednesday that states could go bankrupt, but said later he did not want states to use federal funds for anything unrelated to the coronavirus. Democrats castigated McConnell for the remark. "Leader McConnell said to our cities and states, to our cops and firemen and teachers, he told them to drop dead," said Representative Max Rose, who represents a district of New York City. Thursday's voting took place under safety protocols that considerably dragged out proceedings. Lawmakers came to the House in alphabetical order in small groups and were told to stand in line, 6 feet (1.8 m) apart, before entering the chamber. There was also a half-hour break scheduled to clean the chamber between the two votes. But more than a dozen cleaners descended on the chamber with cloths and spray bottles and wiped it down in less than 10 minutes. Echoing Trump, many Republicans also want the country - including Congress - to reopen quickly. Republican Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina said lawmakers should "get our businesses to open the doors and do what Americans have always been allowed to do, which is go to work." House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the latest aid package should have been passed at least two weeks ago after the Trump administration requested it. "Some people unfortunately got laid off because of this delay," McCarthy said. Democrats rejected the charge, saying lawmakers had improved on Trump's request by adding billions of dollars more for small businesses, hospitals and coronavirus testing.
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21Apr

Sen. Moran Says More Small Business Money Coming This Week

A deal to replenish the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) under the coronavirus aid package has been reached, but had not yet been put to paper as of this afternoon according to Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). Moran told Farm Journal Live the latest aid package, in addition to key funding for forgivable loans through the Small Business Administration, contains some key provisions for agriculture and rural America. “We're working to try to make sure our small community hospitals can access this [PPP] program, but farmers are eligible,” Moran said. “In the new package, we expect, there's another SBA program called [Economic Injury Disaster Loan], and as of yesterday, I was assured that farmers would now qualify for that program as well. But we're expecting to add 310 billion dollars to the small business loan guarantee program, the PPP program in this package, and I think it gets done this midweek.”
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20Apr

USDA Offers Help For The Cattle Industry

Last week, USDA announced a total of $19 billion for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP).  The program includes $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and ranchers including $9.5 billion of emergency funding from the CARES Act and $6.5 billion of funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). Additionally, CFAP includes $3 billion in purchases of meat, dairy and produce to support producers and provide food assistance to those in need.  CFAP is funded from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and other USDA programs. The beef cattle industry will receive $5.1 billion of CFAP funding to partially offset 2020 losses due to COVID-19.  Cattle producers will receive a single direct payment determined by two calculations including 85 percent of price losses from January 1- April 15, 2020 and 30 percent of expected losses for two quarters after April 15. In order to qualify, commodities must have experienced at least a five percent price decrease between January and April.  USDA expects to begin sign-up in early May and distribute payments by late May or early June. Payments to cattle producers will partially offset losses due to COVID-19.  A study released recently by Oklahoma State University estimated total losses to the beef cattle industry of $13.6 billion including $9.2 billion in 2020 losses. Damage to the cow-calf sector was estimated at $3.7 billion along with $2.5 billion in losses to stocker producers and $3.0 billion in losses to the feedlot sector. Additionally, the cow-calf sector will incur another $4.4 billion in long-term losses if the 2020 damages are not compensated. For more information about this study check out links to the executive summary or the full report. The economic damages estimated in the report are based on information and conditions in early April.  Obviously, the COVID-19 situation is not over and additional impacts are likely.  Most recently, workers at several meat packing and further processing facilities have been impacted by COVID-19 resulting in temporary plant closures or reduced production.
At this time, plant reductions are mostly resulting in some product disruptions and perhaps temporary shortages of fresh meat.  Baring a catastrophic combination of plant closures or extended periods of plant disruptions, significant shortages of meat are not expected.  However, the combination of processing disruptions and the continuing challenges of supply chain disruptions means that consumers will likely experience limited meat supplies and selection in grocery stores in the coming weeks. Total beef production in 2020 is still projected at a record level over 27 billion pounds but the timing during the year is more volatile and somewhat choppy.
 
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17Apr

Detailed China Update from Chief Ag Negotiator

It's lonely being at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office lately, especially the fourth floor where top agriculture negotiator Gregg Doud said he's the only one on that portion of the building. The loneliness is not because he's like the Maytag repairman with nothing to do! Those quiet confines were an ideal setting to catch up with Doud on key trade issues, including an update on Phase 1 of the U.S./China trade agreement signed Jan. 15, 2020 and taking effect Feb. 14. First some background on China's purchases of U.S. farm products. China imported $5 billion worth of U.S. ag goods in the first quarter of 2020, according to Chinese data, including $3.1 billion of soybeans and $430 million of pork. China’s total U.S. ag purchases increased 110% in the first three months of this year. This week's USDA Weekly Export Sales report showed China continued making some purchases of U.S. ag commodities the week ended April 9, including net purchases of 165,000 tonnes of U.S. wheat (50,000 tonnes for 2019-20; 110,000 tonnes for 2020-21), net purchases of 137,750 tonnes of sorghum, 5,869 tonnes of soybeans, 1,489 tonnes of U.S. beef and 16,402 tonnes of pork (even after cancelling 6,072 tonnes of prior purchases). While China bought cotton this week, cancellations of prior buys meant a net reduction of 81,999 running bales of upland cotton to China.  The obvious question to ask Doud was whether or not China would live up to its Phase 1 commitment of purchases of U.S. farm products. “You know, the Phase 1 agreement with China and agriculture was just not about purchases, it was also about fixing a very significant number of unwarranted trade barriers,” Doud said, detailing there were “something like 57 different things that we agreed between the U.S. and China to remedy and fix.” Timeline of ag-related accords. Some of those ag-related agreements took place when the agreement took effect Feb. 14. Some of those were within five days, 10 days, 20 working days, one month, two months. “Here we are now at kind of the two-month point,” Doud said. “And so far, we're doing very, very well. We're in constant contact with China almost every single day... back and forth... making sure we are getting things fixed. And, you know, we're not perfect. There are still a few things that we're trying to sort out. But I will tell you, every single day, despite what's going on in China… we see the difficulty they've been going through for most of this year... despite all of that, they're working very hard. Our folks at USDA, FDA, etc. are working very hard to get all of this implemented.”
   
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