WASHINGTON, June 13, 2016 - The
market is doing its job to help out corn farmers and now producers are calling
on Congress and the Obama administration to do their shares.
The small increase for corn exports predicted by USDA
on Friday will translate into a boost in the prices farmers get for
their crops. That’s proof, says the National Corn Growers Association, that
increased demand and trade improves the bottom line for farmers.
It’s also evidence that Congress should ratify the Trans-Pacific
Partnership deal and the EPA was wrong to propose cutting the renewable
volume obligations for ethanol.
“Farmers need the EPA to step up and comply with its statutory obligations
under the Renewable Fuel Standard,” said NCGA President Chip Bowling.
“We need Congress to help us push export demand even further by opening new
markets by passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership and lifting the Cuban Trade
Embargo. As this month’s report demonstrates, even small increases in demand
can have an impact on prices. Working together, we can make each small impact
add up to a real, necessary boost for farm families.”
Net exports of corn are expected to decline if TPP is implemented between the
U.S., Japan, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and seven other countries, but corn
farmers are still expected to reap significant benefits, according to
a study produced by the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Beef and pork exports are expected to get a major boost from the trade pact,
creating significant new demand for animal feed and pushing up domestic corn
prices.
In regards to the EPA, corn farmers are still smarting from the agency’s recent proposal to
cut renewable volume obligations to 14.8 billion gallons of
ethanol that will need to be blended into gasoline in 2017.
“For farmers and others in rural America, this new EPA proposal means low corn
prices and ethanol plant and industry cutbacks. And for everyone else, it means
higher gas prices and dirtier air,” Bowling said recently.
U.S. corn farmers have Brazil to thank. While the fate of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership deal is still uncertain, U.S. corn farmers
can still be thankful for a less-than-bumper crop in Brazil, South America’s
largest farming country.
Good growing weather and plentiful rains have spurred the Brazilians to keep
planting more corn for the past several years. But not this year.
“This year they had dryness … and we dropped our estimate of their production
by 2.5 million metric tons,” says USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson in
a recording posted on the department’s web
site. “As a result, that’s going to boost U.S. export potential and sales
potential.”
Counting on an export boost from weaker South American competition, U.S. ending
stocks for the 2015-16 marketing year will dip, boosting average farm-gate
prices by about 10 cents. Prices for the 2016-17 marketing year will likely do
even better, Johansson said, with a lower-than-expected carry-in.
Lawmakers ask for expedited farm worker visas. Farmers are desperate for
seasonal labor, but the government’s H-2a visa program is
slow, ineffective and can’t meet even a small percentage of the need,
more than 100 lawmakers complained in a recently published letter.
Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Sanford Bishop,
D-Ga., Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and many
others signed onto a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and Director
of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services León Rodriguez to ask that
farmers get access to expedited service so they don’t lose their crops.
“For the past two years, H-2A employers have experienced unacceptable delays in
the processing of labor certifications, visa petitions, and interviews for
final border crossing and arrival on farms and ranches,” the lawmakers wrote.
“These delays are devastating to growers and ranchers that cannot wait to
plant, tend, and harvest … This trend leaves growers fearful of a
major break-down in the system when peak demand for H-2A workers hits
beginning in June.”
African millers tour U.S. wheat country. Today is the second day of the
traditional tour of U.S. wheat country by Nigerian millers, but they’ll have
some more company this time around, according to the
U.S. Wheat Associates.
Representatives of the milling industries in Ghana and South Africa
will be joining the Nigerians as they travel through Texas, Kansas,
North Dakota and Minnesota from June 12 to 24 "to assess
trade opportunities and U.S. wheat quality,” USW said.
Nigeria, which bought about 1 million tons of hard red winter wheat from the
U.S. in the 2015-16 marketing year, is one of the largest foreign markets for
U.S. farmers. South Africa is a relatively smaller market, but has potential for
growth, the U.S. group said.
“The milling industries in these countries rely on an uninterrupted supply of
quality wheat,” said Gerald Theus, regional assistant director for
Sub-Saharan Africa for the U.S. Wheat Associates. “In competitive
markets where we face new challenges, there is nothing more valuable than
connecting these participants directly with the farmers and other members of
the supply chain.”
#30
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