Comment to Protect Your Access to Atrazine
Please take two minutes to fill out the comment form and join us in stopping EPA from limiting your access to atrazine. Included in more than 90 herbicide products across the U.S., limiting atrazine will have broad implications. Atrazine is utilized on 75 percent of U.S. sorghum acres, and the proposal will have drastic impacts on a large majority of those acres, significantly reducing application rates and requiring additional mitigation measures and reporting procedures. It also prohibits all aerial application and application during when rain is forecast within 48 hours.
Join us in the fight. Tell EPA to stick to sound science and the 2020 finalized atrazine registration review. Anything less is unacceptable.
POLICY, REGULATORY AND ISSUE UPDATES
Democratic Budget Reconciliation Takes Another Step Forward with Senator Sinema’s Support
Following the unexpected news last week of a budget reconciliation compromise between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), all eyes turned to Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to see if the senior Senator from Arizona would embrace the deal. This week, having secured changes to the agreement, including preservation of certain tax breaks and inclusion of drought mitigation, Senator Sinema signed off on the legislation, meaning that all 50 Senate Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris can clear the measure in the upper chamber with 51 votes provided that the parliamentarian ultimately clears the package in the "Byrd Bath" process whereby each provision of the bill is examined to see whether it meets strict Byrd Rule requirements.
Despite this overarching agreement, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is advocating last-minute changes to new electric-vehicle tax-credit limits, which the senior Senator from Michigan says are currently unworkable. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the package to determine costs. CBO indicates although the agriculture conservation provisions provide $19.9 billion to incentivize the sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the Department of Agriculture is expected to only be able to spend $15.3 billion before the new funding stream dries up under Byrd Rule requirements that limit any new spending to the 10-year budget window. Hence, the increased funding is provided for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2026, with the Secretary prohibited from expending any of the dollars past September 30, 2031. The media reports on this have been confused.
The bottom line is that $20 billion in new funding will be available in each of FY 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, though CBO projects that the money will not all be used because NRCS is not able to fully utilize its current budget. The new funding does not establish a higher budget baseline for the Farm Bill although the Budget Committees could allow this next year in a budget resolution passed by Congress. If the Budget Committees do allow this, the new funding could be restructured in the 2023 Farm Bill to arrive at more achievable spending targets. This would take some real skill from lawmakers and, if done right, could be parlayed into other needed investments in the Commodity Title and crop insurance.
Debate in the Senate is expected to occur beginning tomorrow, Saturday, and extend through the weekend, culminating in a vote-a-rama wherein Senators will be called upon to cast votes on amendments roughly every five minutes until such time that the chamber allows for a final vote on the package. Debate on the measure is limited to 20 hours under reconciliation procedures, but there is technically no limit on amendments, meaning the Senate continues to vote on amendments until Senators fizzle out. Access the CBO report here and read a comprehensive overview here.
Senator Hoeven Says Increases in PLC and ARC Reference Prices are a Priority in Next Farm Bill
Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), the Ranking Republican Member on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee and a senior Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told a meeting of the American Sugar Alliance that Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) reference prices ought to be increased in the next farm bill, declaring this to be a priority during reauthorization next year. A long-time champion of the American farmer and rancher, Senator Hoeven has worked in the context of each farm bill to strengthen the farm safety net. The statement comes as Agricultural and Food Policy Center Co-Director Bart Fischer, Ph.D., told the same forum that the Farm Bill’s two primary commodity programs — the Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage — now account for just three percent of farm bill spending while the cost of the nutrition title has grown dramatically. Read more here.
FPAC Undersecretary Bonnie Opines on Climate Incentives, Crop Insurance, and Crop Protection Products
While addressing the American Sugar Alliance’s International Sweetener Symposium, USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie said America’s farmers have an opportunity to be “a real hero in our ability to address climate change” through improvements in productivity and climate-smart practices, but he also added that a successful climate program “has to work for agriculture.” Bonnie stressed the importance of crop insurance as a risk management tool, saying, “crop insurance is critically important for so many folks in agriculture.” He noted that there are ways to increase crop insurance accessibility by improving the products available to farmers. The Undersecretary also noted USDA is trying to work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address concerns over the reduction in the availability of crop protection products, acknowledging that climate-smart practices—to say nothing of ample supplies of food and fiber—are dependent on the use of such products. Read more here.
USDA May Increase Climate Program Funding
USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie indicated the Department may allocate more than the initially announced $1 billion for the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program but said the decision is ultimately up to the White House and Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We thought [$1 billion] was big enough that it put a strong marker out there. We were frankly surprised at the level of input and the level of proposals we've gotten,” Bonnie said. Applications for the program total around $20 billion. The grants are likely to be announced in September, according to Bonnie. Read more here.
FSA: Next Round of Disaster Payments Will Take Time
Farm Service Agency Associate Administrator Steve Peterson said Phase II of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) will take more time to process than Phase I payments where applications could be pre-filled by USDA using data on file. Peterson says the next round of ERP payments will include producers who did not have crop insurance claims or did not receive Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program payments as well as producers for their quality losses and other losses not covered under Phase I. Read more here.
2022 Disaster Bill Introduced in the House
Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Mike Thompson (D-CA) and more than 20 House colleagues have introduced legislation to make 2022 losses eligible for USDA’s Emergency Relief Program (ERP). “We are looking at any legislative vehicle that could contain this bill and pass, and the appropriations process is a good candidate again,” Thompson said. “I am committed to reauthorizing this program for hard hit growers.” Access the bill language here. USDA has made more than $6 billion in ERP payments so far to more than 255,000 applications, according to the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Associate FSA Administrator Steve Peterson said, “drought is the number one cause of loss” this year. Read more from FSA here.
House Agriculture Committee Republicans Request Hearing on EPA Handling of Crop Protection Products
House Agriculture Committee Ranking Republican Member Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA), Vice Republican Leader, Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), and the Ranking Republican Member of each Subcommittee, penned a letter to Committee Chairman David Scott (D-GA) urging the Committee to schedule a hearing with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan regarding the agency’s handling of crop protection products. “The Biden EPA has already made steps towards restricting or canceling chlorpyrifos, Enlist, glyphosate, atrazine, sulfoxaflor, DCPA, diuron, organophosphates, neonicotinoids, and many more,” the lawmakers write. “This has eroded public trust in the regulatory process and is undermining confidence in the scientific integrity of the EPA.” Read the letter here.
EPA Not Expected to Meet Glyphosate Deadline Imposed by 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in court filings this week that it will not meet the court-ordered deadline for the agency to review its cancer assessment and to conduct an Endangered Species Act (ESA) review of the herbicide glyphosate. EPA asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to give the agency more time, indicating it would be unable to issue a new interim decision or final registration decision for glyphosate until 2026 because of the complexity of the issues involved and the lengthy timeframe needed to complete its ESA review and consultation with the federal wildlife agencies. The court is not expected to rule until the petitioners in the case file their response to EPA’s request. Read more here.
Senators Tuberville, Cotton Sponsor Bill Banning Chinese Land Ownership
Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the latter a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, introduced a bill that would prohibit Chinese Communist Party members from purchasing any land in the United States. “We cannot continue giving our top adversary a foot in the door to purchase land in the United States and undermine our national security,” said Senator Tuberville. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has introduced companion legislation in the House. Read the joint press release here.
USDA Announces Additional ReConnect Broadband Dollar
USDA’s Rural Development division has announced the fourth round of its ReConnect program, which will offer more than $1 billion to expand broadband in rural America and begin taking applications in September. The new round will award up to $150 million dollars in loans, twice that for loan-grant combinations, and another $700 million for grants. Calling this the “Summer of High-Speed Internet,” Rural Development Undersecretary Xochitl Torres Small said the Round 4 announcement comes on the heels of the program making public the first batch of its Round 3 recipients last week. More awards will be announced throughout the month.
ORGANIZATION UPDATES
Sorghum Smart Talk: Policy Edition - New Episode - #015
In this episode, National Sorghum Producers CEO Tim Lust is joined by Triazine Network Co-Chair and Kansas Corn CEO Greg Krissek to discuss the EPA's recent proposal on atrazine and what growers can do to engage in the fight to keep this important tool.
USGC Elects Sorghum Checkoff's Ulibarri Secretary-Treasurer
Verity Ulibarri, past chairwoman of the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP), was elected secretary-treasurer of the US Grains Council (USGC) board of directors during the USGC’s 62nd Annual Board of Delegates meeting July 25-27 in Sacramento, California, US. The Sorghum Checkoff also is represented on the USGC board by Adam Schindler, USCP vice chairman from Reliance, South Dakota, US, who was appointed as the Asia Advisory Team (A-Team) lead. The USGC has seven A-Teams that engage members in the organization’s export market development efforts. Former USCP board member Jim Massey, from Robstown, Texas, US, also will continue to serve on the USGC board as the Sorghum Sector director. Read the full USCP release here.
Sorghum Foundation Announces 2022-2023 Scholarship Winners
The National Sorghum Foundation (NSF) presented scholarships to three students for the 2022-2023 academic school year with awards totaling $4,500. The winning students are Joshua Strine from Texas A&M University (TAMU), Trace Harris also from TAMU and Benjamin Kamrath from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).
The 2022 Bill Kubecka Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Strine who is from Bryan, Texas, and currently in graduate school at TAMU, pursuing a master’s degree in agricultural economics. The 2022 Bruce Maunder Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Harris who is a junior agricultural economics major at TAMU from Poth, Texas. Kamrath was awarded the Darrell Rosenow Memorial Scholarship. He is from Columbus, Nebraska, and is a sophomore agronomy major at UNL.
These scholarships provide each winner $1,500 to assist with education expenses. The Bill Kubeka Memorial Scholarship winner, Strine, will also have the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., with National Sorghum Producers as part of the scholarship award to learn more about policies and regulations impacting the U.S. sorghum industry. Read the full release here.
Sorghum Checkoff Still Accepting Applications to Leadership Sorghum
The United Sorghum Checkoff Program is accepting applications for Leadership Sorghum Class VI, a program designed to cultivate the next generation of sorghum leaders. During the 14-month leadership program, class members will have the opportunity to experience various aspects of the sorghum industry in addition to personal development and networking opportunities. Applications are available here and are due by 5:00 pm CST on September 23. To learn more about Leadership Sorghum, visit SorghumGrowers.com.
Sorghum U Wheat U Registration Open
Sorghum U Wheat U, hosted by High Plains Journal, is set for Aug 11 in Wichita, Kansas. This is a free, one-day, educational event. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. and includes a farmer panel discussion made up of sorghum and wheat farmers across the High Plains. There are several breakout sessions planned including a presentation on Resource Conservation in Action: Big benefits from a Small Grain by National Sorghum Producers and Sorghum Checkoff Sustainability Director, Adam York. There will also be a discussion on sorghum weed control with Sorghum Checkoff Director of Agronomy Brent Bean, Ph.D., and Past Chairman Kent Martin, Ph.D. For more information regarding Sorghum U Wheat U and to register for the event, visit https://www.hpj.com/suwu/.
Fall Sorghum Grower Magazine: Photo Submissions
Get your camera (or even phone camera) ready, we want to see your sorghum field! Submit your field photos here, or tag us in your #FromTheField photos on social media for a chance to be featured in the upcoming Fall edition of the sorghum grower magazine!
Sorghum Crop Update
By July 31, forty-three percent of the nation’s sorghum acreage had reached the headed stage, 12 percentage points behind last year and 8 points behind the 5-year average. Twenty-one percent of the sorghum acreage was at or beyond the coloring stage by July 31, one percentage point behind last year and 2 points behind average. Twenty-eight percent of the nation’s sorghum acreage was rated in good to excellent condition on July 31.
Sorghum Checkoff Releases Weekly Sorghum Basis Snapshot
The Sorghum Checkoff, with Southwest Agribusiness Consulting, released its weekly sorghum basis snapshot, available at SorghumCheckoff.com.
Sorghum in the Spotlight:
Sorghum Foundation Announces 2022-2023 Scholarship Winners - Seed Today
The 10 Highest Protein Grains to Add to Your Diet - The Beet.
The United States Contributes USD $223 Million to Help WFP Save Lives and Stave off Severe Hunger in South Sudan - U.S. Embassy in South Sudan
First report of sugarcane aphid on grain sorghum in Kansas - KSU Agronomy Updates
Sorghum Producers Remind Others to Comment on EPA Atrazine Proposal - KUVR
Upcoming Events
August 11 Sorghum U - Wichita, KS
August 15 World Aquaculture Society, Aquaculture Conference - Newfoundland, Canada
August 15 NSP Board Meeting - Wichita, KS
August 17 USCP Board Meeting - Wichita, KS
September 5 Labor Day-Office Closed
October 8 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE)
October 12 Export Exchange
Market News - To view this week’s Gulf export grain report, click here.
About Sorghum Notes
Sorghum Notes is a publication of the National Sorghum Producers. NSP represents U.S. sorghum producers and serves as the voice of the sorghum industry from coast to coast through education and legislative and regulatory representation.