Weekly Update for
March 14

On March 7, President Joseph Biden delivered his third State of the Union remarks to Congress. NAWG CEO Chandler Goule provided the following statement in response: “While the President addressed many issues of importance to the American people – such as inflation, food prices, and food security – the costs of on-farm inputs and equipment remain high and concern many farmers. Currently, we are operating under a one-year farm bill extension, and coming off NAWG’s annual meeting, passing a long-term farm bill that supports farmers is one of our priorities and is at the top of our wheat growers’ minds. The 2018 farm bill was a high watermark for bipartisanship. As Congress and the Biden Administration continue to work on a long-term farm bill, we must build upon the 2018 Farm Bill by strengthening the farm safety net, enhancing our trade promotion programs, and supporting the voluntary conservation programs that work for wheat growers. “NAWG will continue to work with Congress and the Biden Administration on policies that support farmers and recognize the uniqueness of wheat.”

On March 9, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 (H.R. 4366) into law, which included six Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriation bills, including the agriculture appropriation bill. H.R. 4366 was passed by the Senate the day prior by a vote of 75 to 22 vote, and by the House of Representatives last Wednesday, by a vote of 339 to 85. Specifically, the agriculture appropriations component maintains the FY2023 funding levels. However, of interest included in the package is funding for one of NAWG’s appropriations priorities, the Wheat Resiliency Initiative (WRI), which increases federal funding for pest and disease challenges facing producers. Additionally, the bill maintains funding for the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative and Small Grains Genomic Initiative. “NAWG is glad to see the FY2024 appropriations package includes several wheat priorities, including initial funding for the first time the Wheat Resiliency Initiative,” said NAWG Vice President of Policy and Communications Jake Westlin. “Next week, NAWG will be back on Capitol Hill to discuss FY2025 appropriations and will work to continue to build a coalition to enhance funding for wheat research needs.”

On March 2, the U.S. Farm Report published interviews with producer leaders at the Commodity Classic tradeshow. NAWG CEO Chandler Goule spoke about improving the crop insurance program by making policies more affordable for farmers. He also spoke about transportation and the need to protect the Snake River Dam system.

Following the State of the Union Address, President Biden released the U.S. government’s budget for 2025. Agriculture funding includes $29.2 billion in discretionary funding for the USDA, which is a $2 billion increase from the 2023 funding level. In the budget, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) sees a 7-percent increase above the 2023 enacted level, or $67 million increase. The budget also provides $3.8 billion for agricultural research, education, and outreach. To this end, the budget includes a $733 million increase for climate-related funding and a $365 million increase to American research and innovation in agriculture. It also proposes no policy-driven cuts to crop insurance, and proposed permanent authorization of a Cover Crop Incentive Program at $5/acre.

Producers must enroll in the Agriculture Risk Coverage County (ARC-CO) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) or ARC-Individual (ARC-IC) by tomorrow, March 15. If producers do not submit their revision by the March 15 deadline, their election remains the same as their 2023 election for commodities on the farm. Multi-year contracts for producers will continue for 2024 unless there is a revision.

The USDA released its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates on March 8. Wheat was unchanged for supplies and domestic use with lower exports and higher ending stocks. Exports were reduced by 15 million bushels to 710 million with reductions for soft red winter and hard red winter. Ending stocks rose by 673 million bushels and are 18% higher than last year. The season-average farm price was reduced $0.05 per bushel to $7.15 per bushel. The global wheat outlook calls for larger supplies, consumption, and trade with reduced stocks. The higher government production estimates for Australia, Russia, and Argentina caused supplies to increase by 0.8 million tons which offsets the reductions for the European Union and Serbia. Global consumption was raised 1.5 million tons to 799 million tons based on higher feed and residual use in the EU, Kazakhstan, and Indonesia. World trade also increased 1.4 million tons to 212.1 million based on higher exports to Ukraine, Australia, and Turkey. Finally, global ending stocks were lowered by 0.6 million tons to 258.8 million which is the lowest since the 2015/2016 outlook.

On March 7, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack directed the USDA to aid recovery efforts for farmers, ranchers, and residents affected by the devastating wildfires in the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma. The USDA diverts funds from the Stafford Act that creates emergency loans to provide eligible farmers low-interest loans to help them recover from production and physical losses. Those eligible for the USDA’s Emergency Conservation Program can receive aid in removal of debris from farmland, replacing watering facilities and repairing or replacing fences including; livestock cross fences, boundary fences, cattle gates or wildlife exclusion fences on agricultural land. The USDA also allows for assistance through the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program that can cover lower yields, prevention from planting commodities, and crop losses from natural disasters. NAWG offers its condolences to everyone affected by the wildfires as it nears containment after two weeks of devastation.

On March 7, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA-15) and Ranking Member David Scott (D-GA-13) released a joint statement over the Agriculture Labor Working Group's (ALWG) final report. The report highlights issues faced by the nation's agricultural producers and offers policy recommendations to address the current flaws within the H-2A Visa program. The joint statement mentions America’s labor shortage as one of the greatest challenges facing the industry and thanks Representative Rick Crawford (R-AR-01) and Representative Don Davis (D-NC-01) for their bipartisan effort on the report. Representative Crawford and Representative Davis released their own statements mentioning that the complexity of the H-2A program has failed to give producers a reliable workforce while working under rising input costs. Other members of the ALWG include Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR-05), Representative Monica De La Cruz (R-TX-15), Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), Representative Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23), Representative David Rouzer (R-NC-07), Representative (R-WI-07), Representative Yadira Caraveo (D-CO-08), Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Representative Jim Costa (D-CA-21), Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30), Representative Darren Soto (D-FL-09), and Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-MN-02).

The Senate Committee on Agriculture’s Republicans released a blog this week entitled, “Avoiding the Conservation Cliff – A Bipartisan Solution”, highlighting their perspectives on the conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The proposal from the Republicans is to move the IRA funding into the Farm Bill and allow money to create consistent funding, or baseline funding, over many years. The Committee’s analysis shows $44 billion in new conservation funding over the next 25 years by bringing the conservation funding into the Farm Bill as opposed to the $16.7 billion over seven years if the IRA funding remains outside the Farm Bill.

The House Committee on Agriculture will hold a hearing titled “The Danger China Poses to American Agriculture” on Wednesday, March 20 at 11:30 AM Eastern Time. The hearing will include testimony from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem alongside Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Kip Tom, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. You can watch or listen to the hearing at the following link:

The National Wheat Foundation would like to thank all our partners in the National Wheat Yield Contest. We have enjoyed working with you over the nine years of the contest to find and recognize the winning yield and quality wheat growers in the U.S. WestBred is a Grade 1 Partner who has been with the contest since its inception. Thank you, WestBred, and all our partners, for making the National Wheat Yield Contest possible!

On March 7, Progressive Farmer, the official media outlet for the National Wheat Yield Contest, announced that the 2024 National Wheat Yield Contest is now taking entries. As in previous years, the deadline to enter for winter wheat categories is May 15, and August 1 for spring wheat categories. This year, there is a new digital yield category for dryland spring wheat growers in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. "NWF and our partners want to continue to expand the reach of the contest and the Digital Yield category is one way we hope more growers will be interested in giving it a try," said Bernard Peterson, NWF chairman and a Kentucky wheat grower. "We look forward to learning from contestants who are interested in helping the contest improve and take advantage of the great digital technologies that many wheat growers have adopted."