Former President Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, but Nikki Haley says she isn’t ending her campaign. After news services called the race, Haley congratulated Trump but told supporters, “This race is far from over.” She noted that voting in her home state of South Carolina is still to come.
SAF plant Vilsack will highlight to try out corn ethanol
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is scheduled to be in Georgia today to highlight the potential of using ethanol as a feedstock that can help meet the airline industry’s demand for biofuel.
Vilsack is to deliver the keynote address at the grand opening of the LanzaJet Freedom Pines fuels plant in Soperton. According to USDA, it’s the first facility in the world that will be dedicated to the production of sustainable aviation fuel from ethanol.
LanzaJet got approval from the EPA last year to earn biofuel credits under the Renewable Fuel Standard for SAF made from Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, which has a lower carbon intensity than conventional corn ethanol. But a LanzaJet spokeswoman says the Soperton plant will start with U.S. ethanol.
The company plans to “continue to work with U.S. ethanol producers to secure increasingly lower carbon U.S. ethanol,” the spokeswoman said. The company has grant funding from the Energy Department that requires LanzaJet to demonstrate SAF production from a range of ethanol sources.
Why it matters: Because of its availability, ethanol is one of the most promising feedstocks for SAF. But making corn-based ethanol eligible for federal tax subsidies requires lowering the carbon intensity through various means, including changes in farming practices and sequestration of the carbon dioxide that’s emitted from ethanol production.
Senate Ag Republican details farm bill differences
A senior Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, thinks his GOP colleagues have made some progress with Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, at least when it comes to crop insurance.
Stabenow, who circulated a letter last week laying out her priorities on outstanding farm bill issues, supports the idea of increasing premiums for higher levels of area-based crop insurance policies. But Hoeven says farmers shouldn’t be forced to drop out of the commodity programs, Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, in return for getting those higher coverage levels.
Stabenow, D-Mich., wants to provide farmers something like the STAX insurance option that’s now limited to cotton growers. Farmers who buy STAX coverage can’t enroll cotton base in ARC or PLC.
If farmers buy higher levels of crop insurance, “you really reduce your need for ad hoc [disaster] packages in the future,” Hoeven said. “And when you look at the size and scope of the farm bill, these are not huge costs.”
When it comes to addressing commodity programs, including raising PLC reference prices, Hoeven concedes the two sides remain at odds. “She’s not there yet,” he said of Stabenow.
Hoeven: Time to move on spending bills
Hoeven, the top Republican on the Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee, says lawmakers need to start working out details of fiscal 2024 spending bills, even though House and Senate leaders have yet to agree on the top lines for the 12 measures. The final numbers in the bills could be adjusted later, he reasons.
Lawmakers only have until March 1 to pass four of the bills, including the Agriculture measure that funds USDA and FDA, and until March 8 for the other measures.
Meat Institute asks for extension of meat/poultry effluent proposal
The North American Meat Institute is asking for more time to comment on proposed regulations on discharges from meat and poultry processing plants. The proposal, which comes with a 60-day comment period, was published in the Federal Register Monday. NAMI wants an extra 90 days.
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“EPA’s own analysis found that its revisions to the [effluent] guidelines will close 16-53 facilities and place a heavy financial burden on as many as 1,600 more,” says Julie Anna Potts, president and CEO of NAMI, which represents processors.
The trade group says small and medium-sized companies “would face huge obstacles in finding the expertise to purchase and then operate the systems needed to meet the proposed guidelines. Our members say EPA’s analysis has grossly underestimated the costs to comply.”
French fry maker claims progress on conservation
Major French fry manufacturer McCain Foods says its potato growers are fast moving toward adoption of regenerative practices.
Farmers of more than three-quarters of the potato acreage have either begun work on regenerative practices or are “moving towards more comprehensive adoption of regenerative practices,” the company says today in releasing its 2023 Sustainability Report.
McCain said it’s “accelerating the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices” by directly interacting with its 3,500 farmers around the world.
Why it matters: The company is “the largest producer of frozen potatoes in the world," it said. "In fact, one in three French fries in the world is from McCain.”
He said it. “A lot of senators are paying attention to that massive vote in the House. Forty to three does not happen by accident.” – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, R-Ore., telling reporters that the House Ways and Means Committee’s 40-3 vote for a tax package last week is having an impact in the Senate.
For more on the tax package and it link to a monumental battle over tax policy coming in 2025, read our Agri-Pulse newsletter. We also look at the food and ag issues percolating in state legislatures this year and report on the controversy surrounding the concept of natural asset companies.
