Three More States Enter WOTUS Court Battle

Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are asking a federal court to expedite its consideration of a nationwide injunction against the 2015 Waters of the U.S. Rule. A DTN report says a South Carolina court recently issued a ruling that allows the rule to go back into effect in 26 states. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the southern district of the U.S. District Court in Texas. “This court should enjoin the WOTUS rule that’s already enjoined in 24 other states, in order to give much-needed consistency in the applicability of WOTUS throughout the nation,” Paxton wrote in his motion. The WOTUS rule is currently enjoined in 24 states due to other court decisions. Groups including the American Farm Bureau filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The South Carolina Court’s ruling overturned a two-year delay for the Environmental Protection Agency to work on rewriting the WOTUS rule. The ag groups are asking the South Carolina Court to stay the injunction that essentially makes WOTUS the law of the land in 26 states, at least until the appeal is heard. 

USDA FOREST SERVICE ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGY FOR IMPROVING FOREST CONDITIONS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (USFS) announced today a new strategy for managing catastrophic wildfires and the impacts of invasive species, drought, and insect and disease epidemics.Specifically, a new report titled Toward Shared Stewardship across Landscapes: An Outcome-based investment Strategy (PDF, 3.7 MB) outlines the USFS’s plans to work more closely with states to identify landscape-scale priorities for targeted treatments in areas with the highest payoffs.“On my trip to California this week, I saw the devastation that these unprecedented wildfires are having on our neighbors, friends and families,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “We commit to work more closely with the states to reduce the frequency and severity of wildfires. We commit to strengthening the stewardship of public and private lands. This report outlines our strategy and intent to help one another prevent wildfire from reaching this level.”Both federal and private managers of forest land face a range of urgent challenges, among them catastrophic wildfires, invasive species, degraded watersheds, and epidemics of forest insects and disease. The conditions fueling these circumstances are not improving. Of particular concern are longer fire seasons, the rising size and severity of wildfires, and the expanding risk to communities, natural resources, and firefighters.“The challenges before us require a new approach,” said Interim USFS Chief Vicki Christiansen. “This year Congress has given us new opportunities to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with state leaders to identify land management priorities that include mitigating wildfire risks. We will use all the tools available to us to reduce hazardous fuels, including mechanical treatments, prescribed fire, and unplanned fire in the right place at the right time.”A key component of the new strategy is to prioritize investment decisions on forest treatments in direct coordination with states using the most advanced science tools. This allows the USFS to increase the scope and scale of critical forest treatments that protect communities and create resilient forests.The USFS will also build upon the authorities created by the 2018 Omnibus Bill, including new categorical exclusions for land treatments to improve forest conditions, new road maintenance authorities, and longer stewardship contracting in strategic areas. The agency will continue streamlining its internal processes to make environmental analysis more efficient and timber sale contracts more flexible.The Omnibus Bill also includes a long-term “fire funding fix,” starting in FY 2020, that will stop the rise of the 10-year average cost of fighting wildland fire and reduce the likelihood of the disruptive practice of transferring funds from Forest Service non-fire programs to cover firefighting costs. The product of more than a decade of hard work, this bipartisan solution will ultimately stabilize the agency’s operating environment.Finally, because rising rates of firefighter fatalities in recent decades have shifted the USFS’s approach to fire response, the report emphasizes the agency’s commitment to a risk-based response to wildfire. 

USDA Payments Expected After Labor Day

The Department of Agriculture expects to send payments to farmers after the Labor Day holiday as part of a trade relief package. The $12 billion package is intended for farmers who have been affected by foreign tariffs on U.S. farm products, all in retaliation to President Trump's trade agenda. A USDA spokesperson confirmed to the Hagstrom Report the department is “on track” to remit payments after Labor Day, but declined to offer further details of the plan, which was expected to be announced by the end of the week. USDA maintains that the agency is “currently engaged” in the federal rulemaking process, and Agri-Pulse reported this week the relief package was under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Preliminary reports suggest the proposed payment rate for soybeans would be $1.65 per bushel, while corn growers would get only one cent per bushel.

Canada Next for NAFTA

A trade official from Mexico is hopeful to bring Canada back into the North American Free Trade Agreement talks to reach a three-way agreement, as early as next week. The comments come as the U.S. and Mexico were close to a “handshake” agreement Thursday, helping calm some anxieties for agriculture amidst the global trade turmoil. Politico reports that the top trade negotiator for Mexico’s President-elect says reaching an agreement in principle between the U.S., Mexico and Canada next week "is an objective, a target." The trade official told reporters he "wouldn't bet (his) right hand," but added: "I'd bet money" on reaching an all parties "handshake" agreement.  Canada has not joined the talks over the last month, as the U.S. and Mexico were working towards a preliminary agreement. Many issues over the last month were strictly between the U.S. and Mexico. Canada and the U.S. have outstanding issues to resolve, quickly, if the Mexican official is correct. Those issues include dairy access and approval of certain U.S.-Mexico provisions.

China, U.S. Trade War Deepens with More Tariffs

The U.S. and China began rolling out more tariffs against each other this week as part of the tit-for-tat trade wat between the two nations. The U.S. will collect an additional 25 percent in duties on Chinese imports ranging from motorcycles to steam turbines and railway cars, and the Chinese retaliation will see a similarly sized tax on items including coal, medical instruments, waste products, and cars and buses, according to Bloomberg. The growing lists of tariffs continues to propel the U.S. and China further into a massive trade war, which is already seen as a hindrance to U.S. agriculture. A meeting this week between officials from China and the U.S. does show signs of further discussions on the horizon. Still, Moody’s Investors Service expects tensions between the U.S. and China to worsen this year, with most of the impact of trade restrictions to be felt in 2019.

8,000 Glyphosate Lawsuits Await Bayer

The California verdict against Monsanto has opened the door for what is estimated as 8,000 lawsuits against Monsanto, now being absorbed by Bayer. On a call with analysts and reporters, Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said the number of plaintiffs in both state and federal litigation was approximately 8,000 as of the end of July. Bayer acquired Monsanto in June and had previously tallied 5,200 lawsuits against Monsanto. The CEO says the number of cases “is not indicative of the merits of the plaintiffs’ cases.” Bayer shares have lost more than ten percent since the California verdict ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million in a lawsuit over glyphosate, the ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. Experts say that the lawsuit opened the door for thousands of other similar cases. Bayer contends that the jury’s verdict is the opposite of science-based conclusions of regulators and the company will “vigorously defend this case and all upcoming cases.”

Brazil to Plant Record Soy Crop for 2018/19

Farmers from Brazil are expected to plant another record soybean crop. This would be the 12th consecutive year that Brazil plants a record land area of soybeans, amid strong demand from Asia. Reuters reports that Brazil is likely to expand the area to a record 36.28 million hectares, the equivalent to 89.65 million acres, this season, which farmers will start planting around September. The expected planted area represents a 3.2 percent expansion from the previous growing cycle. A Rabobank analyst says the trade war between the U.S. and China is supporting Brazilian soybean prices in the export markets and could be a contributing factor to the increase. Brazil, the world's largest soybean exporter, is expected to collect an estimated 119.76 million metric tons of the crop in the next growing cycle, up 0.65 percent from the last growing season.