POLICY, REGULATORY AND ISSUE UPDATES
National Sorghum Producers Represented at Senate Agriculture Subcommittee Hearing
Tom Willis, a National Sorghum Producers board member and farmer from Liberal, Kansas, testified before the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources on Tuesday. The hearing was focused on the western water crisis, confronting persistent drought and building resilience on our forests and farmland. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), Chairman of subcommittee, said during the hearing that the water crisis in the western states deserves the same level of government aid that the East Coast and Gulf Coast states have gotten in response to hurricanes and other natural disasters. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS), Ranking Member of the subcommittee, recognized this was the first time a hearing concerning drought had been held by the Senate Agriculture Committee in 10 years, and it was much needed due to the losses farmers, ranchers and rural communities have incurred as a result of wildfires and extremely dry conditions. View the hearing here.
House Agriculture Subcommittee Holds Hearing to Review the Farm Bill Commodity Title and Crop Insurance
The House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held a hearing this week to evaluate the Commodity Title of the Farm Bill and Crop Insurance where four economists served as witnesses. The majority of Congressmen expressed concern over current input prices and the impacts on producers. The panel of economists suggested Congress could address the squeeze producers are facing through additional assistance and added high input costs will likely persist, even after commodity prices decline. The economists suggested margin protection might be an avenue by which producers could receive help in this scenario.
On the Federal Crop Insurance front, the panel strongly favored crop insurance over disaster aid. Regarding Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC), Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) Co-Director Joe Outlaw said farmers should not have to make the decision between ARC and PLC but instead producers should be automatically enrolled in whichever policy would provide the best safety net to the producer that year, as determined by USDA at the end of any covered crop year. Outlaw stated that being forced to make the decision in advance causes unnecessary stress for the farmers. View the hearing here and read a recap from Jim Wiesemeyer here.
ERP Program Pay Limit Problems, Other Problems Surface
Several Emergency Relief Program (ERP) payment limit problems have come to light. National Sorghum Producers is aware of these concerns and is working with our lobbyists, Capitol Hill and USDA to address these issues. We will continue to update our website as more information becomes available.
NSP understands many of our members and producers were impacted by natural disasters and severe weather in 2020 and 2021, and we want to provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date information about ERP. We have consolidated all relevant information and links related to ERP at SorghumGrowers.com/disaster-assistance-resources. This webpage includes a program summary and detailed information about the application, payment calculation and payment limitations, as well as answers to frequently asked questions. This page will be updated as more information becomes available. Also, a one-pager created by Combest, Sell & Associates explaining the program can be found here.
EPA Announces RFS Volumetric Requirements
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week set biofuel blending mandates for 2022 at 20.63 billion gallons and retroactive volume mandates for 2021 at 18.84 billion gallons and for 2020 at 17.13 billion gallons. Though it denied the oil refiners' exemption petitions, the agency said it would allow extra time for small refiners to meet their 2020 blending obligations. Read more here and here.
Biden to Nominate McKalip as USTR Ag Negotiator
The Biden Administration announced it intends to nominate Mr. Doug McKalip, a senior adviser to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, to be the Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. McKalip has served at USDA in a variety of capacities including Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture and Acting Chief of Staff and as Director of the White House Rural Council. McKalip has a master’s degree in public policy from the American University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. Read more here.
House Democrats Put Forward Agriculture Package
House Democrats plan to move an agriculture package, they are calling the “Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act”, next week in the House, coupling some highly partisan and controversial items with other legislation that enjoys strong, bipartisan support. The controversial items include packer legislation (i.e., Special Investigator of Packers) while the legislation also includes biofuels provisions, such as year-round E-15, that enjoys strong, bipartisan support. While the legislation is expected to pass the House, the measure will struggle to advance in the Senate due to the partisan provisions. Read more from AgriPulse here.
CFTC Looks at Carbon Markets
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) held a meeting last week on carbon markets to try to understand the field and figure out what role the CFTC should play in regulating these emerging markets the CFTC also released a Request for Information on Climate-Related Financial Risk to get stakeholders’ views on the issue. Read more here.
Drought Working Group Details Federal Investments
The federal government’s Drought Resilience Interagency Working Group (IWG) is helping coordinate the distribution of $13 billion provided by the bipartisan infrastructure bill as drought continues to hammer western states. Federal agencies, including the Interior and Agriculture Departments, “are working cooperatively in a whole-of-government manner to address drought issues through existing programs and resources,” USDA said in a news release announcing the IWG’s one-year summary.
Biden Administration Announces Over $368 Million in Grants to Improve Rail Infrastructure, Enhance and Strengthen Supply Chains
The Biden Administration is awarding millions of dollars to expand and improve the nation’s rail tracks to reduce freight congestion and speed up the supply chain as shippers decry what they see as poor service. The Transportation Department announced it will spend almost $370 million in grants for 46 projects in 32 states and Washington, DC. Read more here.
EPA’s Regan Again Assures WOTUS Regs Will Be ‘Complementary’ To Supreme Court Ruling
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan said the new definition of Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) EPA is writing will be “complementary” to an expected ruling from the Supreme Court. According to Bloomberg, the Supreme Court is poised to very narrowly define what constitutes a water of the U.S. to its traditional bounds in a case pending before it. Although lawmakers have urged EPA to hold off on any regulatory activity until the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue, EPA continues to prepare a rule with a new definition of what constitutes WOTUS and has held three out of 10 regional roundtables to gather stakeholder input. Regan said if the EPA held back waiting on the Supreme Court, the agency would fall behind its regulatory obligations. Nevertheless, the high court ruling could render moot all agency work that has been done to date. Read more here.
ORGANIZATION UPDATES
New Episode! Sorghum Smart Talk: Policy Edition
Check out the newest episode of Sorghum Smart Talk: Policy Edition! In this episode, National Sorghum Producers Executive Vice President John Duff is joined by Chris Cogburn, NSP senior policy adviser and manager of Sustainable Crop Insurance Services, to discuss upcoming and potential changes for sorghum crop insurance in the 2022 and 2023 crop years and details of the recently announced Emergency Relief Program (ERP). Listen to all Sorghum Smart Talk: Policy Edition episodes on your favorite listening platform or SorghumGrowers.com/podcast.
Sorghum Checkoff Continues the Cultivation of Sorghum Leaders
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.
CROP UPDATES
Export Report
Sorghum export shipments were up last week with China taking delivery of 8.7 million bushels. China made purchases of 2.8 million bushels. However, purchases of 2.5 million bushels were cancelled by an unknown destination, bringing the total purchases for the week to just under half a million bushels. Last week's purchases bring total sorghum export purchases for the 2021/2022 marketing year to 267 million bushels, or 94 percent what was estimated in the most recent USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE).
Sorghum Crop Progress Report
Fifty-six percent of the nation’s sorghum acreage was planted by June 5, six percentage points ahead of the previous year and 1 point ahead of average. Texas had planted 86 percent of its sorghum acreage by June 5, two percentage points behind the previous year and 4 points behind average. Forty-six percent of the nation’s sorghum acreage was rated in good to excellent condition on June 5, twenty-eight percentage points below the previous year.
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 Stuffed Peppers - Eat This, Not That
Need forage? Dairy Farmers Embrace Sorghum - American Agriculturalist
Sorghum, Nutrient-Rich Alternative to Rice - ANTARA
Sorghum PAC Series Breaks Fundraising Record for Third Consecutive Year - High Plains Journal
What are climate-smart commodities and how are Pheasant Forever and Quail Forever involved in a new program to increase them? - Pheasants Forever
Upcoming Events
June 13 Culinary Institute of America Healthy Menus R&D Collaborative - Hyde Park, NY
June 14 U.S Grains Council Texas Trade School - Belton, TX
June 27 NLS Food Evolution Summit - Scottsdale, AZ
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.