Weekly Update for
April 11

On April 9, Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) introduced the Federal Agriculture Risk Management Enhancement and Resilience (FARMER) Act, which aims to strengthen crop insurance and increase the affordability of higher coverage levels for producers. Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, John Boozman (R-AR), was a co-sponsor, along with Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS). NAWG, with over 20 agriculture and insurance organizations, supported the legislation. "Crop insurance is a critical public-private risk management tool for wheat growers, and Senator Hoeven's bill works to enhance crop insurance by making the higher coverage levels more affordable to farmers," said NAWG President and Oklahoma wheat farmer Keeff Felty. "As we continue into 2024, it is important that lawmakers not only consider a farm bill that protects crop insurance but works to strengthen the farm safety net."

On April 8, NAWG and over 30 agriculture organizations sent a letter to leaders in the Senate asking for their action and support for the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act (H.R. 7024). The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan tax package with a vote of 357 to 70 on January 31, 2024. The legislation extends the bonus depreciation from 80% of assets placed in service in 2023, to 100% for assets placed in service from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2025. It also increases the Section 179 deduction from $1 million to $1.29 million, and the phaseout which starts when taxpayers place more than $2.5 million assets in service, is being increased to $3.22 million in assets. The legislation restores the Section 174 deduction for business research and development costs, and allows retroactive deductions for 2022, and expands the child tax credit.

On April 5, the Farm Talk podcast published an interview with National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) Secretary and Montana wheat farmer Nathan Keane. Wheat leaders from both NAWG and the National Wheat Foundation (NWF) did many interviews while in North Dakota for the third phase of Bayer Leadership training at the Northern Crops Institute (NCI). This training, which Bayer and the National Wheat Foundation put on, completed its first two phases at the Fall and Winter Conferences. Keane spoke on what was included in the leadership training, which was training for speaking with media, parliamentary procedure, and a report from keynote Collin Peterson on advocating for the Farm Bill.

On April 11, the United States Department of Agriculture released the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates for the month of April. The supply and demand outlook for 2023/24 U.S. wheat calls for lower supplies, reduced domestic use, unchanged exports, and higher ending stocks. Supplies are reduced by 5 million bushels to 140 million, which is slower than expected. Domestic consumption is forecasted as lower-than-expected in the second and third quarters based on the latest NASS Grain Stocks report which sees annual feed and residual use lowered by 30 million bushels to 90 million. The ending stocks of 2023/24 have raised 25 million bushels to 698 million which is 22% above last year. The season-average farm price is reduced $0.05 per bushel to $7.10. On the global side, the wheat outlook for this month calls for larger supplies, consumption, and exports with smaller ending stocks. Supplies are raised 0.6 million tons to 1,058.4 million on increased production estimates for the EU, Moldova, and Pakistan. The world consumption forecast is increased from 1.1 million tons to 800.1 million. The global trade for this week is raised by 1.3 million tons to 213.5 million mostly due to higher export forecasts from Russia and Ukraine as there is a reduction in exports from the European Union. Ukraine’s exports raised 1.5 million tons as the ports of Odessa see expanded hours of operation and competitive pricing in the global market. EU exports are reduced 2.0 million tons to 34.5 million as competition from the Black Sea has restrained their exports to date.

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the first-ever national, legally enforceable drinking water standard for polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as ‘forever chemicals.’ The rule sets maximum contamination levels and testing requirements for public water supplies. EPA is hosting a series of webinars to provide information to the public, communities, and water utilities about the final PFAS drinking water regulation. To learn more about the webinars, please visit EPA’s PFAS drinking water regulation webpage. EPA has also published a toolkit of communications resources to help drinking water systems and community leaders educate the public about PFAS, where they come from, their health risks, how to reduce exposure, and about this rule. NAWG provided comments on the regulation during its development expressing concern over the potential impacts on rural communities and agriculture.

On April 9, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a hearing over President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 funding for International Development. The Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, said the international aid that the United States offered to South Korea helped it grow from one of the poorest countries on the planet to one of the world’s richest nations. She cited a recent example of the U.S. efforts to support Ukraine’s agriculture sector through exporting seeds, equipment, and food aid to help rebound the industry after the Russian invasion.

On April 16 and 17, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee will hold back-to-back hearings featuring United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The hearings will critique and analyze the current administration’s 2024 Trade Policy Agenda.

Today at 1:00 pm EST, the House Full Committee on Oversight and Accountability conducted a hearing overseeing the efficiency of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf gave a testimony that highlighted the challenges and accomplishments the administration has overcome. Among these include, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain vulnerabilities, food safety and nutrition, improving life expectancy, combatting rising drug overdose rates, further regulations on tobacco products, artificial intelligence and machine learning, scientific based evidence, and the agency’s largest reorganization in history. Agriculture was directly mentioned in the FDA’s Closer to Zero initiative that looks to reduce exposure to lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury levels in foods commonly eaten by babies and young children and encourage the baby food industry to adopt agriculture and processing practices that lower the exposure to “closer to zero.”

National Wheat Foundation Project Manager Anne Osborne spoke on the Farm Talk podcast during the wheat leader’s trip to North Dakota last week. In both the podcast and Red River Farm Network articles, Both the new National Wheat Yield Contest website and upcoming contest deadlines, and the Foundation and NAWG officer’s visit to North Dakota were mentioned in the podcast and Red River Farm Network articles.