The Environmental Protection Agency agreed with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and withdrew its proposed Livestock Reporting Rule late last week. Now, NCBA is hoping EPA will also agree on the dust standard. NCBA testified at an EPA hearing in Philadelphia Tuesday in opposition to any attempt to lower the coarse particulate matter (PM) standard as part of the …
Corn Growers Heading to Hill With Message
Corn growers are heading to Capitol Hill this week with a message – they want a farm bill NOW! “All of the NCGA corn farmers, 127 delegates are in Washington DC, and we’re going to present our message that we want a farm bill now,” said National Corn Growers Association president Garry Niemeyer of Illinois. “And hopefully we’re going to …
Getting to Know BASF’s Nevin McDougall
Nevin McDougall has been the Senior Vice President, Crop Protection for BASF North America for three years now and his face should be familiar to many in agriculture who have attended Commodity Classic during that time, but he has actually been with BASF since the American Cyanamid acquisition. “Really, with legacy company, I’ve been with BASF for 19-20 years,” he …
Corn Crop is in Worst Condition Since 1988
Drought conditions in the Midwest are “almost historic” with 38 percent of the nation’s corn crop now rated poor to very poor, according to USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey. “That 38% represents the highest amount of U.S. corn rated poor to very poor since the end of the 1988 growing season,” said Rippey. “We now see in 13 of the 18 …
Will FARRM Bill Make it to Floor?
Agricultural organizations are calling for the House to move the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act, but whether that happens before the current bill expires is in question. American Farm Bureau Federation Farm Policy Specialist Mary Kay Thatcher is doubtful a new farm bill will be finished by September 30. “Our best option is probably to have some …
FARRM Bill Passes out of Committee
They said they would get the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act out of committee in one business session come “hell or high water” and they did it. It took nearly 15 hours to go through some 100 amendments and did not end until just shy of 1:00 am Eastern time, but the final roll call vote to recommend …
Kansas Wins Race to Sell 15% Ethanol
Kansas wins the prize for the first state to sell 15% ethanol-blended gasoline (E15) under the Environmental Protection Agency waiver. The nation’s first E15 gallons were pumped at the Zarco 66 “Oasis” station in Lawrence, Kansas on Tuesday and, not coincidentally, the first customer to buy it was Jere White, Executive Director of the Kansas Corn Commission. “We were there …
Weather Taking Toll on Crops
This is what the corn looked like near Bloomington, Illinois yesterday – and it looks much worse in other areas. The USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report out this morning did, as expected, lower corn yields as a result of the hot and dry conditions throughout much of the growing region this summer. “Dreadful,” said USDA Outlook Board …
Ag Interests Dissect House Farm Bill Draft
Despite the fact that the legislation impacts every single American, it’s still hard not to call it the “Farm Bill,” so the draft out of the House Agriculture Committee comes with a clever acronym to let us go ahead and call it that officially. The discussion draft released yesterday by Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson …
Rural Benefits to Defense Biofuels Investments
The Obama administration today announced new investments in the biofuels industry as part of the Defense Production Act (DPA). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Navy and Department of Energy jointly announced $30 million in federal funding to match private investments in commercial-scale advanced drop-in biofuels. The Energy Department is also announcing a total of $32 million in new investments …