Farmer to Farmer Education Act Introduced in Senate

Senators recently introduced the Farmer to Farmer Education Act. Senators Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, and Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, introduced the bill last week. The legislation would leverage existing technical assistance resources by supporting farmer-led education networks and build capacity for new ones—particularly for communities historically marginalized from existing systems—as a key strategy to increase adoption of conservation practices. As farmers and ranchers are met daily with unique challenges, including unexpected weather, droughts, and floods, they often turn to colleagues to find the right answer. The lawmakers say the bill fills a critical gap in federal programs to support and provide guidance to those networks. Specifically, the bill would authorize the National Resources Conservation Service to enter into cooperative agreements with community-based organizations in each state that can identify and build on established and burgeoning peer-to-peer networks, and/or create new ones.

U.S. Importing More Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Imports are vital and increasingly important in ensuring fresh fruit and vegetables are available year-round in the United States. Since the 2008 completion of the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable imports have increased with few interruptions, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service. Between 2007 and 2021, the percentage of U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable availability supplied by imports grew from 50 to 60 percent for fresh fruit and from 20 to 38 percent for fresh vegetables. The import share increased by more than 20 percentage points during this period for ten crops: asparagus, avocados, bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, raspberries, snap beans, and tomatoes. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, implemented on July 1, 2020, continues NAFTA's market access provisions for fruit and vegetables. In 2022, Mexico and Canada supplied 51 percent and two percent, respectively, of U.S. fresh fruit imports, and 69 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of U.S. fresh vegetable imports in terms of value.

Precision Technology Growth Continues

The 2023 Precision Agriculture Dealership Survey shows continued growth in technology to streamline and increase the efficiency of operations, such as in sprayer boom section/nozzle control, turn compensation, fleet management and telemetry. These are possible reactions to input costs and skilled worker shortages, according to Purdue University and CropLife America, organizers of the survey. The enthusiasm continues for applying crop inputs with drones. More dealers will offer drone imagery, but fewer dealers are offering satellite or aerial imagery, and dealers say imagery use is declining on farms. On-farm data continues to be used the most for fertilizer-related decisions and for hybrid/variety selection, but in the last few years, dealers have not increased their use of on-farm data for decision-making. The survey shows 89 percent of dealers use auto guidance on their application equipment/GPS-guided boom section/nozzle controllers on sprayers, which reduce doubling-up and skips, are used at 82 percent of dealerships, and sprayer turn compensation continues to grow, now at 41 percent.

USDA Announces Wildfire Protection Grants

The Department of Agriculture Monday announced the application period for the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program. Now in its second year, the competitive program is designed to assist at-risk communities, including Tribal communities, non-profit organizations, state forestry agencies and Alaska Native Corporations with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks. Applications will be accepted for 90 days. The announcement comes after $197 million was awarded to 99 project proposals across 22 states and seven Tribes during the first year of funding. The projects directly support the Forest Service’s ten-year strategy to treat up to 20 million acres of national forests and grasslands and 30 million acres of other lands to reduce wildfire risks. Individual grants will fund up to $250,000 to create and update community wildfire protection plans and up to $10 million for associated wildfire resilience projects. The number of projects selected will be determined by available funding, which is up to $250 million.

Brent Boydston Elected U.S. Grains Council Chairman

The delegates of the U.S. Grains Council elected Brent Boydston, corn, cereal grains, digital agriculture and carbon lead at Bayer Crop Science, as chairman of its Board of Directors. USGC elected Boydston as chair last week during its 63rd Annual Board of Delegates Meeting in Calgary, Canada. Boydston grew up in a family farming operation near Centerville, Kansas, that raised cattle, corn and soybeans. He assumed his current position with Bayer Crop Science in 2016 and has been on the Council’s Board of Directors ever since. Previously, Boydston served as vice president of public policy at the Colorado Farm Bureau and spent more than seven years working on Capitol Hill. In addition to Boydston, Verity Ulibarri of the United Sorghum Checkoff Program was nominated as vice chairwoman and Mark Wilson of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board was elected secretary-treasurer. Jim Reed of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and Jim O’Connor of the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council were also elected as at-large directors.

Fuel Prices Surge as Heat Hits Refinery Output

The nation’s average gasoline price soared 16.5 cents in the last week to $3.72 per gallon, according to GasBuddy. The national average diesel price jumped 15.5 cents last week, reaching $3.99 per gallon. GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan says, “Prices suddenly soared over the last week due to heat-related refinery outages that impacted some of the largest refineries in the country.” The outages come at a time when summer gasoline demand peaks and as gasoline inventories slid to their lowest July level since 2015. Average gasoline and diesel prices are rising at the fastest pace in over a year, but the rise seen in the last week should now start slowing. As we get closer to the peak of hurricane season, any new issues could easily push the national average over $4 per gallon for the first time in 2023, according to De Haan. U.S. retail gasoline demand saw a 0.9 percent fall last week, potentially having peaked for the summer as August brings the return to school for millions.

Tuesday Watch List

Markets

Manufacturing reports from the world will roll in overnight and the ISM index of U.S. manufacturing will be out at 9 a.m. CDT Tuesday. Traders will keep track of the latest forecasts and any news regarding Ukraine. NASS's Fats and Oils report will be out at 2 p.m.

Weather

A front continues to be stalled from the Central Plains to the Tennessee Valley where heavy rain is already falling in Missouri early Tuesday morning. Additional showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop near the front later Tuesday and could become severe with potential for heavy rain as well. The more likely scenario for severe storms occurs farther north as a system moving through Canada brings a front through the Northern Plains. Scattered thunderstorms are likely to develop and could be severe around North Dakota, possibly into northern Minnesota as well.