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Today’s Topics
hardship waivers
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EPA plan would give small refiners more time to comply with RFS

Small oil refineries would have an additional six months to show they had complied with their obligations to mix corn ethanol into gasoline during 2019 under an EPA proposal published on Thursday.

In new fuel clash, oil refiners ask for 52 retroactive ethanol exemptions

Oil refiners are attempting to evade an adverse appellate court ruling by asking the EPA for retroactive exemptions from the ethanol mandate, said biofuel trade groups on Thursday. Refiners have filed 52 petitions for exemptions stretching as far back as 2011, potentially creating a chain of annual waivers that would allow them to seek exemptions now.

Biofuel advocates challenge EPA on RFS waivers

The EPA justified its exemption of 31 refineries from the Renewable Fuel Standard in a two-page memorandum that it did not reveal for weeks, said a coalition of four biofuel groups and two farm groups in a challenge filed in a U.S. appeals court. The petition was filed at the same time biofuel backers are accusing the EPA of a “bait and switch” on promises to increase ethanol consumption.

Trump ‘chose oil companies over family farmers,’ says senator

The Trump administration is siding with Big Oil despite announcing a plan to increase ethanol consumption, farm state senators told the No. 2 USDA official on Thursday. “That’s a president that has chosen oil companies over family farmers,” said one of the critics, Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

Lawmakers call for review of EPA’s ethanol waivers

A dozen lawmakers called on Wednesday for a review of the explosion in ethanol waivers awarded by the EPA in the past two years. In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the lawmakers said many of the small-volume refineries that applied for waivers did not need them.

House speaker
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Austin Scott runs again for speaker

Relatively unknown but ambitious, Georgia Rep. Austin Scott launched his second campaign in a week for House speaker with a call for Republican unity. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker three weeks ago and House Republicans hope to select a nominee from nine aspirants this week.

Austin Scott’s brief bid for speaker spotlights futility of rural leaders

Georgia Rep. Austin Scott, a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, was shunted aside by fellow Republicans in his one-day bid to become speaker of the House. Scott, a mainstream conservative, said he would support Rep. Jim Jordan, who won the GOP nomination on a 121-81 vote, when the House votes this week on a successor to Kevin McCarthy.

Ag, energy, defense are familiar to likely new House speaker

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a fifth-term lawmaker and the favorite to become the next speaker of the House, represents the southern San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada. Agriculture, energy and defense are the three major industries of this slice of California's Central Valley, says a description by McCarthy's office of his district.

Boehner mocks House GOP for immigration inaction

Speaker John Boehner faulted his fellow House Republicans as unwilling to act on immigration reform during a speech to a service club in his Ohio district, says the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Collin Peterson
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Not looking to run USDA, says Peterson

House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson threw cold water Thursday on suggestions that he should be agriculture secretary in the Biden administration. "There's plenty of people out there that want the job," he told reporters, adding that he was "not looking for a full-time, four-year job" after 30 years in Congress.

Costa makes it a two-man race for ag gavel

Eight-term Rep. Jim Costa, who represents an agricultural district around Fresno in California's Central Valley, announced his candidacy for chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, saying the committee "should reflect the changing landscape of agriculture in the United States." As the majority party, House Democrats will select the chairman in the weeks ahead.

New chairs on the way for Senate and House Agriculture panels

Southerners could lead both of the Agriculture committees in Congress as a result of Tuesday's general election, which trimmed the majorities Republicans hold in the Senate and Democrats hold in the House. Rep. David Scott of Georgia was first in seniority to succeed chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota on the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas was in line to chair the Senate panel.

Peterson-Fischbach race stands out in House contests

If there were a "toss-up caucus" of U.S. representatives in the tightest races, House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson could be its premiere member. The Blue Dog Democrat from western Minnesota is running for re-election against a well-financed Republican, former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach, in a district that that voted for President Trump in a landslide in 2016.

wetlands
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Half of river water comes from intermittent streams, say researchers

As a result of the Supreme Court decision on the upstream reach of antipollution laws, half of the water in U.S. rivers comes from so-called ephemeral streams that are now without federal protection, said researchers from the University of Massachusetts and Yale on Thursday.

White House sets goal to protect, restore 8 million acres of wetlands

As part of initiatives related to Earth Day, the Biden administration set "a bold, new national goal to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of our nation's rivers and streams" on Tuesday. The initiative could be the overdue response to the Supreme Court decision in 2023 that limited federal protection of wetlands but only seven states are currently taking part, said an attorney active in water law.

Swampbuster rule is unconstitutional, says Iowa lawsuit

The Agriculture Department violates the Constitution by barring farmers from its support programs if they plant crops on wetlands, said an Iowa lawsuit that challenges the four-decade-old Swampbuster rule. The Pacific Legal Foundation, which won a Supreme Court decision last May that narrowed federal protection of wetlands, is one of three conservative law firms representing the plaintiff, CTM Holdings LLC.

Expect another round of ‘WOTUS whiplash,’ warns senator

The Biden administration made only minimal changes to its “waters of the United States” regulation to comply with the Supreme Court’s new and stricter definition of wetlands, and that will perpetuate litigation over the Clean Water Act, said West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito on Wednesday.

New wetlands rule fails to satisfy farm and construction groups

The Biden administration removed federal protection from an estimated half of U.S. wetlands in a regulation unveiled a week ago to comply with the Supreme Court decision shrinking the upstream reach of water pollution laws. But agricultural and construction groups said the regulation was "legally vulnerable" because the administration, in their view, did not fully carry out the ruling.

Kansas City Star
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Vilsack, Kansas lawmaker argue over immigration reform

Standing almost shoulder to shoulder, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Rep. Kevin Yoder expressed different views of immigration enforcement during a news conference near Kansas City.

Roberts, Orman “haven’t closed the sale” in Kansas

"The race for the U.S. Senate seat from Kansas is about to get nastier," says the Kansas City Star in a story headlined, "With a week to go, U.S. Senate candidates in Kansas still haven't closed the sale."

Pryor and Cotton debate in key farm-state Senate race

In the first debate of the Senate race in Arkansas, Sen Mark Pryor, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, said opponent first-term Rep Tom Cotton, a Republican, is more interested in foreign policy than...

A lot of wheat in Kansas “zeroed out” by drought

A lot of wheat in western Kansas has has been "zeroed out for insurance purposes, and a lot more will be," says the chief of the Kansas State University ag experiment station south of Hays in northwest Kansas.

farm subsidy
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USDA now obscures the names of some farm subsidy recipients

After decades of releasing the names of everyone who receives farm subsidy payments, the USDA has changed course, hiding the names of a portion of farm subsidy recipients. An advocacy group that publishes the data says that the decision to withhold recipient names obscures how billions of dollars of taxpayer money is spent.

Warning signs, although farm sector finances are relatively strong

After a review of farm-sector financial indicators, economist Brent Gloy says, "Caution going forward would be appropriate," particularly for operators who are borrowing money. The commonly used debt-to-asset ratio is low, Gloy writes at the Agricultural Economic Insights blog a day before USDA updates its farm-income forecast, but lesser-known yardsticks, such as the debt-service ratio and times-interest-earned ratio "indicate that financial conditions are as poor as any seen for some time."

LDPs are back for wheat and may be coming in corn

It's been a decade since low commodity prices made loan-deficiency payments a routine, if arcane, part of U.S. agriculture. But prices are low enough that wheat growers are collecting LDPs and the payments "might even be on the cusp of returning for corn in some parts of the country," says DTN. When farmers request an LDP, the USDA pays them the difference between the support price for a crop and the market price, when prices are below the so-called loan rate.

Turkey
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USDA proposes limits on salmonella bacteria in raw poultry products

After three years of study, the Agriculture Department proposed limits on salmonella contamination of raw chicken and turkey products on Monday with an emphasis on the types of salmonella bacteria mostly likely to cause illness. Consumer groups said the proposal, modeled on a 1994 USDA ban on the most dangerous types of E. coli bacteria in ground beef, was a large step forward for public health.

On his birthday, Biden lets freedom ring for two Thanksgiving turkeys

In an event that traditionally opens the holiday season in Washington, President Biden pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys, briefly plugged his rural policies, and joked about his age — 81 — on Monday, his birthday. "I want you to know, it's difficult turning 60," he said, evoking laughter from a couple of hundred people on the South Lawn of the White House. "Difficult."

‘No fowl play’ as Biden pardons Thanksgiving turkeys

In a traditional moment of White House whimsy ahead of Thanksgiving, President Biden pardoned tom turkeys "Chocolate" and "Chip" on Monday. An outbreak of bird flu has driven up turkey prices and crimped supplies for the holiday season.

February storms put a hitch into U.S. poultry production

USDA pulls organic certification of Turkish grain exporter

The USDA's National Organic Program said it revoked the certification of a Turkish company because it exported soybeans certified as "organic" to the United States that had been treated with pesticides. The action came after the Washington Post last month revealed that significant imports of both corn and soybeans had been labeled organic when they were not.

pollution diet
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Annual report card: Chesapeake Bay is its healthiest since 2002

The Chesapeake Bay received its highest score, a "C-plus," since 2002 in an annual assessment of its environmental health, "an exciting sign that progress is being made in bay restoration," said University of Maryland scientists on Tuesday. Despite the progress, the bay will not meet the goals set more than a decade ago in the EPA's so-called pollution diet, said a conservation group.

Activists prepare to fight Trump over Chesapeake Bay budget cuts

President Trump’s budget slashes all funding to the Chesapeake Bay cleanup program, but environmental activists and bipartisan supporters of the program say they are prepared for a sustained fight with the President, says The Washington Post.

Democrats add Van Hollen to Senate Agriculture Committee

Newly elected Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will be the only Democratic newcomer on the Senate Agriculture Committee in the two-year session that opens Jan. 3, according to party leaders. Van Hollen will be the 10th Democrat on the committee, reflecting the closer balance of power between the Republican majority and Democratic minority.

Nutrient budgets — a European idea for U.S. farmers?

"Scientists in the Chesapeake Bay have been looking at nutrient budgets for close to three decades. But to date, no state has implemented one .... Nevertheless, the idea continues to percolate," reports the Bay Journal, ahead of a Chesapeake Bay Summit to be broadcast on Maryland Public Television on Wednesday.

Chesapeake Bay will stay on ‘pollution diet’

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the EPA's "pollution diet" for Chesapeake Bay, which is intended to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff, reports the Baltimore Sun.

minority farmers
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Biden announces $2 billion in USDA discrimination payments

The government has issued $2 billion in payments to more than 43,000 farmers who suffered discrimination when they applied for USDA farm loans in the past, said President Biden on Wednesday. More than half of the recipients were producers in Mississippi and Alabama, who received a combined $905.5 million.

Preliminary injunction against USDA debt relief for minority farmers

Vilsack calls out farmers suing to block debt relief for minority farmers

Lawsuits to block $4 billion in loan forgiveness for minority farmers show a lack of historical awareness, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the BIO online convention on Wednesday. "It's a wonder where those farmers were over the last 100 years, when their Black counterparts were being discriminated against and didn't hear a peep from white farmers about how unfortunate that circumstance was."

Bills would disclose race, gender of farm subsidy recipients

The USDA would be obliged to disclose the race and gender of farm subsidy recipients as well as how much money they received under companion bills filed by two Black members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees on Wednesday.

genome
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Balance safety, innovation in gene-edited animals, says FDA chief

Gene editing has enormous potential to improve health and food production, but innovation must be governed by well-rooted standards of safety and effectiveness, said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn. "The agency is a trusted global regulator and we are committed to overseeing this space in a manner that fosters innovation, protects consumer confidence and protects the public health."

Drawing a road map of corn’s ‘jumping genes’

An international team of researchers has mapped the “jumping genes,” formally named transposable elements, or transposons, in corn, says UC-Davis. “The discovery could ultimately benefit the breeding and production of maize, one of the world’s most important crops.”

USDA says it will change GE regulation approach, include genome-edited crops

The Agriculture Department will unveil today its proposal to update its regulatory framework of biotechnology. The plan is designed to speed up development of GE plants that do not pose a plant pest or weed risk, and to cover plants created through genome-editing techniques, such as CRISPR, if they pose plant pest or noxious-weed risk. At present, GE plants produced without the use of genetic sequences from plant pests — the traditional method of genetic modification — are not subject to federal biotechnology rules.

Gene editing may not be as fool-proof as thought

There is an emerging concern among scientists that the gene-editing technique CRISPR "might inadvertently alter regions of the genome other than the intended one," says STAT, the health and medicine site. Dr. J. Keith Joung of Massachusetts General Hospital says that algorithms used to predict off-target effects of gene editing "miss a fair number" of them.

Work on wheat genome sequencing speeds along

Researchers may complete a sequencing of the notoriously complex genome of bread wheat in two years, rather than the four or five years that was expected, says Country Guide.