Despite concerns over lingering drought in the Midwest, complicated by spring moisture worries, corn farmers nonetheless tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture they’ll plant 97.3 million acres for all purposes this year – down fractionally from 2012, but 6 percent more than in 2011 – according the March 28 Prospective Plantings report. The 2013 intentions, if realized, represent the largest planted acreage since 1936 when more than 102 million acres were planted to corn. Soybean-planted acres will total about 77.1 million, farmers reported, down slightly from last year and the fourth largest on record. Soybean-planted area is down across the Great Plains, USDA said, with the exception of North Dakota. Nebraska and Minnesota expect the biggest decline compared to a year ago, while Illinois and North Dakota are reporting the largest increases in prospective plantings. All wheat area for 2013 is expected to hit 56.4 million acres, up 1 percent from 2012. The 2013 winter wheat area is 42 million acres, 2 percent higher than the year before and up slightly from USDA’s previous estimates. Area planted to other spring wheat is expected to hit 12.7 million acres, up 3 percent from 2012. On a related note, USDA announced there will be no marketing quota for the 2014 wheat crop. The full Prospective Plantings report can be found by going to http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/pspl0312.pdf.
Newspapers killed a lot of trees and the internet burned up billions of electrons reporting on the marathon Senate FY2014 budget resolution floor debate and action on 101 of more than 400 amendments. But when the dust cleared and Senators walked off the floor at 4 a.m. last Saturday, the result was the first Senate-approved budget resolution in more than four years, but effectively, a symbolic gesture. Resolutions do not carry the force of law; that’s why they’re referred to as “nonbinding.” A budget resolution – whether the House or Senate variety – is effectively guidance to chamber committees which authorize programs, information as to how the chamber generally believes money should be spent. However, committees aren’t required to follow the resolution, though most try to stay within the budget “caps” for their respective programs. This is why, when the House passed its FY 2014 budget resolution three weeks ago, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) explained, “… the House budget I view as guidance … the Budget Committee gave us a number, not a long list of instructions. That’s the key … they gave us a number and we’re going to do our best to meet it.” All 101 amendments that made up the Senate’s nearly 20-hour “vote-a-thon” were opportunities for both sides of the aisle to get into the Congressional Record statements on issues near and dear to the hearts of individual members. None of them require the federal government to change a thing.
President Obama says he wants a comprehensive immigration reform bill on his desk early this summer and key players say it’s possible, but the road to a legal solution for the 11-12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. remains rocky. Four members of the Senate Gang of Eight – an octet of bipartisan interests who have worked for months on the most extensive immigration reform package since 1986 – traveled to the Arizona-Mexico border to see firsthand how best to gauge – now and in the future – the security of the southern U.S. border. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) toured the border area and held a press briefing. At the briefing, Schumer – through whose Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee a bill must move – said the coalition of Senators is “90 percent there,” giving no specifics, but expressing cautious optimism the group will introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill when Congress returns the week of April 8. There’s no word on when a similar bipartisan group in the House will present its legislative proposal, something that’s been promised since mid-February. President Obama, citing “a lot white papers and a lot of studies” already in-hand on how best to reform federal immigration laws, said he wants to see quick action on the Senate bill. However, six of the eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) a letter asking him to delay setting a markup deadline on the expected legislation until after Judiciary and other committees have held hearings on aspects of the reform package. Committee member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who signed the GOP letter to Leahy, favors a series of shorter focused bills tackling areas of immigration reform, not a single comprehensive legislative package. He’s a member of the judiciary panel’s immigration subcommittee, and said Leahy has told committee members he intends to move quickly on the bill, “a move that will make it impossible to properly assess a bill of this magnitude.” Leahy said he’ll move as “soon as possible,” follow regular order, “hold a transparent process, with ample time for debate and to offer amendments.” Sessions said that because no one has seen or had much input into the draft bill under construction by the Gang of Eight, “(the bill) must be independently judged and reviewed by the (committee) in the full light of day. That will take months – not two weeks – and will require hearings on every aspect of this issue.” Some Democrats take Sessions’ demand for extensive hearings as just another way to delay for months or years substantive immigration reform. In a related area, reports of a breakdown in talks between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in negotiations that would lead to a new federal guest worker program and a new wage scale for temporary workers, now indicate the two groups are back at the table negotiating. However, the union which represents federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents formally asked the Gang of Eight for a meeting “before you complete your work on any immigration proposal and to share the experiences and concerns of the (union’s members).” The union has been critical of President Obama’s 2012 executive order implementing a program of “deportation deferral” for some U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. The union contends the policy undermines its members’ ability to enforce “duly enacted immigration law,” and that it’s created bad blood between the union and Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton.
A bill to repeal the limited antitrust exemption enjoyed by the nation’s railroads for decades was introduced March 21 by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on antitrust competition policy and consumer rights, and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA). The bill, nearly identical to legislation introduced in the last Congress by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), “makes common sense reforms that will require the railroad industry to play by the same antitrust rules as other industries and will keep costs down for businesses, farmers and consumers,” Klobuchar said. Vitter added, “Our bill will ensure (shippers) are not punished with higher rates, especially those in more rural areas or suffering from higher rail captivity.” The Senators cited a study by the Consumer Federation of America which estimates rail rates are $3 billion higher for captive shippers than they would be if the market was competitive.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s release under the Freedom of Information Act of unreviewed personal information on farmers and ranchers across the U.S. continues to draw congressional attention. As reported earlier, 39 members of the House sent a letter to EPA in early March – shortly after the data release became known – demanding to know what information was released, whether it was reviewed prior to release, and how the agency released it as EPA’s response to an FOIA request by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), a freshman member of the House Agriculture Committee, was featured in a committee press release calling the EPA release “an unprecedented intrusion into the lives and businesses of America’s agricultural producers …” He reported that when EPA first began collecting the data on farmers and ranchers – under its CAFO authority – the Department of Homeland Security and USDA, citing biosecurity concerns, told EPA to end the information collection program. “Congress was advised that the EPA had abandoned this idea only to learn recently that they (sic) hadn’t,” said Yoho. He added, “The House Agriculture Committee will continue oversight of this agency’s extreme agenda.” The House letter can be found at: http://crawford.house.gov/uploadedfiles/3.14.13_letter_to_epa_on_livestock_producer_info.pdf.
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announced he will not seek re-election in 2014. Johnson’s move brings to seven the number of senior Senators from both sides of the aisle who will not seek re-election in 2014. The other Senators retiring are Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, former chairman of the Agriculture Committee and senior member of the Appropriations Committee; Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), appropriations committee member and senior member of the Committee on Environment & Public Works; Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a senior member of the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee; Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee and a member of the Finance Committee; Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee and former chairman of the Agriculture Committee; and Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), former secretary of agriculture under President Bush, and a member of the agriculture panel, the appropriations committee and the Banking Committee.
As expected, automobile makers and engine manufacturers have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their arguments on why they should be granted standing to challenge two Environmental Protection Agency decisions emanating from agency action on the federal Renewable Fuel Standard for ethanol. The auto companies want to rechallenge two EPA waivers that increased the amount of ethanol mandated for gasoline blending from 10 percent to 15 percent for cars manufactured since 2001. In August, 2012, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia dismissed a challenge to the EPA actions brought by the auto industry, petroleum refiners and food producers, ruling the groups did not have “standing” to bring the action. Standing is conferred when a plaintiff can show direct damages or harm by the action over which it’s brought legal action. Citing potential engine damage from the new blends, the Supreme Court petition was filed by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Association of Global Automakers, the Outdoor Equipment Institute and the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
The first comprehensive Environmental Protection Agency survey looking at the “health of thousands of streams and rivers” found 55 percent are in poor condition for aquatic life, the agency announced. The survey – the 2008-2009 National Rivers & Streams Assessment – uses the most recent data, EPA said, and is part of the agency’s expanded monitoring of waterways in the U.S. The report found that nitrogen and phosphorus were at “excessive” levels; streams and rivers are at an increased risk due to the decreased vegetation cover and increased “human disturbance;” increased bacteria levels, and increased mercury levels. The report data will be used, EPA said, to “inform decision making about addressing critical needs around the country for rivers and streams and other waterbodies.” The survey report is found at www.epa.gov/aquaticsurveys.
Biotech seed giants DuPont and Monsanto announced this week a series of soybean technology licensing agreements, at the same time announcing they have ended lengthy legal wrangling over seed licenses. The agreement announced includes a multi-year, “royalty-bearing” license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technology in the U.S. and Canada. DuPont Pioneer will be able to offer Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans as early as 2014, and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend glyphosate and dicambia tolerant soybeans as early as 2015, pending The U.S. Department of Agriculture approval. DuPont also gets regulatory data rights for the soybean and corn traits previously licensed from Monsanto. Monsanto will receive access to certain DuPont Pioneer disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager announced he’ll leave USDA May 3. Tonsager – a South Dakota farmer – was cochair of the rural outreach team for the Obama 2008 election, was formerly South Dakota state rural development director during the Clinton Administration, and spent five years as a director of the Farm Credit Administration. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack praised Tonsager’s contributions to the Obama Administration. May 3 is also the day Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan leaves USDA.
Corn stocks in all positions on March 1, at 5.4 billion bushels, are down 10 percent from March, 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s March 28 Grain Stocks report. On-farm storage was reported at 2.67 billion bushels, down 16 percent from last year, while stocks held off-farm were put at 2.73 billion bushels, down 4 percent from a year ago. December, 2012-February, 2013 corn disappearance was pegged at 2.64 billion bushels, down nearly a billion bushels from last year’s 3.62 billion. Soybeans stored in all positions on March 1 totaled 999 million bushels, down 27 percent from March last year. Soybeans stored on-farm were estimated at about 457 million bushels, down 18 percent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks were set at 543 million bushels, down 34 percent from last March. Indicated disappearance for the three months beginning December 1, 2012, was 967 million bushels, down 3 percent from 2012. All wheat stored in all positions totaled 1.23 billion bushels, up 3 percent from last year, and on-farm stocks were estimated by USDA at 237 million bushels, up 9 percent from 2012. Off-farm stocks of wheat, at 997 million bushels, were up 2 percent from March, 2012. December, 2012-February, 2013 disappearance is 436 million bushels, down 6 percent from a year earlier. The full stocks report can be found at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1079.