USDA Deputy Secretary nominee Xochitl Torres Small enjoyed broad bipartisan support at her Senate confirmation hearing to replace former Deputy Jewel Bronaugh.

Torres Small won glowing reviews from Ag members for her work as USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development and is expected to receive swift Senate confirmation.

And while she couldn’t address some issues not in her purview on pesticides, animal diseases, biofuels and WOTUS, she did commit to look at reducing application red tape and other efficiency measures.

Torres Small said; “Looking at the regulations that would come under the purview of Deputy Secretary, sometimes it’s about the technology, making sure that the system we’re investing in works well on the front end for customer service, and that we’re prioritizing those investments. Sometimes, it’s about having an onboarding strategy that truly prepares the next generation of USDA workforce to be customer service focused.”

As Deputy Secretary, Torres Small would manage USDA’s day-to-day operations and its 100-thousand or so employees.

Bipartisan legislation introduced by New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley in the Senate would change the Conservation Reserve Program.

The Conservation Reserve Program Reform Act would prioritize enrolling marginal farmland in the CRP, rather than prime farmland. The lawmakers say the legislation would generate more durable wildlife and environmental benefits while reducing competition for productive farmland between the Department of Agriculture and farmers, especially new and beginning farmers.

Senator Grassley says, “The reforms in this bill ensure that CRP is not used on highly-productive farmland and instead focus the program on highly-erodible land.” He added; “The bill will fundamentally change CRP from enrolling prime farmland in the program, to enrolling more marginal farmland. CRP is a very valuable tool for landowners, but we need to make sure the focus stays on marginal land.”

The CRP Reform Act would set CRP’s overall acreage cap at 24 million acres for fiscal year 2024 to 2028, with an emphasis on enrolling marginal land. The bill would increase incentives to enroll marginal farmland through the continuous enrollment and grasslands categories while reducing the rental rate for general CRP sign-ups by ten percent.

The Consumer Price Index rose again in April, but grocery store prices for food declined.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.4 percent in April. The overall food index was unchanged in April, as the food at home index fell 0.2 percent over the month, following a 0.3-percent decrease in March. Four of the six major grocery store food group indexes decreased over the month. The index for fruits and vegetables decreased 0.5 percent in April, and the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs declined 0.3 percent.

The dairy and related products index decreased 0.7 percent in April as the milk index fell 2.0 percent, the largest decline in that index since February 2015. The nonalcoholic beverages index declined 0.1 percent over the month. In contrast, the index for other food at home rose 0.2 percent in April, following a 0.4-percent increase the previous month.

The National Corn Growers Association urges the Environmental Protection Agency to use biofuels to reduce automobile emissions.

NCGA Chairman Chris Edgington testified to the EPA during a public hearing earlier this week regarding EPA’s proposed Multi-Pollutant Emission Standards for model years 2027-2032. Edgington expressed frustration that EPA only looked at one solution, electric vehicles, to lower greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions. The NCGA leader says, “EPA’s proposal limits the ability of clean, low-carbon ethanol to contribute greater emission reductions and support affordable options.”

Edgington encouraged EPA to address the serious limitations of its proposal and work with NCGA to level the playing field and advance the needed rulemaking to improve fuel standards.

Edgington added, “Clean, high-octane fuel from mid-level ethanol blends, used as a system with advanced engines, offers an essential pathway for achieving significant greenhouse gas and complementary criteria emission reductions from model year 2027 and later vehicles.”

Apples held the top spot for total fruit available for consumption in 2021 at more than 26 pounds per person after adjusting for losses.

USDA’s Economic Research Service’s loss-adjusted food availability data adjusts food availability data for food spoilage, plate waste, and other losses to more closely approximate actual consumption. People in the United States consumed an average of 1.7 gallons of apple juice, roughly nine pounds of fresh apples, and a total of 3.1 pounds of canned, dried, and frozen apples in 2021.

Among the top seven consumed fruits in 2021, apples were the only fruit in which data were available for all five forms, fresh, canned, frozen, dried, and juice. Pineapples were the only other canned option among these seven fruits for which data were available, while strawberries were the only other frozen fruit.

Bananas, at 13.2 pounds per person, topped the list of most popular fresh fruits, while orange juice, at 1.9 gallons, was the most popular fruit juice.

Farm debt is increasing as access to capital contracts, leaving the question of how to avoid another 1980s farm debt crisis. The issue came up at a recent Senate farm bill hearing.

Top Senate Ag Republican John Boozman raised the fear of an Eighties style debt crisis, summing up the plight of farmers today this way; “Over the past several years, the debt-to-asset and debt-to-equity ratios have increased, while working capital is expected to decrease by more than ten percent in 2023, according to USDA forecasts. Meanwhile, land values have continued to climb and farming incomes are set to decline by double digits.”

And as balance sheets decline on lower equity from higher costs, Farm Credit Council’s Phillip Morgan told lawmakers; “It is just critical that we continue to have the safety net in the farm bill, that those producers are, in some ways, assured that that safety net is there, that they’re going to be able to continue.”

And not just established farmers according to Morgan; “For our young, beginning and small farmers, they need a guarantee that there’s going to be a living there, that they can earn as they continue to see the risk increase in agriculture.”

And keeping farmers on the farm is no small matter. James Korin with the American Association of Crop Insurers on the reflection of an Australian group about farmers.

Korin; “The typical person may occasionally need a doctor or an attorney, once or twice in a lifetime, but that same person, three-times a day, every single day, needs a farmer.”

In a letter to the Department of Agriculture, the American Farm Bureau Federation asked the agency to hold a hearing on a proposal from the National Milk Producers Federation to modernize Federal Milk Marketing Orders and provide greater transparency for dairy farmers.

Roger Cryan, AFBF Chief Economist, says the proposal includes changes supported by Farm Bureau. “The National Milk Producers Federation sent a letter to USDA asking to have a hearing on Federal Milk Marketing Order pricing. They asked for some things including adjustments to Class I differentials, modest increases in the processors make allowance, updates to the component values that are embedded in the bottling milk price. And particularly, they asked to go back to using the higher of the cheese, milk or butter, powdered milk values for bottled milk. And we sent a letter to USDA asking them to go ahead and have a hearing on that request.”

While AFBF supports the NMPF proposal, Cryan says Farm Bureau would like USDA to go even further to promote a pricing system fair to all dairy farmers.

Cryan says; “One issue is on the make allowance, they are just asking for an increase. We think it’s really important that any make allowance increase should be based on a survey of processors’ costs, which should be mandatory and audited by USDA. In addition to the higher of, we have some other ideas that we’d like to add to the discussion in the hearing, and we’d also like to see increased milk check transparency so farmers know what they’re getting.”

If USDA moves forward with the hearing process, Cryan says it will take some time. “Within 30 days of National Milk’s proposal, which they sent in a couple weeks ago, the department will have to put out some plan. They will likely ask for additional proposals, and after that they may have a pre-hearing listening session. So, maybe a hearing would happen in July or August. And then, they’ll put out a recommended decision. And typically they’ll take comments on that before they put out a final decision that will then have to go to a vote of producers. A process like that, optimistically it’s eight to 12 months.”

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After recent gains, the grain markets took a negative turn on Tuesday. Joe Vaclavik, founder and president of Standard Grain, says there were a couple of key factors behind the drop.

Vaclavik; “First off, China canceled some more corn. It’s a bad look. The export program regarding U.S. corn is just not where it needs to be. So, USDA – it’s probably going to be Friday, could be in June – but they’re going to have to walk back that export projection, which means higher carry-out for the U.S. corn balance sheet. I think they have to come down at the ethanol number too. The ethanol production numbers regarding corn demand and stuff from both EIA and USDA with the grain crush are not where they need to be.”

The other big factor in the early Tuesday selloff was news about the Ukraine grain deal.

“Russia is going to come to the table and talk about this grain deal. It’s going to be a four-way meeting, going to be a two-day deal. Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations, and Turkey. And Russia is the one that reported this. It was a Russian state news agency. So, I’ve kind of thought the whole time Russia was bluffing about this grain deal thing. I think that if Russia does not renew or extend the Grain Deal, they’re going to be subject to more sanctions. There are going to be issues with Russia and China because China imports a lot of corn from Ukraine. I think Russia is going to extend this thing again. If I had a bet right now, that’s the way I’m going.”

A recent drop in corn exports is largely driven by lower Chinese demand according to Vaclavik. “Compared to the last couple of years, it’s driven by China. We had such substantial Chinese purchases. It started in 2020, right after COVID. Corn was cheap, China started buying corn, and they did so for two years straight. And this year, they bought substantially less. They now have agreements in place to buy corn from Brazil, which is a big deal. Brazil is gonna have a record crop this year. And that crop is going to be available to ship here a couple of months from now. So, if they can hold off, they’re gonna hold off because Brazilian corn’s cheaper, freight’s cheaper. They’ve also got agreements in place to do some corn with South Africa, which is not nearly as big of a deal, but still some competition. So, the U.S. is the last place China wants to buy grain or oil seeds from. They’re going to do it when it’s to their advantage, when our prices are competitive, and they can’t get it from Brazil, they’re gonna come to the U.S.”

Vaclavik says there’s a chance the U.S. might begin exporting fewer commodities and using more domestically. “It’s just going to be reduced overall. We’re going to start using more domestically. We’ve got sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel and things that are going to be able to hopefully offset some of that lost demand here domestically, which would be preferable. I’d rather use this stuff here domestically than ship it to China.”

He says U.S. weather is becoming the number one factor the markets will be watching in the weeks ahead.

As many farms and ag businesses across the U.S. struggle with labor shortages, one ag leader continues to push lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass legislation that may offer a solution.

Chuck Conner, President and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, says; “Labor has quickly taken over as the number one challenge facing cooperatives and farmers.”

Two years ago, the U.S. House passed The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, a bipartisan bill that would have expanded the length of time that immigrant workers with H-2A visas are allowed to stay and work in the U.S. However, the Senate version of that bill—The Affordable and Secure Food Act of 2022—failed to pass late last year, which also killed the corresponding House bill.

Conner; “The legislation didn’t fail because of anything of substance. It failed because of the controversy over border issues and the whole immigration space that isn’t particularly targeted at farm labor. We were sort of caught up in all of that, so we’re going to be continuing to look for the opportunity when maybe that controversy is settled down a little bit and it gives us the opportunity to come in and fix this H-2A program.”

Conner says he’s concerned that ongoing farm labor shortages will hurt the country’s ag economy. “There aren’t very many dairy barns in America today that can operate strictly on family labor. If you’re having to hire virtually any labor today, about the only option for you is to look potentially at foreign labor coming in. With the current challenges that we face in the H-2A program—for many, that’s just not an option.”

He adds that the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives is continuing to push lawmakers on Capitol Hill to revisit and pass legislation to expand the H-2A visa work program.

Conner says; “For all practical purposes, it is the only solution for co-ops and the only solution for farmers going forward,” says Conner. “We have to figure out a way to make it an option going forward if we are to continue to provide the food and fiber for America in the manner which they become quite accustomed to.”

Story provided by NAFB News Service and C.J. Miller, Hoosier Ag Today, Greenwood, Indiana

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects a slightly cooler summer in 2023 will lead to less demand for air conditioning than in 2022. The result will slightly reduce overall electricity demand this summer.

EIA expects that despite less electricity demand this summer, more electricity will be generated from renewable sources and natural gas throughout 2023. EIA forecasts this summer will see the second-most U.S. natural gas consumption for electricity generation on record, surpassed only by last summer. EIA continues to expect significant growth in U.S. electricity generation from wind and solar, but the wet winter in California and the western United States should also increase electricity generated from hydropower during the coming months.

EIA expects U.S. retail electricity costs will remain higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Those higher prices mean that even if households consume less electricity, their electricity bills will likely be similar to or slightly higher than last summer.