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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Monday, December 23, 2024
The Environmental Protection Agency says it likely won’t finalize the biofuel usage mandates for 2026 until the end of next year, which is discouraging news for a sector that blames the existing renewable volume obligations for the collapse in credit prices that has hammered many producers.
A dry fall helped speed harvest and reduce the need for propane for drying this year’s crops, and that will help farmers deal with the price increases for the fuel expected this winter.
The Agriculture Department this morning is releasing the strategy it will follow in re-shaping programs and policies to help more farmers shift into “climate-smart” practices and to make money from doing so.
The last time a Democratic administration tried to pass climate legislation, in 2009, the bill died in the Senate partly because of resistance from farm groups. This year, one of the first significant climate bills a congressional committee is going to vote on is a measure backed by farm groups – the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which is aimed at facilitating the development of ag carbon markets.
President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan is vague about a lot of details, including how $17 billion for waterways would be spent. But Tracy Zea of the Waterways Council tells Agri-Pulse that he expects at least $3 billion to be available for inland waterway projects. That could pay for replacing two sets of aging locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River system, he said.
Consistent pricing ensures that natural gas will continue to dominate as the American fuel of choice through the next two years, the Energy Information Agency says.
Natural gas leads an upward trend in fossil fuel production that will continue to break records through 2019, according to Energy Information Administration forecasts.
