USDA is due out today with its latest forecast for farm income, and the numbers are expected to be bad. Look for more new calls for Congress to pass a new farm bill to shore up incomes of row crop producers.
The last forecast, issued in February, estimated net cash farm income would drop by nearly 26% this year, well off the 20-year average.
Keep in mind: Commodity prices have tumbled amid expectations for bumper crops this fall. The latest Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer shows farmer sentiment dropped sharply in August.
But lawmakers still face the challenge of figuring out how to pay for increasing Price Loss Coverage reference prices and making other changes to commodity programs and crop insurance that would benefit farmers.
Rural co-ops to get $7.3 billion for clean energy
President Joe Biden and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will be in the swing state of Wisconsin today to announce $7.3 billion in federal funding for rural electric co-ops around the country to carry out clean energy projects.
Vilsack says it’s the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal and will create 4,500 permanent jobs and 16,000 construction jobs.
Take note: The announcement is taking place in Westby, a small town in Wisconsin’s 3rd District, a seat currently held by Republican House Ag Committee member Derrick Van Orden. It’s one of a handful of ag districts that could determine control of the U.S. House in the next Congress. The state of Wisconsin also is considered a key battleground.
Some details: The co-ops are using $29 billion in private investments to help build more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy, which will “reduce and avoid at least 43.7 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, equivalent to removing more than 10 million cars off the road every year,” USDA says.
For example, Dairyland Power Cooperative, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, “plans to leverage its funding for a total investment of $2.1 billion,” USDA says. Dairyland will buy 1.08 gigawatts of renewable energy through four solar installations and four wind power installations across rural portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois.
House panel subpoenas Walz, USDA over pandemic food fraud scheme
The House Education and Workforce Committee has subpoenaed USDA, the Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, seeking information on how they handled what’s being called the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the country.
The committee’s Republican majority is seeking documents showing how Walz’s administration and the USDA oversaw Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future. The organization allegedly defrauded USDA of over $250 million intended to feed children.
To date, 70 individuals have been charged for their parts in the scheme and five have been convicted of fraud.
The committee originally sent a subpoena to USDA in 2022 seeking information about the agency’s role. In the cover letter of the latest subpoena, Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said USDA’s production of the requested information has been “neither timely nor fully responsive.”
“As the chief executive and the highest ranking official in the state of Minnesota, you are responsible for the MDE and its administration of [federal child nutrition programs],” Foxx said in the cover letter to Walz’s subpoena. “Statements in the press by you and your representatives indicate that you and other executive officers were involved, or had knowledge of, MDE’s administration of the FCNP and responsibilities and actions regarding the massive fraud.”
The latest subpoena requests specific documents and communications related to Feeding our Future, and gives USDA, Walz and MDE until Sept. 18 to comply. None are required to testify.
Walz response: A spokesperson for Walz called the fraud “an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program. The state Department of Education worked diligently to stop the fraud and we’re grateful to the FBI for working with the Department of Education to arrest and charge the individuals involved.”
And USDA’s: “As has been well documented, the scheme by those associated with Feeding our Future began in 2020 under the previous administration, and charges were brought against the aforementioned individuals in 2022. Defendants associated with Feeding our Future are facing litigation by the Department of Justice. USDA does not comment on ongoing litigation and refers inquiries on the matter to the Department of Justice.”
Airlines to lawmakers: Bigger, longer tax incentive needed
A coalition representing airlines, biofuel producers, Boeing, and other segments of the aviation industry is calling on Congress to provide a larger and longer-duration tax incentive for sustainable aviation fuel.
The Inflation Reduction created two incentives for SAF, a 40B tax credit that expires at the end of this year, and the 45Z clean fuels tax credit that starts in 2025 and lasts for three years.
In a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, the SAF Coalition says the 45Z credit doesn’t last long enough and, depending on the carbon intensity of a particular fuel, may not be worth as much as the expiring 40B credit.
“Along with extension of the 45Z credit, enhancing the value of the credit will further support the long-term investment needed to bolster U.S. SAF leadership,” the letter says.
Broadband providers: Loss of Universal Service Fund would imperil projects
A federal appeals court ruling that the funding mechanism for the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional could raise broadband rates for rural Americans and cancel around $1.9 billion worth of deployment projects over the next few years. That’s the finding from a survey of 200 broadband providers by the NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association.
Without these funds, consumers would need to make up the difference through fee increases. A rate increase of this size would “more than double the $30 affordability gap created by the expiration of the Affordable Connectivity Program,” according to an NTCA press release,
Some 68% of respondents said they would need to cancel deployment projects slated for next year, while 71% said they would need to cancel projects for 2026.
Take note: The USF is still operating as normal. The 5th Circuit has given the FCC until Sept. 30 to petition the Supreme Court to take up the case. If it doesn’t, the court's judgment will take effect.
Final word: More than 47 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2023, according to USDA’s annual Household Food Security Report, released Wednesday. An estimated 13.5% of U.S. households struggled with food security last year, which is up from previous years. Read more about USDA’s latest report here.
