Sec. Vilsack Bids Farewell with Climate-Smart Agriculture Rule
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held his last official press conference of his tenure at USDA on Wednesday, announcing the publication of an interim rule on Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks.
The interim rule establishes guidelines for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production of biofuel feedstock commodity crops grown in the United States. These guidelines will facilitate the recognition of climate-smart agriculture within clean transportation fuel programs, creating new market opportunities for biofuel feedstock producers while enhancing climate benefits.
The action today is essentially what was missing from the 45Z guidance offered by U.S. Treasury last week and makes changes from the rules for 40B, according to Sec. Vilsack. “First of all, there’s an additional crop in addition to corn and soybeans. We now include sorghum. There are additional climate smart agricultural practices, including reduced tillage and fertilizer application timing. As importantly, practices may be used individually or in combination. They are not required to be bundled. And the CI reductions that result from using each practice would be better and more precisely estimated than they were for the pilot program in 40B.”
Click here to get the details from USDA and listen to Vilsack’s press conference below:
Sec. Vilsack final presser (23:20)Cotton Consultants Focused on Regulatory Issues
Adapting to regulations is a constant theme in the life of cotton consultants, but this year more than ever the Beltwide Cotton Consultants Conference wanted to stress how new regulations will be impacting the industry.
“We set up a central theme this year of regulatory issues, primarily focused around the marriage of EPA with Fish and Wildlife with some of the new pesticide regulations that are going to be coming forward,” said Louisiana-based cotton consultant Hank Jones at this year’s conference in New Orleans. “We don’t have too many pesticides yet that have any of the new regulations applied to them, so we still have an opportunity as an industry, as applicators, as consultants like me that give recommendations, to really get ahead of this issue.”
One of the speakers at the consultants conference was Clayton Myers, USDA Office of Pest Management Policy, who said it has just come to the point that EPA has to move forward on the Endangered Species Act. “The proposals are now coming out…This is no longer a tomorrow. This is going to soon become a today problem and. So we’re, we’re obviously trying to increase the depth of grower awareness on that as much as we can because this is a big issue that is going to affect growers, pest management toolbox going forward.”
Listen to interviews with Jones and Myers below and check the Beltwide Cotton Conferences virtual media page for more content.
Beltwide interview Hank Jones, cotton consultant 5:45 Beltwide interview Clayton Myers, USDA-OPMP 4:08USDA Completes Reform of Packers & Stockyards Rule
In one of his last official acts in the waning days of the Biden administration, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the third installment in a series of regulatory reforms under the Packers and Stockyards Act.
Along with other finalized updates, this completes a major regulatory reform intended to “level the playing field for farmers who raise chicken, turkeys, hogs, cattle, and sheep under contract or for sale to meat and poultry processing companies.”
Specifically, the rule announced today will give chicken farmers better insight into companies’ payment rates for their birds, will institute stability and fairness in what is commonly known as the ‘tournament system,’ will provide farmers with key information on capital improvements the companies require farmers to make in order to keep or renew contracts, and give farmers stronger leverage when companies do not adhere to the rules.
“During my time as Secretary of Agriculture, time and again USDA has been confronted with the stories of farmers who lost their life’s savings or went bankrupt because of an unfair system they entered into when they agreed to raise animals for a major meat conglomerate. It is USDA’s job to advocate for farmers, and these regulatory improvements give us the strongest tools we’ve ever had to meet our obligations under the Packers & Stockyards Act,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Find all the details here and listen to a press conference with Sec. Vilsack and Andy Green, USDA Competition Senior Advisor, below.
USDA Packers and Stockyards final (23:20)
Agri-Pulse Announces 2025 Ag & Food Policy Summit
Agri-Pulse Founder Sara Wyant at 2024 Summit
“President-elect Trump has made it clear that he plans to quickly make major changes after his inauguration and wants to see his signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expanded and extended,” said Agri-Pulse Founder and Publisher Sara Wyant. “However, much depends on whether the GOP-controlled House and Senate can stay unified to pass a major tax bill, along with addressing illegal immigration, reforming trade agreements, and more.”
The Summit will be held at the National Press Club, offering in-person and virtual attendance options. Registration is now open and you can take advantage of early bird registration rates. The tentative agenda is also available.
Summit sponsors include Gold: American Farm Bureau Federation, Bayer, Earth Optics, Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, Farm Credit, Farmer Mac, John Deere, PepsiCo, Syngenta. Bronze: Ag Council of America, American Sugar Alliance, CCI Marketing, FGS Global, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), National Crop Insurance Services, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, Pivot Bio, The Russell Group, Inc., U.S. Dairy Export Council and more. The reception is sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association.
For sponsorship opportunities, contact Jason@Agri-Pulse.com<./a>
Animal Ag News 1/13
Regev Hybrid Fungicide Receives California Registration
Summit Agro has announced the use of Regev hybrid fungicide has been approved by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, giving California growers a unique new tool in their battle against many fungal and bacterial diseases.
Regev is the first hybrid fungicide in that it unites the disease fighting power of botanical and conventional chemistries. Specifically, the product combines Tea Tree Extract (FRAC BM01) with difenoconazole (FRAC 3). This combination will provide California growers remarkable disease control from nine powerful mechanisms of activity, with only one MRL.
Regev is approved for use on a broad number of crops, including grapes, almonds, brassica leafy vegetables, fruiting vegetables and berries. California growers and PCAs wanting to learn more about Regev can view two videos posted to the Summit Agro website.
Audio from the videos can be downloaded below:
Dr. Jim Adaskaveg discusses Regev on almonds 1:13
Treasury 45Z Guidance Offers Little Clarity for Farmers
The biggest piece of the puzzle for the 45Z Clean Fuels Production Credit implementation was left out of the guidance issued last week by U.S. Treasury, leaving farmers still uncertain about what practices they would need to implement this year for the crops to qualify.
The guidance includes both a notice of intent to propose regulations on the section 45Z credit and a notice providing the annual emissions rate table for section 45Z, which refers taxpayers to the appropriate methodologies for determining the lifecycle GHG emissions of their fuel. In conjunction with today’s guidance, the Department of Energy will release the 45ZCF-GREET model for use in determining emissions rates for 45Z in the coming days.
American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings said without key details essential for biofuel producers to capitalize on 45Z, including how climate-smart agriculture practices will be incorporated, the job is unfinished.
“Since ag-based feedstocks represent about half of ethanol’s carbon footprint, it is critical to allow farmers and ethanol producers to realize the full value of sustainable farm practices through this tax credit,” said Jennings. “We have strongly urged both Treasury and USDA to update 45Z guidance for ag practice credit values on a routine basis by incorporating the best available science and results from real-world activities, such as the two USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Programs (RCPPs) currently being led by ACE. These projects are specifically designed to address the perceived need for more empirical data on the GHG benefits of ag practices and help improve the accuracy of the GREET model, and we look forward to the release of the 45ZCF-GREET model for use in determining emissions rates for 45Z in the coming days.”
According to the guidance, Treasury “intends to propose rules for incorporating the emissions benefits from climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices.”
These options would be available to taxpayers after Treasury and the IRS propose regulations for the section 45Z credit, including rules for CSA, and the 45ZCF-GREET model is updated to enable calculation of the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions rates for CSA crops, taking into account one or more CSA practices.
Industry Ag News 1/10
2025 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Preview
The National Cotton Council is ready to welcome all to the 2025 Beltwide Cotton Conferences next week, January 14-16, at the New Orleans Marriott, New Orleans, LA. Three days of individual reports, panel discussions, hands on workshops and seminars are designed to provide attendees with information they need to help producers make key cotton production/marketing-related decisions.
Conferences coordinator Lauren Krogman says they have another dynamic program planned, along with the opportunity to network with peers from across the Cotton Belt. “The Beltwide actually has 11 technical conferences that are running all concurrently which really provide findings from current research and updates on emerging technology and programs aimed at elevating US cotton production and processing efficiency,” said Krogman.
One of the most popular conferences of the event is the Cotton Consultants Conference. “Topics being considered include a panel discussion on the vulnerable species pilot program, insecticide strategy and mitigation identification and management. We also include some EPA regulatory updates and cotton pathology updates,” Krogman said. There will also be an economic outlook, information on ag lending, and crop insurance, and a report on the farm bill.”
Registration is still open on-line and there will also be registration on-site.
Beltwide Cotton Conferences preview - Lauren Krogman 4:23