800 326 9054Corn growers, ethanol industry outraged by E15 outcome
Ethanol industry backers expressed anger and frustration Thursday after House leadership decided to create a study council for biofuel issues rather than including a year-round E15 provision in a fiscal 2026 spending package. “How sad is this. It truly seems like a cowardly attempt not to get something productively done for rural America,” National Corn Growers Association...
Vaden takes aim at Mosaic, Nutrien ‘duopoly,’ hints at future action
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden on Wednesday accused Nutrien and Mosaic of working to “collude” to limit U.S. fertilizer supply and control prices, suggesting that the administration could take future action to inject more competition into markets, if necessary. “This administration is going to do everything it can to ensure that farmers have the fertilizer need, at a...
Last-ditch E15 push ends in getting council to develop legislative solution
Midwest Republicans made a last-ditch attempt with House leadership to add year-round E15 to a fiscal 2026 appropriations package, and they came away with authorization of a council to study the issue and develop legislation to be considered next month. The National Corn Growers Association expressed outrage at the outcome. “Corn growers are disgusted, disappointed and...
Farm state lawmakers race to find path for E15 legislation
Lawmakers worked late into the evening Tuesday in a bid to find a way for long sought-after ethanol legislation to be added to a fiscal 2026 funding package that needs to pass Congress by Jan. 30. The scramble follows the omission of language to allow year-round, nationwide sales of higher ethanol blends, known as E15, from a suite of spending bills released on Tuesday by U.S....
Supreme Court accepts Bayer-Monsanto Roundup case for review
The Supreme Court has granted a petition sought by Bayer subsidiary Monsanto to address whether federal pesticide law pre-empts state product liability law. Specifically, the court said in an order issued Friday that the grant of a writ of certiorari is “limited to the following question: Whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act preempts a label-based...
Regulators reject initial filing for coast-to-coast rail merger
The Surface Transportation Board has unanimously decided to reject Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s initial application for a proposed merger, after finding the submission to be incomplete. The board on Friday said the two companies’ merger proposal lacked information necessary for it to consider their plan to create the nation’s first coast-to-coast railroad company....
AFBF president calls for more farm aid, year-round E15 amid ‘toughest economy in a generation’
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, kicking off the annual convention of the nation’s largest farm group Sunday, pushed Congress to provide more farm aid, citing a specific need in the specialty crop sector, and to authorize year-round E15 to drive domestic crop demand. Duvall said the $12 billion farm aid package announced in December to compensate for market...
PLC, ARC signup to be delayed significantly; DMC enrollment to start Monday
The Agriculture Department has finalized some revisions to two major farm commodity programs, including rules for adding new base acres, but signup for the programs won’t be scheduled until after planting season at the earliest, according to a top USDA official. The changes, which take effect for 2026, include increases in reference prices for the Price Loss Coverage program and raising the...
Whip Emmer on farm bill: ‘Don’t expect it’s going to sit on the shelf’
The House has several fiscal 2026 funding bills to pass before Jan. 30, but House Majority Whip Tom Emmer expresses confidence the chamber will complete their work to avert a government shutdown, paving the way for the House Ag Committee to move a farm bill in February. “We can celebrate the greatest farms, the greatest producers, the greatest markets on the face of the planet, but if...
Opinion: Farmers need relief before planting season. Start with fertilizer costs.
To provide much-needed relief to American farm families and consumers, President Donald Trump recently announced a major decision to exclude import levies on more than 200 agricultural products not produced in the U.S. in sufficient quantities. These commodities range from avocados and coffee to fertilizer and key minerals. This move is the right one if our goal is to bring down U.S....