Infrastructure

Energy Secretary Granholm, ‘We Want to Help Them Get to Work’

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 22:07:00 GMT

With numerous deadly hurricanes, millions of acres lost to wildfires and a rainless summer, the question of climate change has run the newsreel for some time.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm spoke with AgriTalk host Chip Flory on Wednesday to clarify the White House’s stance on clean energy, as outlined in the infrastructure bill.

Based on the Biden Administration’s commitment to fight global climate change, Granholm explains what that commitment means for low carbon fuel options.

“We want to increase production of those low carbon fuels and that’s going to mean hundreds more biorefineries to be able to produce the level of demand that’s going to be necessary,” says Granholm. “The Biden administration has also put into its plan—that is being considered right now by the house and the senate—for tax credits associated with all sorts of clean energy, and that includes biofuels.”

Wind, solar and other clean energy credits are, according to Granholm, also being considered for tax credits.

Secretary Granholm spoke to the main components she and her team have been focusing on in the infrastructure bill.

“The infrastructure bill has got a huge chunk in there for roads and bridges - your basic infrastructure. There’s another huge chunk in there for getting everybody access to high-speed internet, including in rural communities, which, 35% of whom do not have access to high-speed internet,” says Granholm. “It also includes the physical infrastructure of the transmission grid, which is critical if we are considering making sure that we have resilient and available accessible energy, and obviously we want to move to clean energy on that.”

A push for incentives is the key to making the clean energy move, says Granholm.

“The President wants to get to 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050. You have to incentivize the actual building out of those commitments.”

Flory begged the question as to whether the low carbon fuel standard route California has elected to take will be discussed on a federal, national level, or state-by-state.

“I think that’s being considered as part of the reconciliation effort. So, nationally, but I will say that a lot of the tax components are still up in the air.”

As described by the White House, the Build Back Better Agenda is an ambitious plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families. Granholm says the intention of this agenda is to level-out the economic playing field.

“We understand that this trillion-dollar effort is in negotiation and there are pieces that are going to change. But the point is the President doesn’t want to put anything out there that is going to add to the debt and deficit,” says Granholm. “It’s all going to be paid for by folks who haven’t paid their share – it’s corporations that haven’t paid any income tax. It’s just insane that those at the top of Fortune 500, a good chunk of those haven’t paid anything. We want to close those loopholes.”

Workforce assistance is of particular interest for the Biden Administration in the Build Back Better Agenda.

“A lot of people would be supportive of help. Particularly in lower-income areas with childcare. There are a lot of people who can’t even go back to work because childcare is inaccessible and too expensive,” says Granholm. “We want to make sure everybody feels like this country is a fair place to live in and we want to help them get to work.”

Secretary Granholm says we can anticipate a briefing on biofuels in an announcement today.

Listen to Chip Flory’s full interview with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, here.

Biden to Call on Congress to Suspend Gas and Diesel Tax This Summer

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 14:04:50 GMT

President Biden is expected to call on Congress to suspend the federal gas and diesel taxes for the next three months, the latest effort by the White House to provide relief to Americans struggling with record-high gasoline and diesel prices. The move is contingent on legislative action, which would temporarily lift the 18.3 cents tax per gallon on gasoline and 24 cents tax per gallon on diesel during the summer months.

The three-month timeframe was specifically to address the surging gas demand during the summer months when travel increases. In the longer term, however, a Biden administration official acknowledged the revenues from the tax are a vital source of infrastructure funding.

Biden will lay out the proposal in a speech from the White House this afternoon when he will also call on states to suspend their gas taxes or provide rebates or other forms of relief, the official said. Additionally, Biden is expected to call on oil refinery companies to take steps to boost production.

Biden will also ask Congress to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which is supported by gas taxes, with other revenue to make it “whole” amid a gas tax suspension. The White House estimates it would take about $10 billion to do so. That may be a way to garner some additional Democratic votes for the gas and diesel tax suspension.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is separately holding a meeting with oil executives on Thursday to discuss ways to reduce gasoline and diesel prices, after Biden sent a letter to seven major companies demanding they take action to help lower costs for consumers. Executives from Exxon Mobil, Shell, Valero, Marathon, Phillips 66, BP and Chevron are slated to attend the meeting, the White House said.

Impact: When some states opted to suspend their own fuel taxes in the past, sometimes prices came back higher, according to a study released last week from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

American drivers are starting to buy less gasoline as they feel the economic burden of record prices that continue to hover near $5 a gallon. In the first full week of June, gasoline sales at U.S. stations were down about 8.2% compared with the same week last year — the 14th consecutive week that sales have lagged behind 2021 levels, according to surveys by energy-data provider OPIS. In the week ended June 10, the Energy Information Administration’s measure of implied demand — an estimate of products supplied to consumers — declined by roughly 110,000 barrels a day from the prior week, to about 9.1 million barrels a day. That figure is down from about 9.4 million barrels a day the same time last year.

The WSJreports ( link ) that drivers have begun consolidating trips or filling up their tanks with only as much fuel as they need to get by for a few days. Some are carpooling or taking mass transit, while others are working from the office for fewer days each week.

Rail Strike Derailed as Biden Signs Labor Bill

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 14:09:51 GMT

The Senate swiftly moved to pass a tentative rail agreement on Thursday with a landslide 80-15. This move followed the House’s favorable vote of 290 to 137 on Wednesday. President Biden signed the bill Friday morning, further derailing the looming labor strike.

Congress also voted on a paid sick leave bill, which the House moved to pass but the Senate chose to deny. The odds were close, however, with a vote of 52-43 .

Zippy Duvall, Farm Bureau president, says producers’ reliance on rail is what pushed AFBF to support and celebrate averting the rail strike.

“High diesel prices, a truck driver shortage, and low water levels on the Mississippi River have already made shipping conditions difficult,” Duvall said in an AFBF press release . “A rail strike would have had a devastating effect on the American economy, especially as families grapple with higher prices caused by inflation.”

“There was an industry-wide sigh of relief today after both Congressional chambers voted in favor of implementing the September TAs,” said The Fertilizer Institute’s Corey Rosenbusch. “Rail is critical to the movement of fertilizer year-round. Averting embargoes and production delays were crucial to not only ensuring we’re able to provide the fertilizers our nation’s farmers need, but also avoiding additional disruptions to a global market already constrained by geopolitical events and volatile energy prices.”

While some groups are applauding the outcomes, others are outraged.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) spoke out on the votes in a press release :

“What took place in the United States Senate today is a symptom, and further illustration, of a larger issue in our country. Almost every elected member of Congress campaigns on being “for the working class”; the actions of many today demonstrated they are for the corporate class,” BRS said. “The dereliction of duty and inability to hold corporations accountable for a lack of good faith to their employees will not be forgotten.”

BRS says their work on the matter will continue, and they will “not be silenced.”

Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary, echoed each response, saying the rail system and workers both deserve protections.

“Our work doesn’t stop here. This Administration will continue to make progress on fostering economic growth and strengthening supply chains, and supporting workers who deserve protections in the workplace.”

According to Biden’s economic advisors, as many as 765,000 Americans — many union workers themselves — would have been put out of work in the first two weeks of shutdowns.

More on rail:

Congress “Likely” to Pass a Rail Deal this Week, According to Soy Transportation Coalition’s Steenhoek
Rail Strike Averted Until Dec. 4, Saving U.S. $2 Billion Per Day

USDA releases more food supply infrastructure grants

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 22:26:59 GMT

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service said it will partner with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture to offer $4 million in grants and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry to offer $6.3 million in grants to boost infrastructure for domestic food and farm businesses.

These grants, under the Resilient Food System Infrastructure program, will support expanded capacity for processing, transporting, wholesaling and distributing locally and regionally produced food products, including specialty crops, according to USDA.

“Strengthening the middle of the food supply chain in South Carolina will provide stronger markets for local farmers, increase stability for consumers and help ensure a strong future of agriculture in the state,” Hugh Weathers, South Carolina commissioner of agriculture, said in a news release.

South Carolina grants

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture said public feedback indicated several funding priorities for the RFSI grants. It will offer infrastructure grants (ranging from $100,000 to $3 million) and simplified equipment-only grants (ranging from $10,000 to $100,000).

The state ag deparment said RFSI subawards will include:

Projects that increase local producers’ abilities to process, aggregate and distribute products through the construction, expansion or modernization of cold and dry storage facilities.
Projects that increase local producers’ abilities to process, aggregate and distribute products through the creation of additional transportation to move products and that increase distribution channels through the construction, expansion or modernization of distribution facilities.
Projects that increase processing capacity, creating new distribution channels and markets for value-added products.
Projects that purchase and/or modernize middle-of-the-food-supply-chain equipment, packaging and food safety and labor needs; and increase local producers’ abilities to process, aggregate and distribute agricultural products.

Applications for the equipment-only grant are open through Feb. 9 and for the infrastructure program through March 1 .

Oklahoma grants

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will accept applications for the infrastructure grants through Feb. 23 .

“This partnership between USDA and Oklahoma is allowing critical funding to reach areas of the supply chain that need it most,” USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt said in the release. “The projects funded through this program will create new opportunities for the region’s small and midsize producers to thrive, expand access to nutritious food options, and increase supply chain resiliency.”

Potential projects include those that will increase cold storage, expand distribution channels for food producers and increase the number of co-packing options.

Related: USDA, California offer $30M in food supply infrastructure grants

John Phipps: Is the Jones Act Hurting American Agriculture?

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 13:53:10 GMT

This question from a U.S. Farm Report viewer took some research:

“What would be the economic effect of repealing the Jones Act on U.S. Agriculture?”

The quick answer is repealing the Jones act would be minimally beneficial for U.S. ag as a whole, but enormous for specific locations and industries.

To summarize, the 1920 Jones Act requires all waterborne shipping between U.S. ports to be done on U.S.- built, -owned, -flagged and -manned ships. Rooted in memories of WWI and WWII, the idea our national security is dependent on our ability to move troops and equipment across oceans is not merely outdated but has essentially crippled our domestic maritime industry.

We are not a maritime shipping country. Our container capacity is less than one-tenth of a percent of global capacity. Our shipbuilding industry is almost non-existent with 7 deep draft builders, four of which are exclusively military like carriers and subs. In contrast, Japan has over 1000 shipyards.

Our domestic ocean shipping industry is wildly uncompetitive, with costs as much as double for ships. It’s stuck in the 1940’s thanks to the Jones Act. Meanwhile, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories bear extravagant costs on their economies, including ag. Hawaiian cattle ranchers ship animals through Canada, North Carolina hog operations buy corn from Canada, and Puerto Rico sources fuel from Nicaraguan refineries due to the cost of Jones-compliant shipping.

To be sure, such headaches don’t nudge the soybean supply and demand much, but this counterproductive law has not saved our merchant marine, nor improved our national defense. During Desert Storm, the U.S. military used ships from everywhere, and shipped only about one-sixth of the materiel on U.S. bottoms.

It is hard to project what would happen in the unlikely event of repeal, but some experts suspect the efficiency of water transport would restructure coastal agriculture trade by finding new ways to avoid crowded truck and rail routes.

The repeal of the Jones Act has been a nominal ag priority for decades but the burdens it imposes are carried by so few that it falls too far down our list of legislative goals.

Possible U.S. Rail Strike Now Back On the Table

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 13:54:35 GMT

A labor strike along U.S. railroads is still a possibility after the third-largest railroad union rejected a tentative labor agreement this week. The agreement had the support of the White House, but without all unions voting in favor of the agreement, a labor strike could still occur in mid-November.

Union leaders are arguing the railroads didn’t do enough to address worker concerns, largely surrounding working conditions and paid time off. Now, both sides will need to return to the bargaining table to avoid a possible strike once again.

The last close call happened just before the September 16th deadline, when a last-minute tentative agreement was struck, preventing a rail strike from taking place on that same date. Now, those labor conversations are back on as the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division Union opposed a potential five-year contract that already included a 24% raise in wages, as well as $5,000 in bonuses.

“The majority of the BMWED membership rejected the tentative national agreement and we recognize and understand that result,” said BMWED president Tony D. Cardwell in a statement. “I trust that railroad management understands that sentiment as well. Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard. Railroaders do not feel valued. They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness. The result of this vote indicates that there is a lot of work to do to establish goodwill and improve the morale that has been broken by the railroads’ executives and Wall Street hedge fund managers.”

Transportation Nightmare

Strike or no strike, one veteran market analyst says rail issues are still severe, and now backlogs on the nation’s rivers due to low river levels mean even more emphasis will be placed on rail at a time when transportation logistics have been dubbed a “nightmare.”

“Well, even if we don’t have a rail strike, the rail is so congested and so problematic,” says Dan Basse of AgResource Company. “Today, it’s not going to make much difference. Rail prices are rising. If you look at the barge market heading to the Mississippi today, it costs one-and-a-half times to get beans to the Gulf as it would to load it and get it to China. It’s crazy what’s going on.”

Sourcing feed was already a problem for livestock producers and grain buyers in the western U.S. Issues nationwide mean everyone is paying more to get the essential grain.

“If you’re in Kansas or the Western Plains, you’re paying $2-over-plus for corn, if you can find it. It’s a problem,” says Basse.

While the third-largest rail labor union rejected the tentative agreement, all 12 unions, which represent nearly 115,000 workers, must ratify their contracts to prevent a rail strike. Four other rail unions approved their agreements with freight railroads.

By Monday midafternoon, the U.S. rail industry had yet to comment on the latest union development.

History of Ongoing Rail Strike Threat

As AgWeb first reported in July, a possible strike has been brewing all summer , with NGFA fearful a strike would occur in the middle of harvest. Fisher says even though a strike is prohibited by law ahead of Friday’s deadline, rail companies are shutting down shipments in advance in order to mitigate potential damages.

“The railroads don’t want to have the cars and equipment out in areas of the country where they can’t protect them very well,” Fisher adds. “So, they’re taking steps to mitigate damages. For our members, they’re looking at essentially not receiving their grain on time and not being able to then ship out the finished products such as ethanol, flour, things of that nature.”

Impact on Farmers

What will it mean for farmers? Max Fisher, NGFA chief economist, says a potential rail strike will have a severe economic impact on agriculture.

“From what I’m being told, we really cannot have the railroad stop even for a minute,” Fisher says. “With the railroads, there’s so much planning involved in every shipment that if we get them off plan, like have all the workers at home and so forth, it’s very hard to get things started again.”

Another potential problem is grain processing facilities and the backlog it could create. Fisher fears some NGFA members will be forced to shut down.

“I think there’s a very good chance we’re going to have shutdowns in the grain industry and at our processing facilities, not to mention the impact on our exports also,” Fisher says.

More Traffic Slowdowns At The Panama Canal

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 19:08:20 GMT

Low water levels continue to plague the Panama Canal after what’s reported as its driest October on record.

Daily ship transits through the Panama Canal will be cut in half this winter. Via the Wall Street Journal, Daily reservations slots will be cut to 25 this month, 22 next month, 20 in January and 18 in February. Last month the canal had 32 daily transits. On a normal day, the canal can handle 40 transits.

A prolonged period of elevated temperatures and limited rainfall had led to a significant drop in the water level of Gatun Lake, which supplies water to the canal’s locks.

Around 70% of vessels using the Panama Canal require a draft of 44 feet, which is the current limit, down from 50 feet at the beginning this year. If the draft is lowered further, most ships won’t be able to transit with full loads.

The Panama Canal handles approximately 7% of all global seaborne trade. Canal authorities say about 98 vessels are waiting to cross at both sides of the canal. It’s noted containerships that have fixed schedules and booked slots months in advance aren’t facing serious delays, but crude and gas tankers calling on short notice can be trapped for weeks.

New Legislation Looks To Connect Farmland And Ranchland To Broadband

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 15:39:11 GMT

U.S. growers and livestock producers increasingly rely on the internet across the farm and ranch, yet many still don’t have access to it. A report USDA released this past August, “ Technology Use, Farm Computer Usage and Ownership, ” found that 15 percent of farms and ranches have no access to the internet today.

New legislation announced Nov. 1 looks to change that by expanding high-speed broadband internet access across rural America.

Two members of the House Agriculture Committee, Congressman Brad Finstad (MN-R) and Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo (CO-D), introduced the legislation called “Linking Access to Spur Technology for Agriculture Connectivity in Rural Environments (Last Acre) Act,” within the

USDA’s Office of Rural Development.
The Last Acre Act would create a new competitive grant and loan program at USDA to expand high-speed broadband internet access across eligible farmland, ranchland, and farm sites.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently defines minimum broadband internet service as internet access with a minimum of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed and upload speeds of 3 Mbps or more.

One generally accepted rule of thumb is that anything above 100 Mbps is considered “fast” internet because it can connect multiple devices at once.

How Farmers Connect
In its Technology Use research, USDA found 51 percent of internet-connected farms utilize a broadband connection while 75 percent of internet-connected farms have access through a cellular data plan. Additionally, 69 percent of farms have a desktop or laptop computer while 82 percent of farms had a smart phone.

(Farm Journal)

The Last Acre Act is among the latest moves by legislators to address the digital divide between urban and rural America.

“As a farmer, I understand the important role precision ag technology plays in increasing production and maximizing efficiency. Yet, many rural areas of southern Minnesota and across the country don’t have reliable access to the wireless connectivity needed in order to utilize these techniques,” said Rep. Finstad, in a news release.

“The Last Acre Act will help drive agricultural innovation into the 21st century by bringing the latest farming technology and tools to every corner of farm country, giving farmers and ranchers – in even the most remote areas – greater ability to adopt precision ag applications and ensure optimal efficiency in their operations,” added Finstad.

The USDA Technology Use report released in August shows that 32 percent of farms used the internet to purchase agricultural inputs this year, which was an increase of 3 percent from 2021.

“Additionally, 23 percent of farms used the internet to market agricultural activities, which was an increase of 2 percent from 2021,” the USDA said. “Farms which conducted business with non-agricultural websites in 2023 increased by 2 percent to 49 percent.”

Precision Agriculture Needs
Increasingly, legislators and broadband providers have fine-tuned how they look at the internet needs of rural America, according to Mitchell Bailey, CEO for GRM Networks, a member-owned cooperative that supplies broadband and other communication services to residents in parts of northern Missouri and southern Iowa.

“The terminology used has changed from ‘fiber to the premise,’ which focused on connecting homes to more of a focus on ‘fiber to the acre,’ because we understand the need to make sure we’re connecting every acre of farmland to advanced technology,” Bailey told Farm Journal.

“In an ever-changing marketplace, it is imperative that corn farmers use the latest in precision agriculture technology to remain competitive and sustainable, and this is only possible through access to high-speed broadband,” added Harold Wolle, National Corn Growers Association president.

The Last Acre Act is endorsed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Competitive Carriers Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Milk Producers Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Farmers Union, John Deere, Ethos Connected, and Wireless Internet Service Providers Association.

Monthly Average Costs
As part of its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021, the Biden administration committed $65 billion to help ensure that every American has access to affordable internet service.

The price of internet service ranges widely across the U.S., from $20 to well over $100 a month.

The price consumers pay depends on a range of factors, including internet speed, the type of connection, and what’s available in a specific area.

A Forbes survey of 37 internet service provides (ISPs) across the U.S. earlier this year found consumers paid an average cost of $65 a month. That’s in line with recent findings by Consumer Reports , which found in 2022 the median monthly internet cost was $74.99.

How States Stack Up
A February report from BroadbandNow Research , a firm that conducts comparisons on internet companies using data from the FCC and internet providers, identified what it calls the “best and worst states” for broadband internet service in the U.S. Its considerations were based on two factors – overall coverage and quality of connections.

The report ranked Maryland as the best overall state for broadband internet, followed by New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Washington. The rankings considered overall access to broadband, access to low-cost broadband, download and upload speeds, and access to fiber-optic service.

At the other end of the spectrum, in the worst category, West Virginia came in last.

West Virginia was followed in the report by Alaska, Mississippi, Arkansas and Vermont. All five states at the bottom scored a zero on internet quality, or latency, which is the time it takes information to go from one source to another.

There were 16 states in the report that scored a zero in the quality category, including North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The state with the slowest average download speed was Kansas, followed by Alaska and South Carolina.

John Phipps: Is Broadband the Secret to Reviving Rural America?

Texas Farmer’s Top Five Technologies

“Technical Debt” Continues To Grow Rapidly In The Agriculture Industry

Packer Insight — Infrastructure bill, buy local campaigns, retail strategy

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:28:51 GMT

The Packer’s editor-in-chief Tom Karst, Northeast editor Amy Sowder and retail editor Ashley Nickle discuss some of the big topics of the week, from the new infrastructure bill to buy local campaigns to retail strategy.

For more coverage, check out the following articles.

52% of New Spending in Senate Infrastructure Bill Funds Transportation, Passage Expected to Hit Major Roadblock in the House — The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday, and transportation could receive more than half the new funding slated in the bill. However, the House leadership’s desire to pass the infrastructure bill in tandem with a human rights bill could cause the infrastructure plan to hit a major roadblock in the coming weeks.

Maryland marketers push ‘buy local’ on social — The Maryland Department of Agriculture recognizes the power of social media in its 2021 promotional efforts, as more and more people are glued to their phones.

Creating a retail culture that values great suppliers — “I distinctly recall that early on in my first year as a produce manager – I was 19 years old at the time – it was abundantly clear to me that where I bought fresh produce from made a difference in our sales and in the customer experience,” Joe Watson writes in his latest column for PMG.

Industry misses USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program — From May 15, 2020, to April 30 this year, USDA contractors delivered 173.7 million boxes of fresh produce, milk, dairy and cooked meats to needy Americans across the country. The program was phased out at the end of May by the Biden administration.

USDA announces the 15 organizations that will administer the Farm and Food Workers Relief Grant Program

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 14:04:24 GMT

USDA has announced actions the agency said will further its commitment to farmworkers, meatpacking workers and grocery store workers by recognizing their essential role in America’s food system.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that 15 grant recipients have been selected to receive funding through the Farm and Food Workers Relief Grant Program (FFWR), according to a news release. Organizations were selected for their proven track records working with farmworkers, meatpacking workers and front-line grocery workers, their strong partnerships with worker-serving organizations and their ability to provide services in critical geographic areas to collectively ensure nationwide coverage under this program, according to the release.

“USDA is committed not only to acknowledging the work of our nation’s essential agricultural and food workers, but also ensuring they are not left out of opportunities for relief from the effects of the pandemic,” Vilsack said in the release. “The grant recipients being announced today will help us provide relief payments to workers across the country who kept food moving to our families during an especially challenging time.”

The program, which is administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), will use funding to provide relief to farmworkers and meatpacking workers who incurred pandemic-related health and safety costs, the release said.

Funding is also set aside for three pilot programs to support grocery workers in recognition of their essential role in the pandemic response. These organizations are now preparing systems and will begin implementing outreach so eligible farmworkers, meatpacking workers and grocery workers can apply to these grant recipients to receive $600 payments soon.

USDA anticipates beneficiaries will be able to apply for funds from some of these recipients as soon as late November. Workers must provide valid proof of ID and employment to receive a payment, according to the release.

Grant Recipients Supporting Farmworkers and/or Meatpacking Workers: Organization Beneficiary Funding

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Inc. Farm, Meatpacking $48,247,075
Catholic Charities USA Farm, Meatpacking $9,021,306
Cherokee Nation Farm, Meatpacking $45,948,000
Community Resources and Housing Development Corporation Farm, Meatpacking $6,608,000
Hispanic Federation, Inc. Farm, Meatpacking $44,299,586
La Cooperativa Campesina de California Farm $36,000,000
National Center for Farmworker Health Farm $36,000,000
National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association Farm $57,374,541
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Farm, Meatpacking $34,637,242
Todec Legal Center Perris Farm, Meatpacking $4,500,000
UFCW Charity Foundation, Inc. Farm, Meatpacking $131,660,000
UFW Foundation Farm $97,836,293
United Migrant Opportunity Services/ UMOS, Inc. Farm, Meatpacking $56,886,475
United Ways of California Farm, Meatpacking $41,965,538
Grant Recipients Supporting Grocery Worker Pilot Programs:
Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. Grocery $10,000,000
UFCW Charity Foundation, Inc. Grocery $10,000,000

The relief provided through the program is intended to defray costs for reasonable and necessary personal, family or living expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as costs for personal protective equipment (PPE), dependent care and expenses associated with quarantines and testing related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.

AMS had previously established cooperative agreements with two organizations, UFW Foundation and Corazón Latino, to provide technical assistance, communications and outreach support for this program. More information about the program is available on USDA’s website .

Could Rail Workers Now Strike Starting Monday As Concerns Of a Feed Shortage Continue In the West?

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 20:42:19 GMT

Continued issues shipping feed and other products via rail are growing more severe. Feed users already report being just days away from running out of feed, and as labor negotiations continue between the railroads and unions, a weekend deadline looms to keep the collective bargaining process on track.

President Joe Biden has until Sunday, July 17, to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to investigate and make recommendations for settlement. If the Sunday deadline isn’t met, rail labor has already voted to go on strike. However, the Association of American Railroads told AgWeb on Wednesday that it’s widely expected there will be an appointment of a PEB by the deadline.

As first reported last month, rail bottlenecks in the U.S. are not improving for those in need of grain in the West. Feed users in California and the Southwest are having issues sourcing grain, with some reporting they are paying $3 over the CBOT price to secure grain by truck. Not only are feed users on the brink of running out of grain, but there are also concerns the rail issues could grow worse during harvest this fall.

Looming Rail Strike?

The labor negotiations, which cover 115,000 workers according to Reuters, has been in what they call a 30-day cooling off period. The White House has until Sunday, July 17, to appoint a PEB.

Sources in the grain industry say if President Biden doesn’t appoint the PEB, then railroad labor is authorized to strike. The decision to go on strike is already in motion, as rail labor already voted to strike on Monday in the event Biden does not appoint a PEB.

A White House official is quoted as saying the administration “is going through the standard process that has been used in the past when considering a PEB.”

A strike isn’t inevitable, as the AAR says it is widely expected that there will be an appointment of a PEB. The AAR says it’s important to note there there are a number of steps left before a work stoppage would even be possible under the law.

The Issue in Storing and Transporting Grain

Eric Wilkey, president of Arizona Grain, Inc., saw the issues starting firsthand this spring. Rail cars that were scheduled to arrive in May, as area wheat harvest was gearing up, didn’t actually start arriving until early July. As a result, wheat supplies piled up at their facilities.

“Now, they’ve [railroads] signaled to us in meetings publicly and otherwise, that they are having some success in hiring again and getting crews successfully through training,” he says. “For us, there’s no time as we’re in harvest right now. And I don’t have time to wait another three months for crews to be trained.”

Just prior to the STB hearing in April, Landus Coop, representing 7,000 farmer owners in Iowa, submitted written testimony saying rail issues meant they were only able to load half the rate of shipments necessary, and the backlog meant farmers trying to haul grain to the coop were being turned away.

“If this slow down continues at this rate we risk not having space for the 2022 harvest for our 7,000 farmer members by an estimated total bushels of 15,750,000! The market impact of the additional cost of other freight shortages and an inverse grain market add considerable risk and uncertainty in our business. This comes at a time when we are also experiencing the strain of trucking shortages. The impact of these delays is compounding and causing increasing concern the closer we get to harvest season,” the letter stated.

Landus also said if the situation is not resolved quickly, the industry risks:

- The potential for livestock producers in California and other states potentially running out of feed.

- Ethanol plants and soybean crush facilities potentially not having the ability to ship product.

- Farmers unable to deliver old crop grain to elevators or ethanol plants, which will place enormous pressure on harvest success this fall, further disrupting the food and fuel supply chains in the months ahead.

- U.S. grain exporters will be not be positioned favorably to compete in global marketplace.

Foster Farms, the largest chicken producer in the western U.S., asked federal regulators to issue an emergency service order last week that would direct Union Pacific to prioritize corn shipments that thousands of dairy cattle and millions of chickens and turkeys depend upon.

”The point has been reached when millions of chickens will be killed and other livestock will suffer because of UP’s service failures,” Foster Farms wrote in its request to the Surface Transportation Board in June.

Trouble Shipping Grain And Feed Via Rail Far From Over, Concerns Now Growing About Possible Worker Strike At Harvest

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 20:00:15 GMT

Rail retains a vital role in the transportation of goods across the U.S., but this year, the 140,000- miles worth of railroad tracks across the country haven’t been immune to the supply chain chaos plaguing U.S. transportation sectors.

Now, a potential stoppage on the nation’s railways this fall is spurring concern, even after President Joe Biden signed an executive order Sunday to keep the nation’s rail traffic on track.

“What I’m hearing from our members is fewer equipment issues,” says Mike Seyfert, president and CEO of the National Feed and Grain Association (NFGA) . “The equipment and engines don’t seem to be breaking down, but the amount of time it’s taken to get the trains and the reliability of receiving them have.”

With more than 1,000 members today, NFGA represents everything from grain buyers and handlers to transportation companies who ship the grain.

“It seems to be most severe right now in the West, or for those who are trying to ship west on those lines that are going into the western part of the country,” says Seyfert. “Either for feed purposes, processing purposes, or export purposes to the western side.”

What’s Driving the Issues Shipping Via Rail?

Today’s rail issue centers around labor and the amount of time it’s taking to receive shipments via rail.

“The velocity to deliver trains is getting more and more difficult. You’re having challenges with having enough locomotives in different locations,” says Ken Erikson, senior vice president at S&P Global Fuels, Chemicals and Resource Solutions Group . “You have challenges with crews who may have been hit by weather, who may be hit by diversions, some of the rail crews timeout or they don’t have enough locomotive engineers in the right position.”

Eric Wilkey of Arizona Grain, Inc . is seeing the issue firsthand. Area farmers were in the middle of harvest, and Wilkey still hadn’t received the rail cars he needed.

“We’ve got a whole harvest that’s basically been received, and we haven’t been able to ship anything,” Wilkey told U.S. Farm Report at the end of June.

Wilkey says rail cars that were supposed to arrive in early May started to finally trickle in during the first part of July, but that was two months behind schedule.

“We never stopped the farmers from harvesting, so we have created some really large inventories and that has significant cash-flow impacts on us,” adds Wilkey.

Hearing Hints at Complexity of Issue

In April, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) stepped in, holding a hearing to get to the root of the rail issues. The hearing was full of differing opinions and pointed questions.

Just prior to the hearing, Landus Coop, which represents 7,000 farmer-owners in Iowa, submitted testimony saying rail issues meant they were only able to load half the number of shipments necessary, and the backlog meant farmers trying to haul grain to the coop were being turned away. The letter stated:

Landus is only able to load half the rate of shipments necessary today. With 450,000 bushels loaded in each train, this impact multiplies daily.
Farmers trying to haul grain to us today are getting turned away because we cannot make the inventory space for them. This is an important and optimal window of time when farmers must haul remaining old-crop inventory in preparation for harvest.
Disruption to inventory flow has led to increased handling costs and reduced customer service throughout Landus. We are experiencing lost business daily due to the disruption.
Grain bushels are getting “trapped” in pockets of surplus supply, while shipping destinations are experiencing a growing deficit in access to supply.
Our soy processing facility has experienced a 10% decrease in production over the past six months due to rail performance alone. This is in turn further impacting profitability and our ability to access markets where soybean meal is in highest demand.
Trucking is not a viable alternative transportation mode today due to labor shortages.

The letter went on to say “If this situation is not resolved quickly, we risk the potential for livestock producers in California and other states potentially running out of feed.”

Concerns About Labor Issues Growing Worse at Harvest

Rail carriers and unions are in the middle of labor negotiations right now. The collective bargaining process made headlines last week, as Biden had until Sunday, July 17, to create a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). The move was an essential step in keeping the collective bargaining process on track, as well as keeping the nation’s railways operating.

“We are pleased that President Biden has taken an important step by creating a PEB to help all parties find a reasonable path forward,” says Association of American Railroads (AAR) president and CEO Ian Jefferies. “An agreement that allows both our hardworking employees and the industry to thrive into the future remains possible.”

AAR points out the Railway Labor Act governs collective bargaining for the rail industry, which aims to help parties reach an agreement without work stoppages or disruptions to U.S. freight rail movements.

While a crisis was averted with the president’s executive order, the collective bargaining process is far from over. Now, there are fresh concerns the ongoing labor dispute could come to a head just as harvest arrives in the Midwest this fall.

“Once we get into mid-September, there’s also a risk of some labor issues, even labor stoppage on some of the rail lines,” says Seyfert. “And so getting these things addressed now, and all of us working together before we get particularly into that fall harvest timeframe is essential. We’ve really never been in a situation where a reliable and resilient rail service is more important than it is now.”

Tense Labor Negotiations?

The April hearing in front of the STB gave a hint to just how tense those labor negotiations could continue to be. Rail carriers pointed out just how severely impacted they’ve been from what’s been dubbed the “Great Resignation,” and the issues getting labor back up to speed. Certain rail carriers also outlined the plans in place to get labor back to necessary levels to operate efficiently and smoothly.

However, rail workers place blame on the railroads, saying there’s more to the story. Mark Wallace, locomotive engineer, and vice president of Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), which is North America’s oldest rail labor union, testified during the STB hearing in April.

“Since 1984, 40 railroads have been reduced to seven class one carriers, now largely controlled by speculators and hedge fund investors,” he stated. “This culture of profits over safety, customer service and the lives of railroad workers is now exposed as this industry is network fails on a daily basis.”

“Now, they signaled to us in meetings publicly and otherwise they are having some success in hiring again and getting crews successfully through training,” says Wilkey. “For the Midwest, there’s a little bit of time, but for us, there’s no time. We’re in harvest right now. And I don’t have time to wait another three months for crews to be trained.”

It’s not just the hearing that hinted toward prolonged trouble with train transportation. Grain handlers like Wilkey says current rail bids point to problems persisting into fall.

“These car values would be somewhere north of $1,000 per car this fall,” says Wilkey. “And so that’s the market sending signals that there’s going to be tightness, there’s going to be concerns.”

Typically, Wilkey says those bids would be around $100 per car.

Congress Urges STB to Take Action

In late June, 51 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter and sent to the STB regarding issues with the rail system in the U.S.. The letter asked STB to continue to work through the current rail issues with all stakeholders in order to address short-term challenges and find a resolution.

“On behalf of our constituents and farmers around the country, we write regarding poor rail service, which has limited fertilizer shipments, among other essential agricultural inputs and commodities, including grain and feed,” the letter stated.

“At a time when global fertilizer supplies and global crop production are highly disrupted, imposing shipping curtailments on fertilizer inputs and grain, as recently proposed by Union Pacific, will cause major supply chain disruptions, hurt American farmers, and exacerbate the food crisis considerably. We must ensure critical commodities reach essential industries and workers, such as America’s farmers, who are essential to feeding our nation and the world. Food is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such,” the 51 members wrote in the letter.

The Senate sent a similar letter to the STB in May.

Wait Times Cause Economic Pain

As the labor battle plays out, the short-term issues are causing grain handlers economic pain.

“There have been significant economic impacts,” says Wikley. “I would estimate since the first of the year, today, there’s been in the order of $100 million paid out by the industry to solve this logistics problem that’s developed. And that’s just outside of the bounds of normal.”

The battle over labor seems to have a long tail, as those in the grain industry try to work together to make sure this major shipping vein doesn’t buckle.

John Phipps: Why Can't the U.S. Figure Out a Way to Move Water From the Great Lakes to the West?

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 13:48:05 GMT

Regular viewer Eric Smassanow asks a question that pops up from often during droughts:

“Why has the government never taken action besides Lake Mead to move water around the country like we do energy? Seems like there are many times pumping water west from the east would help both regions.”

As the western US continues to suffer a 22-year megadrought, it is hard not to look at a map and zero in on the Great Lakes as the obvious solution. All we need to do is pump some of that excess fresh water west – like this idea from William Shatner to pump Lake Superior water to the Green River and on to Lake Mead. After all the Great Lakes are one of the largest sources of fresh water in the world.

This idea faces some huge hurdles.

California alone uses the same amount of water as the entire Red River flow. Even supplying a fraction of that would take pipes beyond imagination. Canals would suffer enormous evaporative loss. The water would have to be pumped over the Rocky Mountains – a roughly 6000 foot lift.

U.S. Infrastructure Reality Check

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:45 GMT

Facing our challenges to guarantee our competitive edge

It’s a word that doesn’t easily roll off the tongue—it’s concrete dry and chunky in the mouth. At four syllables, it sounds important and bureaucratic, a victim of overuse in too many Washington meetings. Yet, the word “infrastructure” is a loaded buzzword, full of expectation and implications for our country.

At 3.79 million square miles and an estimated 310 million people with a $14.780 trillion gross domestic product, we are a nation on the move. How quickly and effectively we can move to meet the needs of a growing world population is in question, however.

All of the players who transport ag products are going to have to make big changes if we want to be competitive in the world market.

The Report Card

The most recent study by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2009 shows the state of our infrastructure based on physical condition and necessary investments for improvement.

Bridges C
Dams D
Energy D+
Inland waterways D–
Levees D–
Railroad C–
Roads D–

U.S. Infrastructure Grade: D*

Estimated 5-year Investment Need: $2.2 trillion

*Only categories relating to agriculture are listed here. The sum of all categories in the study also received the “D” grade. SOURCE: American Society of Civil Engineers

The dog ate the report card. This past August, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) published a report that ties the condition of our infrastructure to the economy. It states, “If investments in surface transportation infrastructure are not made soon …within 10 years, U.S. businesses would pay an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes would fall by more than $7,000, and U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion per year.”

ASCE garnered attention with its 2009 report on the state of American infrastructure. Known as “The Report Card” (see left), its “D” grade leaves little to the imagination. After years of trusted service, our bridges, roads, locks and dams have either become outdated or worn out.

Bob Fox, a county commissioner and farmer from the small southern Minnesota town of Franklin, agrees with the “D” grade for the overall condition of our nation’s infrastructure.

In a county where roughly half of the roads are paved, Fox is concerned about the funding for future maintenance and new projects. He has seen more bridge and road money going to basic maintenance of the current infrastructure. As a result, little money is left over to upgrade roads, some built 50 years ago, with wider shoulders and the ability to handle the heavier loads of modern farm machinery.

“Most older roads were 7-ton-load roads, but now they should be 10-ton-load roads because of the larger equipment and trucks used on farms today. Since 2005, the price of doing a road has doubled from $250,000 to $500,000 or $560,000 per mile,” he says.

Even if parts of the infrastructure system were improved and American farmers doubled their grain output, the world would not hand them grain orders on silver platters. The crux of the matter is we have to be competitive.

Reality bites. Giving his reality check assessment, Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, says, “There’s nothing that we produce here in the U.S. in agriculture and forest products that cannot be sourced somewhere else in the world. If we cannot transport and deliver it affordably to the foreign marketplace, then we lose our quality advantage and we lose our international customers.”

“Agricultural exports are leading the way, but getting them to the foreign marketplace is always a challenge because the products we export often require special handling, speed to market and affordability,” he adds.

Speed to market means lower costs. “It will do no good for the railroads to expand their capacity to bring farm goods to the gateway ports or to increase truck efficiency if, once arriving at the ports, there is insufficient infrastructure, or the pace of loading/unloading is anything but world-class,” Friedmann explains.

According to a 2009 study by O’Neil Commodity Consulting for the U.S. Soybean Export Council titled “Transportation and the Farmer’s Bottom Line,” it is the local basis that determines what proportion of the price a farmer will receive. The local basis is largely determined by local demand, logistics and transportation cost. It is transportation cost and equipment availability that determine the “spread” relationship for local commodities to the best potential markets and ultimately the relative value of local crop production.

The crucial question is: How streamlined and efficient can we be, given our current infrastructure quality?

Our deteriorating assets. Unfortunately, our infrastructure is crumbling to the point that it is not only a safety issue, but a national security problem. This presents doubts about our competitive edge now and in the future.

43% of all vehicle miles traveled are on roadways that are not rated as “good” for ride quality.
More than 150,000 bridges—one in every four—are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
The average bridge is more than 50 years old, but most bridges were designed for a 50-year life span.
The U.S. lock and dam system is 50 to 100 years old. More than half are beyond their designed life span.

A smooth ride. The Federal Highway Administration’s “Planning for Transportation in Rural Areas” report says there are 3.1 million miles of rural roads, accounting for 80% of national road miles and 40% of vehicle miles traveled. The report states that 50% of rural roads are paved and, though this is an optimum travel surface, it is a problem with declining tax dollars for local budgets to keep them repaired.

Due to the high cost of petroleum products, we might not see an increase in paved roads anytime soon. Audrain County, Mo., commissioner Tom Groves says it’s improbable that any current gravel roads in his county will now be paved with asphalt. “A ballpark figure to lay asphalt has been around $300,000 per mile, and main-tenance doesn’t come cheap,” he says.

“It’s a real inconvenience not having this bridge open,” says Mexico, Mo., farmer Gene Taylor. Fewer rural residents and a lower tax base has made it difficult for counties to finance bridge repair. The alternative is abandonment. PHOTO: John Buckner

Bridge trouble. Bridge construction and maintenance is a messy cooperative business among federal, state and local officials. County governments wield the power where the rubber meets the road for most Americans, within their respective state law statutes.

Audrain County has been a role model when it comes to fixing faulty bridges. “In the 1980s, Audrain County had 250 defective bridges, but due to a local ½¢ sales tax for bridge renovation, federal gas tax money and bridge offset money, which is a federal 80/20 cost-share program, there are only five defective bridges in the county today,” Groves says.

That number doesn’t include bridges that were abandoned by the Missouri Department of Transportation due to low usage and nonexistent funds for renovation. Gene Taylor, an Audrain County corn and soybean farmer, says the abandoned bridge near his farm has been a real inconvenience when roading equipment or just to get from point A to point B.

“I feel cut off. If I want to go south, I’ve got to go north first,” he says.

Mississippi mayhem. Dan Farney, a corn and soybean farmer from Morton, Ill., is concerned with the condition of our lock and dam system and feels we need to make necessary investments in
infrastructure. “Our river system is our competitive advantage compared to countries like Brazil,” he says.

Approximately 60% of the nation’s grain is moved on our inland waterways, says Debra Colbert, spokesperson for the Waterways Council. “We’ll be moving twice as much grain in the next 15 to 20 years, so we had to ask, What can the inland river system do to meet this challenge?” she says.

For the Waterways Council and those who work on the river, the answer lies in the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan, which calls for the current funding process of 50% industry and 50% federal cost sharing for new lock construction. Currently, there is a 20¢ per gallon tax on fuel paid by the barge and towing industry. This would be increased by 30% to 45%, which would fund 25 targeted projects instead of six under the current funding mechanism.

Colbert says the plan has the backing of more than 200 stakeholders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but not the Obama administration. “We’re puzzled because the plan meets all of the President’s objectives,” she explains.

Summing up her frustration, she says, “We’ve got to do something, because we can’t afford not to in this country. The current system for appropriating and spending money for waterways infrastructure is broken.”

Rail expansion. While some targeted rail expansion is going on, the U.S. Soybean Export Council says railroads will continue to be challenged by the cost of steel to build new railcars and lines; congestion on some of the major rail corridors, such as Los Angeles to Chicago; high fuel prices; and concerns about the quality of service. Beyond that, some rail carriers have discouraged the growth of intermodal service, which would divert business from the covered hopper services of shuttle car facilities.

Support infrastructure will also play a significant role in creating efficiencies that will make the U.S. competitive and allow it to meet the world’s growing need for grain. Power grids, pipelines, fuel availability, grain storage, broadband communications, smart technology and labor will all contribute to moving massive loads of grain from field to port.

The way forward? No one will know how infrastructure needs will play out in the 2012 budget until the end of November, when the bipartisan “super committee” made up of members of the House and Senate give their report on where to cut $1.2 trillion during the next 10 years.

President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget request includes a total of $129 billion for the Department of Transportation, as well as a $556 billion, six-year surface transportation reauthorization proposal to improve the nation’s highways, transit and rail infrastructure. The overall funding request is a 66% increase above fiscal year 2010, which was when the last
appropriated level was enacted.

Politics and our nation’s financial struggles aside, the state of the U.S. infrastructure delivers a harsh reality check for all of us.

Three Co-ops, One Train

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 20:01:45 GMT

Co-op investment tightens basis, but venture is not risk-free

F or a group of farmers in western Minnesota, pooling resources to create their own rail hub is a big risk that has paid off—to the tune of a double-digit basis improvement. Several years ago, producer members of three co-ops pledged assets to develop Agassiz Valley Grain LLC. Today the private company, located in Barnesville, Minn., loads 110-car unit trains with grain and sends them to Fargo, N.D., via the Ottertail Valley Railroad short line. The trains then head to the West Coast on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail line, en route to Asian markets.

“For soybeans, it’s meant a change in basis of as much as 20¢,” says Rick Maier, a Barnesville producer. Maier is a designated member of the LLC board from the Rothsay Farmers Co-op, of which he is also a board member. Rothsay is one of three co-ops that formed the LLC along with Archer Daniels Midland.

Besides the LLC tightening the basis for producers who sell grain to it, the formation of the unit train facility also means other grain buyers have had to tighten their basis to stay competitive.
Corn, soybeans and spring wheat are shipped on the trains. Rothsay Farmers Co-op pledged its Barnsville elevator as its investment in the LLC. Maier says the decision wasn’t easy.

“We were giving up part of our business,” he says. “Our co-op, Rothsay Farmers Elevator, was 105 years old. We’ve been building it a long time.”

While Maier’s co-op pledged assets, the other business partners pledged a total of $1.5 million, $500,000 each, in cash.

“For soybeans, it’s meant a change in basis of as much as 20¢,” says Rick Maier of the new unit train facility his co-op joined.

Backs Against the Wall. Maier felt his co-op didn’t really have much of a choice but to go all in. He and other board members found their backs against the wall because rail lines would no longer accept co-loaded rail car shipments.

After losing the ability to put grain on railcars in Barnesville, the co-op had become little more than a stopover trucking station, says Maier, who grows corn, soybeans, sugar beets, wheat and barley. “We were losing profit,” he notes.

As a result, the boards of the three co-ops were convinced they needed to jointly invest in a unit train facility capable of shipping on the BNSF rail line.

“If we wanted to stay in the grain business, this was our only option. We saw this as an opportunity, which has led to tighter basis,” Maier says. “It has increased competition.”

While Agassiz Valley Grain has been successful for Maier and the other owners, there are risks that producers, co-ops and elevators considering such ventures should be aware of, says University of Minnesota economist Jerry Fruin.

“This has been going on for 20 years,” Fruin says of unit train installations. “There are cases where co-ops have put in train loading facilities designed for 25 or 50 cars, and the co-op down the road puts in one for 100.”

The worst-case scenario is a co-op creating a “white elephant” that operates at only 50% or 70%
capacity, he says. As a result, Fruin explains, farmers have their capital tied up in an investment that is not performing.

Fruin says he is not against the concept of unit trains; rather, he just wants farmers to be aware that investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in them is not without risk.

Ethanol Plants Can Create Risk. In addition, the economist says, if the co-op is smaller, it might get squeezed by a larger co-op because the larger elevator typically sets the basis for the region. This might be good for prices, but it’s bad for an elevator that has just invested in a unit train facility.

Another risk, Fruin says, is the chance of a new ethanol plant being built nearby and taking away the co-op’s market. While the ethanol plant might be good for local prices, it can be bad for the local co-op elevator and the export market the unit train facility was supposed to capture. This, in turn, can hurt the investment of farmer-owners who have just invested a lot of money.

None of the potential risks have come to fruition for members of Agassiz Valley Grain, however. By any measure, the LLC has undergone amazing and profitable growth since it was formed in June 2006, in part because of equal parts pledged by ADM and three local elevators: Kragnes Farmers Elevator, Rothsay Farmers Elevator and Farmers Elevator of Fergus Falls.

From the start, the members of Agassiz Valley Grain kept their purpose front of mind: To load 110 railcar unit trains of grain on the BNSF Railway, primarily to export to elevators in the Pacific Northwest that load ocean-bound vessels for export to markets in China, Japan and Korea.

The LLC’s shuttle car loader is more efficient, both for railroads and grain elevators, says Dan Noreen, general manager of Agassiz Valley Grain. “A shuttle loader is designed to load out a 110-car unit train in 12 hours or less,” he says. “This equates to more than 460 semi-trucks at a rate of 39 trucks per hour.”

Economics Have Changed. In addition, Noreen says, the economics have changed. Due to the explosion of the Asian market, a huge investment in infrastructure by railroads and additional investment in West Coast grain facilities by large grain companies, it has become more advantageous to ship grain via rail from the Western Corn Belt than down the Mississippi River.

A shuttle car loader is more efficient, both for railroads and grain elevators, says Dan Noreen, general manager of Agassiz Valley Grain. “A shuttle loader is designed to load out a 110-car unit train in 12 hours or less. This equates to more than 460 semi-trucks at a rate of 39 trucks per hour.”

Agassiz Valley Grain is not the only LLC that’s investing in 110-car shuttle trains. More than 20 other projects have been built or are in the works in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska since 2010.

One reason why shuttle loaders are so important for this part of the country is that corn acreage has rapidly expanded in recent years and literally stretched the Corn Belt west. The current infrastructure was built for small grains, which have much smaller per-acre yields. Furthermore, this region of the country does not have ready access to the nation’s river system arteries, which has been a substantial deterrent to reaching vital export markets.

Agassiz Valley Grain has expanded every year since its inception. In 2007, an 800,000-bu. outside storage bunker addition was completed, and in the fall of 2008, the company invested in a 1 million bushel flat storage building. In the summer of 2009, a 190,000-bu. steel tank was added in conjunction with doubling the truck receiving capacity of the facility. In the summer of 2010, the grain drying capacity was doubled along with tripling the wet grain storage capacity.

This year is the first time since the LLC opened that no new brick and mortar has been added. The LLC did add a card reader system to make data collection and truck scaling faster and more convenient for farmer customers, though.

Maier says the LLC has become such a popular destination for the grain of area farmers that it has been undergoing some growing pains. He has heard producer complaints about long line waits to unload their crops.

“It’s sort of like the ‘Field of Dreams’—if you build it they will come,” he says.

However, the LLC can only invest so much in facilities at a time, he says. “The new grain dryer still can’t handle all the grain,” Maier notes. “Many farmers don’t understand the other side of grain issues, such as dealing with railroads, labor and OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration]. It’s been a real learning experience.”

$1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Clears Senate Hurdle, Includes Biggest Bridge Funding Since Eisenhower Era

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 13:41:48 GMT

A month after President Biden stood in front of the White House announcing an infrastructure deal, language of the $1 trillion bipartisan bill defeated the obstacles of Washington and made its way through the Senate.

The bipartisan U.S. Senate members cleared a procedural vote on a possible infrastructure bill Wednesday with a 67-32 vote. It marks the first procedural vote, clearing way for the deal to advance and possibly set Biden’s focus on infrastructure into action. Reports say it could still be days before the Senate finishes writing the bill, but this allows the Senate to start debate. The bill still faces obstacles, including turning the text into formal legislation that will need to pass both the Senate and House.

The legislation focuses on hard infrastructure funding for roads, bridges and broadband. In an interview with Farm Journal editor and AgDay Host Clinton Griffiths, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called the agreement “a very big moment” for the White House and America.

“For years, really, we’ve been asking what’s it going to take to at least do the things everybody can agree on,” Buttigieg told Griffiths. “We need better funding for roads and bridges, we have to do more to get broadband out to parts of the country that have been left out. And that’s what’s in this package; it’s going to create millions of good paying jobs for Americans. And it’s an example, of course, we’re not there yet. It’s got to get voted on, the House has to act and we have to get it to the President’s desk. But the moment the President signs it, it’s going to be an example that we can in fact deliver big things even in today’s divided Washington.”

Griffiths pressed on what type of infrastructure fixes the White House and Congress deem as necessary. Buttigieg responded with fixing rural bridges to funding to prevent issues such as the crack that shuttered a bridge in Memphis, Tenn.

“Thousands of bridges are in poor condition in this country; they’re in rural areas where if that bridge or road goes out there’s serious consequences for families and communities,” Buttigieg said. “It’s part of why I’m proud to see over $100 billion for roads, bridges and major projects, and the biggest dedicated investment in bridges since the Eisenhower era when the interstate system was set up in the first place.”

Breakdown of the Bill

What’s in the historic infrastructure agreement? The $1.2 trillion bill will cover costs over eight years and includes more than $550 billion in new spending.

$110 billion in new funds for roads, bridges and major projects; $40 billion of which is new funding for bridge repair, replacement and rehabilitation and $17.5 billion for major projects.
$73 billion for the electric grid and power structures.
$66 billion for rail services.
$65 billion for broadband.
$55 billion for clean drinking water.
$21 billion in environmental remediation.
$50 billion for flooding and coastal resiliency.
$39 billion in new transit funding to modernize transit. This is the largest federal investment in public transit in history, according to the White House.
$25 billion for airports.
$17 billion in port infrastructure.
$11 billion in transportation safety programs.
$7.5 billion for electric vehicles and electric vehicles charging; $2.5 billion in zero emission buses, $2.5 billion in low emission buses and $2.5 billion for ferries.
$1 billion for planning, design, demolition and reconstruction of street grids and parks.
Language regarding enforcement of unemployment insurance fraud and is fully paid for.

The White House says the funding will come partially from unspent emergency relief funds, targeted corporate user fees and tax enforcement on cryptocurrencies. The rest of the funding will need to come from other bipartisan measures.

Focus on Broadband

The Biden administration continues to acknowledge the need for broadband in both rural and urban areas.

“That’s why I’m proud of the $65 billion broadband provision to make sure every American can get fast and affordable internet access,” Buttigieg said. “The reality today is you need Internet access connections just as you need highway connections.”

While broadband is a newer issue than the nation’s roads and bridges, it’s been a policy focus since the 1990s. In the early 2000s, most internet access to homes came in the form of dial-up. Today, there’s still a need for quicker, more affordable broadband options, despite decades of focusing on the issue. According to the FCC, nearly one-fourth of the rural population, or 14.5 million people, lack access to fixed broadband service at reliable speeds.

“It’s not just about the funding to lay fiber optic cables and get wireless connections, although that’s important; it’s also policies to make sure there’s a good competitive environment,” the Transportation Secretary told Griffiths. “A lot of Americans live where there’s only one broadband provider, and that often makes it tough for it to be affordable.

“These are the kinds of things we have to do,” he continued. “Yes, we need the money but also the policies. And that’s true, whether we’re talking about something like the internet or whether we’re talking about something like road safety. There’s $11 billion overall in this package for safety, which is so important across everything we manage in this department, from pipelines to bridges, and I’ll be proud to work with folks across the country on delivering there.”

Agriculture’s focus on all types of infrastructure funding is an annual battle. As other countries dredge deeper rivers and expand ports to allow for larger ships, there’s concern the U.S. could lose a competitive advantage for agricultural goods. 2020 marked the second highest year on record for U.S. ag exports, totaling $146 billion in value.

“The bottom line is you get what you pay for,” Buttigieg said. “This is a country that historically has been proud of having the best infrastructure in the world. We’ve fallen out of that — we’re out of the top 10. This is an opportunity to change that. I think that’s one of the reasons why you see such strong bipartisan support to do something.”

Pressing Shipping Supply Chain Issues

The infrastructure funding push comes at a time when the global supply chain is in disarray . From impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to labor issues, agriculture and consumers are dealing with supply delays and shortages.

Drewry Shipping Consultants says the average price worldwide to ship a 40’ container overseas in June jumped 333% from a year prior. In addition, only 39% of container ships around the world arrived on time at ports in May.

“This is something that really does flow through the entire American economy,” Buttigieg said. “The President has directed us to work with everybody who’s involved, whether we’re talking about truckers, whether we’re talking about freight, railroads, ports and anything in between, to make sure we really do have those goods moving. We know when we get a chance to compete American goods, agricultural and otherwise are second to none. We’ve got to make sure it’s flowing the way it needs to so we can really sell to the world.”

According to Reuters , Republicans blocked a similar move last week, saying details were not nailed down. In the latest bill, details on transit and broadband are still being finalized but lawmakers say legislative text will be completed soon.

52% of New Spending in Senate Infrastructure Bill Funds Transportation, Passage Expected to Hit Major Roadblock in the House

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 14:47:29 GMT

The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill Tuesday, and transportation could receive more than half the new funding slated in the bill. However, the House leadership’s desire to pass the infrastructure bill in tandem with a human rights bill could cause the infrastructure plan to hit a major roadblock in the coming weeks.

The Senate passed the “Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act” with a vote of 69 to 30, which included 19 Republicans supporting the bill, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The bill includes more than $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, rail, ports, airports and broadband.

U.S. Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack touted the passage of the bill on AgriTalk Tuesday , sharing how he thinks the plan will help improve infrastructure in rural America.

“When you build better roads, when you improve and make safe bridges, when you make sure the rail system works in an efficient way, when you improve inland waterways so lock and dam systems work in a modern way and you improve ports, it means you’re able to move soybeans, corn, whatever the commodity, more efficiently, more effectively and less expensively to market,” Vilsack told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory.

“That allows you to price a product in a way that is very competitive in the world market,” Vilsack adds. “When 20% to 30% of everything we grow is exported, the transportation system is critically important to our ability to maintain our edge and ag exports. We’re headed toward a record year in agricultural exports. If we don’t invest, if we continue to delay these investments as we have over the last decade, our competitors will catch up and eventually surpass us, and we’ll lose that competitive edge.”

According to the Soy Transportation Coalition, more than half of the dollars will be used for transportation funding, providing $548 billion in additional spending. When combined with existing baseline infrastructure spending, the Coalition says the total funding for infrastructure will be approximately $944 billion over five years and $1.2 trillion over eight years.

Of the major new funding categories included in the Senate version of the bill, the Soy Transportation Coalition says the highlights are:

Transportation Categories ($284 billion; 52% of new spending):

Roads, bridges, and major projects: $110 billion (includes $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation)
Passenger & freight rail: $66 billion
Public transit: $39 billion
Airports: $25 billion
Ports and waterways: $17 billion
Safety: $11 billion
Electric vehicle infrastructure: $7.5 billion
Electric/zero emission buses: $5 billion
Electric/zero emission ferries: $2.5 billion
Reconnecting communities: $1 billion

Other Categories ($256 billion; 48% of new spending):

Electric and power infrastructure: $65 billion
High-speed internet: $65 billion
Clean drinking water: $55 billion
Resilience and western water infrastructure: $50 billion
Environmental remediation: $21 billion

“We are pleased with the passage of the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act,” says Mike Steenhoek, executive director, Soy Transportation Coalition. “A number of the key provisions of the bill – specifically the $110 billion in funding for roads and bridges and the $17 billion for ports and waterways – will clearly enhance the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.”

Steenhoek points out that of the 19 Senators who voted against the Senate’s infrastructure plan, the majority cited concerns over the national debt.

“This is a reasonable concern since the nation clearly has and continues to allocate scarce resources on questionable items that do not provide long-term value. We have increasingly become a spending nation versus an investing nation,” says Steenhoek. “When you spend, you allocate resources today in exchange for value today. It’s an immediate gratification. In contrast, when you invest, you allocate resources today in exchange for value tomorrow and beyond. It’s delayed gratification. Constructing or enhancing roads, bridges, locks and dams, ports, etc. is clearly an example of investment, as these assets will provide value to the American people for years to come.”

Steenhoek says another highlight of the bill is legislation that will create a pilot program to research the benefits of bio-based products for use in construction and other projects. The pilot program, proposed by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) is one with which the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the South Dakota Soybean Association helped draft the language. The idea is to use soy-based concrete and asphalt sealants to help extend the life of roads and bridges, while also viewing the practices as environmentally-friendly.

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) both released statements after the infrastructure bill’s passing in the Senate.

NCBA called the plan a step in the right direction, saying the investments in infrastructure are critical to those in rural America.

AFBF urged the House to follow the Senate’s lead by leaving tax rates and stepped-up basis unchanged as lawmakers work on solutions to fund the legislation.

What’s Next?

The Senate’s infrastructure bill now heads to the House, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she won’t allow a vote on the infrastructure package until a $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” bill is also passed by the Senate. That bill includes more controversial infrastructure items, including climate change, universal preschool and affordable housing. However, Washington insiders say that will be a tough sell, as that bill is unlikely to get any Republican support as it sits today.

Dissecting Congress' $1.2T Infrastructure Plan, What's In It For Agriculture?

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:45:03 GMT

After months of infrastructure debate and setbacks, compromise spurred the House of Representatives to pass the Senate’s infrastructure bill . With a key vote of 228-206, the “ Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act” heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

The bill was passed by the Senate nearly three months prior, with the Senate cast a 69-30 vote on August 10, 2021.

According to Pro Farmer Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer, the bill contains $550 billion in new spending that will take place over the next five years. Part of that funding will be dedicated to roads, bridges and rail, as well as expanding electric vehicle charging stations. Another big piece of the legislation that could impact rural America is the broadband piece of the package.

Solving Supply Chain Challenges?

But for one transportation guru within agriculture, this could also help ease some of the supply chain constraints crippling agriculture.

“The supply chain challenges over the past year have highlighted the reality that we can get supply right, and we can get demand right, but if we do not get infrastructure right, we, as an industry and as a broader economy, will not flourish,” says Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director of the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC). “In addition to the overall stress confronting our global supply chain, a number of specific disruptions – Hurricane Ida, the Suez Canal, the I-40 bridge near Memphis, the Colonial Pipeline, etc. – have provided a vivid reminder that if one of our critical junctures goes awry for any number of reasons, the consequences to the broader economy can be profound.”

According to the American Soybean Association (ASA) , the legislation includes provisions to address truck driver shortages, including hours-of-service changes.

While the topline items in the bill sound packed with funds to help the United States’ infrastructure, what’s in it for agriculture?

Steenhoek says the biggest piece will be mending a problem that was apparent even before the supply chain challenges. He says crumbling infrastructure within agriculture, including dated locks and dams, could become an even bigger issue for getting exports loaded and shipped.

“A number of the key provisions of the bill – specifically the $110 billion in funding for roads and bridges and the $17 billion for ports and waterways – will clearly enhance the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture,” adds Steenhoek.

According to the Soy Transportation Coalition, the $548 in additional spending will be combined with existing baseline and will amount to $944 billion over five years. But when you extend that over eight years, he says the tally becomes $1.2 trillion.

STC broke down the funding that will impact agriculture as:

Transportation Categories ($284 billion; 52% of new spending):

Roads, bridges, and major projects: $110 billion
- Includes $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation
Passenger & freight rail: $66 billion

Public transit: $39 billion
Airports: $25 billion
Ports and waterways: $17 billion
Safety: $11 billion
Electric vehicle infrastructure: $7.5 billion
Electric/zero emission buses: $5 billion
Electric/zero emission ferries: $2.5 billion
Reconnecting communities: $1 billion

Other Categories ($256 billion; 48% of new spending)

Electric and power infrastructure: $65 billion
High-speed internet: $65 billion
Clean drinking water: $55 billion
Resilience and western water infrastructure: $50 billion
Environmental remediation: $21 billion

Additionally, Steenhoek says there’s a pilot program introduced by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) that could help fuel the use of soybeans in construction and other projects.

Another element Washington watchers are bringing to light–a foreign freight car ban.

Wiesemeyer reported on Monday that buried in the plan is a foreign freight car ban that will likely catch China’s attention.

“The ban would effectively apply to freight cars manufactured by China,” reported Wiesemeyer. “Freight cars couldn’t have more than 20% of such content one year after the department issues the new regulations. The maximum would drop to 15% three years after regulations are issued.”

Wiesemeyer says manufacturers could be fined between $100,000 to $250,000 for each freight car that’s in violation. The Transportation Department could prohibit repeat violators from providing additional freight cars for operation on the U.S. freight railroad system. Manufacturers would also have to certify that they meet the requirements annually.

How will the federal government pay for the new plan?

Wiesemeyer says it will come from several different areas.

“The five-year spending package will be paid for by tapping $210 billion in unspent Covid-19 relief and $53 billion in unemployment insurance aid, which some states have halted, along with an array of smaller pots of money, like petroleum reserve sales and spectrum auctions for 5G services,” reports Wiesemeyer. “However, it will add $256 billion in projected deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”

What’s Next?

While the House Democrats scored a victory with the passage of the long-awaited infrastructure plan, there are still some major ticket that remain as unfinished business for the administration. The largest may be the highly debated Build Back Better (BBB) plan.

Just last week, the Biden administration unveiled a scaled down version of the original plan. The BBB now has a price tag of $1.75 trillion. And with a key procedural vote early Saturday, the House of Representatives moved the plan another step closer.

Wiesemeyer reports House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the legislation would be passed before the Nov. 25 Thanksgiving holiday. In their statement, moderates said they would allow for a vote no later than the week of Nov. 15. But that could delay final action into December, when Congress must grapple with a Dec. 3 gov’t funding deadline and raising the debt ceiling, both of which will spark conflict with Republicans.

While many agricultural groups came out in support of infrastructure, the BBB plan isn’t striking the same chord of support. Agricultural Retailers Association ARA sent a statement following the infrastructure vote, applauding what the group called a “critical piece of legislation,” however, the group had the opposite direction of BBB moving another step closer to passage yet this year.

“ARA is strongly opposed to the House’s Build Back Better bill. The tax increases included in this plan would not only counteract any economic recovery but also result in steep cost increases for consumers,” said ARA.

DC Signal to Noise: Infrastructure Passed; It's Time for Reconciliation

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:01:46 GMT

AgriTalk’s Chip Flory and Pro Farmer’s Jim Wiesemeyer layout the infrastructure bill and a look ahead at what’s to come. Watch the video above or listen to the podcast below for discussion on these topics and more:

> Infrastructure – Roads, bridges, and broadband.
> Vaccine mandate – OSHA’s authority and states fighting back
> Reconciliation bill – methane reduction program could cost consumers $10 a hamburger.
> EPA – rejected refinery exemption petitions

Newest Tax Proposal in Washington Won’t Impact Most Farmers Today, But Tax Expert Warns it Could Be a Trojan Horse for Higher Taxes

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 18:08:47 GMT

Senate Democrats are pushing for a new tax proposal this week in order to help fund two impending spending bills in Washington D.C. What’s being proposed is called The Billionaires Income Tax, and it will do just that: impose a tax on billionaires. One farm tax expert thinks the proposed tax changes tied to the plans could turn into a trojan horse for farmers.

As Democratic leaders in the House work to secure a vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan yet this week, legislators are also hoping to reach an agreement on Biden’s Build Back Better Act. In total, the spending package comes with a price tag of $2 trillion and includes everything from climate initiatives to social safety nets the Biden administration is trying to pass.

“In a package that’s supposed to be about giving everybody a shot to get ahead, it would be a big mistake, from both a policy and political perspective, not to ask billionaires to pay a fair share,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Newest Tax Proposal Wouldn’t Impact Most Farmers

Since spring, the issue with the massive spending plan is how to pay for it. The new proposal would impose a tax on unrealized capital gains and also hit the step up in basis.

“I wouldn’t call that a wealth tax, but it would help get at capital gains, which are an extraordinarily large part of the incomes of the wealthiest individuals, and right now escape taxation until they’re realized, and often they’re unrealized in the death benefit from so-called step Up of basis. So, it’s not a wealth tax but a tax on unrealized capital gains of exceptionally wealthy individuals,” says Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

Eliminating the step up in basis is an idea many farmers have worried about since the Biden administration started floating around possible tax changes.

Farm CPA Paul Neiffer says as the tax proposal sits today, the majority of farmers won’t be hit with the tax change since they have to bring in at least $100 million dollars of net farm income, for at least three consecutive years.

“I’m not saying I think there’s lots of things that will probably be in there would affect farmers, but strictly based on this proposal that Janet Yellen outlined, this proposal won’t impact the majority of farmers,” says Neiffer.

The Farm CPA says at this point, only farmers who are already billionaires would be included in the newest tax proposal.

“There might be a couple billionaires out there that are doing a lot of farming,” says Neiffer with CLA. “We know that there are some billionaires that have farm operations. So yes, it would impact those farmers. But for the rank and file farmers, as it’s currently proposed, it would really not affect them, because they have to have at least $100 million in net income for at least three consecutive years, or they have to be worth at least a billion dollars.”

A Trojan Horse for Higher Taxes?

Neiffer says even though the proposal would impose capital gains tax on liquid assets, it’s only triggered when they sell those assets. However, he thinks it’s a proposal that opens the door for changes down the road that could end up impacting farm families.

“The issue is if they get this in place, it starts at $1 billion, and then suddenly, it’s going to drop to $500 million. Then it’s going to drop to $100 million, then it’s going to drop to $50 million, and eventually, it’s going to drop to $10 million. And then that’s when it’s really going to affect our farmers, especially if the income is going to drop down to $1 million or less. So, this is just sort of like the Trojan Horse. Let’s get that Trojan horse into the gates, so to speak, and then we’ll let the lower amounts drop, not in the next year or two, but within 10 years, and that’s when it will definitely affect farmers.”

AgDay reported Tuesday that The Wall Street Journal’s estimates show the proposal would likely only affect less than 1,000 of the nation’s wealthiest citizens. Democrats are also eyeing a 15 percent corporate minimum tax. If progress is made this week, it puts the plan on track to be passed before surface transportation funding runs out on Oct. 31.

The Biden administration’s tax changes originally proposed earlier this year showed those tax changes could be costly for family farms. The report from Texas A&M University’s Agricultural & Food Policy Center (AFPC) showed the original proposal from the White House would have produced a significant tax liability across all the U.S. farms. In fact, the only farms that wouldn’t have seen impacts would have been ones that rent 100% of their ground.

The House passes BBB Act — Do the costs outweigh the benefits?

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 20:11:35 GMT

On Friday, Nov. 19, 2021 The U.S. House of Representatives passed President Joe Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ plan, also known as the reconciliation package. This vote came after months of debate and countless rewrites to the plan.

“ The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal is now law and we will reap its benefits of new job and economic growth and the ability to compete around the world. The American Rescue Plan continues to get our economy back on track as we recover from the pandemic. Together with the Build Back Better bill, we have a truly transformational opportunity to rebuild the physical, natural, and human infrastructure of our nation,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a release.

The $1.7 trillion plan invests more than $90 billion in climate-smart agriculture, forestry, research, rural development, child nutrition and debt relief, according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry .

Climate-Smart Agriculture: $27 billion to give farmers and ranchers the tools they’ve asked for to keep leading on climate. It’s the biggest investment in conservation since the Dust Bowl —reaching as many as 240,000 farms and 130 million acres of cropland per year;
Forestry: $27 billion to restore forests, fight wildfires and sequester carbon in trees – the biggest ever investment in forest restoration, wildfire prevention, and climate-smart forestry;
Research: $2 billion for agricultural climate research and agricultural research facilities;
Rural Development and Energy: $18.3 billion to invest in rural prosperity and help rural communities transition to cleaner energy;
Child Nutrition: $10 billion to invest in child nutrition programs to feed millions of additional kids during the school year and over the summer; and,
Debt Relief: $6 billion in additional funding to expand support to economically distressed borrowers and underserved farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in high-poverty areas.

“The Build Back Better initiative is a historic step forward. It’s going to enable us, once passed and signed by the President, to remain competitive and resilient in a global economy into the future. While at the same time helping American families cut costs in areas of health care, education, housing, and increase their ability to cope with any increased costs,” Vilsack said in a press briefing on Nov. 19 following the house approval vote.

Vilsack said in the briefing that the plan won’t prevent obstacles to farmers who want to pass on their operation to the next generation, noting that the estate tax code stepped up-basis would not be eliminated. He said corporations and rich individuals would pay more.

“Our corporations have made more than a billion dollars and didn’t pay any tax and individuals who make more than $25 million a year; they are going to pay a little extra tax, and I think they probably can afford a little extra.” Continue reading.

However, some organizations stand opposed to the legislation. The American Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday, Nov. 16 stating, “After watching months of contentious, partisan debate surrounding the Build Back Better Act, AFBF stands in opposition to the legislation. While some elements of the reconciliation package would benefit agriculture, the massive amount of spending and tax increases required to pay for the plan outweigh the gains we would see in rural America.”

In the Nov. 19 press conference Vilsack replied, “with respect to the Farm Bureau… I just don’t think that’s that aligns with the terms and conditions of this bill. The initial proposal contained an elimination of stepped-up basis. And notwithstanding the fact that there was a provision in the initial proposal that would have exempted 98% of the farms in the country today from having to be concerned about this. There was still I think a level of concern that folks had. That provision is not in this bill.”

“I don’t see anything in this bill that necessarily compromises the ability of family farms to stay in business,” Vilsack said.

Will The USDA Pop-Up Site Solve The Clogged Ports Issue?

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 20:52:54 GMT

Clogged ports amassed with shipping container vessels have captured news headlines since COVID-19 slammed the global supply chain.

Earlier this week, USDA announced a partnership with the Port of Oakland to ease congested ports and supply chain issues through a 25-acre pop-up site dedicated to agricultural companies for container filling purposes.

Following the pop-up announcement, various politicians have debated whether it will add further headache or relief.

Empty Opportunities

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) says the USDA partnership with the Port of Oakland “isn’t going to solve the problem” because shippers deliver product to the U.S. and leave ports with empty containers. He says ocean carriers currently have an exemption from antitrust laws that will continue to allow them to leave ports with empty containers “until there is a law in place that says you can’t do it.”

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack responded saying his department’s efforts in the partnership are “not the only solution, but an important first step.” He says his work in communicating with ocean carriers has brought three major shipping companies back to the Port of Oakland, and he plans the same for the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach.

Pete Buttigieg, U.S. transportation secretary says the partnership will help American farmers and agricultural producers move their product to market “while also making better use of empty containers that are causing congestion at the ports.”

Ownership

According to White House Ports Czar John Porcari, only 2% of the global shipping market is U.S. flagged vessels. The three largest shipping companies running through California ports hail from China, Taiwan and Korea.

Garamendi sees the congested ports as international trade issue that requires the U.S. to put pressure on foreign countries. He says the U.S. Department of State has been in contact with these foreign countries, yet the port congestion has only expanded from 40% congestion to 70%.

Vilsack says his administration wants to do more for the port but hasn’t received a budget from the government to carry out further action. Regarding the pop-up, his team plans to use $5 million in funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation to:

• Pay 60% of the startup cost
• Provide pre-cool refrigerated shipping containers for perishables
• Offer $125 subsidy to offset logistic costs of moving containers to the pop-up

Weighing the Cost

Adjustments to truck-carrying capacity has been heavily debated as a solution to ports. Truck size and weight are established at the state level, with federal oversight.

Porcari says he has an ongoing discussion with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration about increasing truck carrying capacity.

“This is not just a short-term issue related to the difficulties in exporting right now,” says Porcari. “This is a perennial issue that has be tackled in our infrastructure to accommodate those larger weights.”

Vilsack echoed Porcari saying ports and truck capacity are an “interesting” issue when considering the bipartisan infrastructure bill. He says as bridges and roads are repaired across the U.S., they can be strengthened to handle more weight and offer “greater resilience and efficiency in the long term.”

Read more:

U.S. Ag Exports Missing The Boat Due To Out Of Whack World Supply Chain

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 20:31:22 GMT

If international trade were an Olympic sport, then the U.S. would have lost this latest round of competition by more than a mile. Actually, we lost this one by more than a trillion—a trillion dollars, that is—as the U.S. trade gap in goods grew to $1.08 trillion in 2021.

This was the first time in history the trade deficit surpassed $1 trillion.

Economists would quickly point to the fact that trillions of dollars of government stimulus primarily fueled such a buying frenzy among domestic consumers. But that’s only part of the story, and agriculture is caught up in this very complicated storyline.

Agriculture is turning out to be the unintended victim—as the fallout from the pandemic adds another plot twist to the reality in which we now live. Peel back the onion. Dig a little deeper. You will find consumers burning government-borrowed money on stuff “Made In China” is just one reason such a bloated trade gap exists.

A second reason is this—ships bringing all this “stuff” from China and other Pacific Rim countries are hastily dropping off their goods at the port and hightailing it back across the sea with their hulls empty.

That means the “Grown in the USA” agricultural product didn’t leave the dock for another day or week or until it was rendered worthless in some cases or the buyer found another supplier.

Billions of dollars of U.S. agricultural goods never left port last year, and the problem doesn’t seem to be getting any better this year. An informal survey by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, which represents exporters, found about 22% of agricultural exports were being lost due to transportation issues.

The National Milk Producers Federation estimates shipping disruptions cost dairy exporters $1 billion in the first half of 2021. According to the group, 72% of containers at one point leaving major California ports were empty. That’s a record.

Leprino Foods, a global dairy ingredients supplier based in Denver, Colorado, reported it is holding its cheese in refrigerated containers, which chalked up an extra $25 million in fees last year. Mike Durkin, Leprino’s CEO, in testimony to the U.S. House Agriculture Committee last November warned that the repercussions of failing to deliver exports of U.S. farm goods to customers could have dire long-term consequences.

“The export crisis may well result in irreparable harm to American agriculture as customers around the world are questioning the U.S. dairy industry’s reliability as a supplier,” Durkin said.

The reason this is happening is rooted in simple economics. Shipping rates for goods to the U.S. have been running seven times higher than the cost of moving domestic goods abroad.

How did we get into this mess, and more importantly, how do we get ourselves out? Blaming COVID-19 by itself is way too simple, and at this point, that is the most worn out cliche on the planet. The reality is that we’ve experienced a perfect storm of unfortunate events, lack of resources, bad governmental policies and greed. This is a supply chain train wreck continuing to derail a true economic recovery, especially in agriculture.

At the epicenter of this supply chain tragedy is the Shipping Port of Southern California—known as the Port of Los Angeles. In early January, more than 109 vessels were backlogged at sea and waiting to unload at the port. Most will have left port empty.

Maybe, just maybe some light could be on the horizon. But it literally is going to take an act of Congress to make it reality. Recently, a bill to address ocean carriers cancelling shipping contracts was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. He is the chief sponsor of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act that passed the chamber in November by a vote of 364-60.

Government certainly doesn’t hold all the answers, but it definitely should put up a fight when it comes to international trade and work to ensure that the game is played fairly.

Meanwhile, agriculture’s domestic recovery hangs in the balance. So many issues must be addressed when it comes to this whole supply chain drama. This is a game we cannot afford to lose, and we will lose if something doesn’t change soon.

President Biden likely to address War, Food and Fuel Costs, Ocean Shipping Reform

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 22:26:27 GMT

President Joe Biden will give his first State of the Union address Tuesday evening, and it likely won’t be the speech he and his staff had anticipated giving even a week ago.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said it will be a difficult address for Biden to give because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Our thoughts and prayers are extended to those brave people (in Ukraine) who are fighting fiercely against the bully that’s trying to take over their country,” Vilsack said during a discussion with AgriTalk Host Chip Flory on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier on Tuesday, Biden authorized a decision to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Much of that decision, Vilsack said, was in response to the war in the Ukraine. However, the decision also was made in part to try and address the prices Americans are paying for fuel.

“There’s no question the president is cognizant of the higher prices American farmers and families are paying right now at the pump,” Vilsack said.

He also referenced Biden’s decision to authorize the USDA to provide assistance to the biofuel industry and expand the infrastructure for higher blends as an effort to stem higher fuel prices.

“Remember, we’re putting $100 million dollars on the table for E15 expansion and higher blends in the country,” Vilsack said. “It’s why (Biden) basically signed off on the EPA providing record levels of biofuels in 2022. Whether it’s in the speech tonight or not, let’s just make sure we look at the entire picture here, because it’s a pretty significant one.”

When Flory asked whether the president would address the Department of Justice’s investigation into the meatpacking industry and cattle market prices tonight, Vilsack demurred.

“You know, that’s being pretty closely held, as all investigations are,” he told Flory.

Broad-Ranging Topics

Additional topics Biden is likely to address in the State of the Union range from climate change to infrastructure improvements, health care, and child-care costs.

Vilsack reminded AgriTalk listeners that the U.S. has had a growing economy in the past year. “We’ve had the fastest job growth in history; we’ve had the fastest economic growth of the country in 40 years. Let’s not forget that,” he said.

When Flory asked whether there will be any surprises in the speech, Vilsack replied, “Well, see if the president mentions anything about ocean shipments and references actions by the Department of Justice, the Maritime Commission, directed at ocean shippers.

“That may not be something that people would normally think about,” Vilsack continued. “But given the fact that we’ve had so much difficulty in terms of getting things to and from the United States, that has exacerbated the supply chain challenges that often result in higher costs.”

President Biden’s address is slated for 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

To hear the complete discussion between Secretary Vilsack and Flory on AgriTalk, listen here:

John Phipps: Can the Push for More Solar Energy and Farmland Coexist?

Fri, 20 May 2022 11:40:51 GMT

From Kody Light in Gaston, Indiana concerning farmland loss:

“What about all the Industrial Scale Solar Projects being built and proposed? We have not even begun to count farmland (900 acre + tracts) that has been or will be lost to Industrial Scale Solar! That land we all know will NEVER be farmed again. Want to say it will be farmed again? Show me a fully successful decommissioned project in the US that is being farmed! What will the math look like in the next 5 to 10 years with vast tracts of land being destroyed by industrial solar so a few large companies and landowners can profit huge!”

This is another common misperception about size. There have been multiple calculations for exactly this problem. The most conservative estimate of the area needed in 22,000 square miles or 14 million acres to provide 100% of our electricity.

This is for 14% efficient panels, but current panels are already over 20% which would sharply reduce the number. Generating all power from only farmland would use 1.5% of farmland, or about 4% of cropland.

For perspective, we have 22 million acres in CRP. My guess is less than a few percent will be on farmland for several reasons. First, the most optimistic projection is 50% by 2050. Our major crop production areas are not the best place to put industrial solar – the Southwest is, by far. Installations need to be reasonably close to hi-voltage transmission lines and substations, normally less than 2 miles. About 20% of solar installation are residential – roofs. It is easier and cheaper to site solar arrays on non-farmland, like deserts.

There is no government involvement in acquiring energy sites. It is done by agreement with landowners and energy developers, not imminent domain, or government seizure. Consequently, much of the outrage felt by farmers arises from not owning the land.

As for ground never being farmed again, I could not find an industrial farmland array that has been decommissioned, but we learned from nuclear power those expenses must be set aside at construction. Virtually all decommissioned solar installations have been industrial rooftops and residences.

Finally, while a tiny number of landowners do profit handsomely, it is a right of ownership. The area involved cannot be remotely described as “vast”. It’s a large country; there’s room for solar.

Shipping Container Rates Down 63%, But We're a Long Way From Back to Normal Operations

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:19 GMT

Of the many supply chain headaches brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, shipping container backlogs were arguably one of the worst.

A record 109 bottlenecked ships were documented by the Marine Exchange of Southern California & Vessel Traffic Service Los Angeles and Long Beach in January 2022.

As of last Monday, that ship count sat at eight—an all-time low.

L.A. Port officials are now asking for ships that diverted around the congestion to return.

But has the bottleneck issue been resolved, or moved somewhere else? The East Coast may now be carrying the burden.

East and South Coast Ports Status

Josh Brazil, vice president of supply chain insights at Project44, says the Port of Savannah, the Gulf Coast Port of Houston and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have taken on the west coast’s port congestion due to two reasons:

1. Strong demand
2. Potential for a labor strike

“There’s a lot to lose in the west, but the ports have mitigated a bit of that risk by pushing shipments towards the East Coast,” Brazil says. “When you combine that slight shift with some of the ground factors like the Port of Savannah’s closed births due to ongoing construction, or overall lack of capacity to hand incoming ships, it’s puts at least Savannah, Houston and New York on their heels.”

USDA announced pop-up ports along the Pacific coastline in February to ease port overflow. Brazil says the pop-up sites did work to ease port congestion and may be necessary in the East and South because “it’s not only the infrastructure, but also the port space” that’s available.

Not only have port congestion issues evolved, so have container shipment costs.

Container Costs Plummet

During the COVID-19 pandemic, container shipping companies were notorious for coming into U.S. ports with goods and leaving with empty containers, namely, in the highly profitable trade lanes like the Trans-Pacific trade lane from China to the U.S.

Numerous congressmen felt the empty container trend wouldn’t stop until legislation was put into place, but policy was already on its way when Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced the Ocean Shipping Reform Act in December 2021.

The bill passed through Congress on June 13, 2022, putting an end to empty shippers while driving the extremely high cost of containers down.

“From China to the U.S. West Coast, if we compare the beginning of January 2022 to now, the container cost rate has come down 63 percent,” says Brazil. “It used to be about $14,000 and now sits at $5,250. On the East Coast, it’s come down 42 percent from a high of $16,000 in January to $9215 today.”

U.S. shipment and supply chain issues don’t stop short of coastlines. A U.S. rail union strike looked to hit the tracks this week, breaking the supply chain just before the busy harvest hour. However, some hope came this month.

Container Ships Run into Rail Roadblocks

In early September, a tentative labor deal was reached by three of the 12 rail unions and large U.S. freight railroads. These unions represent more than 15,000 workers, or 11% of the 140,000 strong rail workforces.

Class one railroads and its worker struck a five-year labor contract that will provide:

• Wage increases
• Expanded health coverage

Mike Steenhoek, Soy Transportation Coalition executive director, says his team hopes the new deal will push rail labor full steam ahead.

“Our hope is that, moving forward, this will provide some real momentum for the other remaining unions to come to an agreement,” he says. “Ultimately we want to make sure that rail service is improving, not taking a step back.”

As for the remaining 9 rail unions and large freight railroads, an agreement wasn’t struck until Thursday —only a day before the potential strike on September 16.

The deal, impacting 115,000 rail workers, will provide:

• A 24% wage increase for the remaining life of the contract—2020 to 2024
• Provide improved working conditions

The last widespread rail strike occurred in the 1990s and only lasted one -to-two days. The effects, however, went on much longer. Industry professionals say the case will likely be the same in 2022.

Rail Labor Trouble Ahead

Max Fischer, National Grain and Feed Association’s chief economist, says the settlement won’t solder the rail supply chain back together over night.

“I think we’ll still have problems with winter,” he says. “It may be a year before we start to have more normal rail service.”

According to the Association of American Railroads, any nationwide rail service interruption would “dramatically” disrupt economic output, costing an estimated $2 billion each day.

More on shipping:
Rail Strike Averted: Tentative Agreement Reached Between Railroads and Unions Comes on the Eve of Harvest
Will The USDA Pop-Up Site Solve The Clogged Ports Issue?
Ocean Shipping Reform Bill on its Way to the President

Railroad Strike Days Away? Here’s What it Means for Agriculture

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 02:56:19 GMT

Nearly 60,000 union rail workers could go on strike starting Friday. The looming strike is despite the majority of unions reaching tentative agreement with the rail companies, but the unions not on board are essential to the operation of the nation’s rail system.

The impending rail strike has been a possibility for months and would be the first in nearly three decades. Despite the Presidential Executive Board (PEB) releasing recommendations as part of the ongoing collective bargaining process, the cooling off period will end Friday, opening the door for a strike to take place.

“As we’re sitting here, nine unions and the railroads have come to agreement on terms. A ninth one is tentative, but it looks like it’s very promising,” says Ken Erikson with S&P Global Commodity Insights. “That leaves us with three unions that need to finish negotiations with the railroads. And those three are the largest ones, representing roughly 50 to 60,000 employees. So, three outstanding, where the clock is ticking very fast. And there’s a lot of concern about you know, what are the final details is going to be the pays understood and a few other things. But it’s a matter about requirements of working on the job and such like that.”

As first reported on Monday , rail companies were already preparing for a possible strike and putting a halt to grain shipments as early as today, according to National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA).

“The railroads don’t want to have the cars and equipment out in areas of the country where they can’t protect them very well,” says Max Fisher, NGFA chief economist. “So, they’re taking steps to mitigate damages. For our members, they’re looking at essentially not receiving their grain on time and not being able to then ship out the finished products such as ethanol, flour, things of that nature.”

The rhetoric between unions and the railroads is also heating up ahead of Friday’s deadline. While the remaining unions say the negotiating process is still ongoing and they are committed to reaching a deal, rail companies say the some are creating false narratives about pay raises and paid time off. One group even accused the nation’s largest railroads of trying to further abuse shippers and gridlock the supply chain in order to extort a contract settlement from rail unions.

“Our Unions remain at the bargaining table and have given the rail carriers a proposal that we would be willing to submit to our members for ratification, but it is the rail carriers that refuse to reach an acceptable agreement,” Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART Transportation Division and Dennis Pierce, president of Brotherhood Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said in joint statement. In fact, it was abundantly clear from our negotiations over the past few days that the railroads show no intentions of reaching an agreement with our Unions, but they cannot legally lock out our members until the end of the cooling-off period. Instead, they are locking out their customers beginning on Monday and further harming the supply chain in an effort to provoke congressional action.”

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) claims coverage of the strike in recent days has included false information, specifically that laborers get no sick days or paid time off.

“Moreover, the matters at hand were dealt with summarily by the Biden administration’s hand-picked arbitrators through the ‘Presidential Emergency Board.’ A reminder that the White House has stood by those recommendations, which have served as the basis for nine tentative agreements with labor unions and endorsed by broad swaths of the U.S. economy. The majority of these industry groups have called on Congress to enact the framework by law should parties fail to reach agreements by midnight Thursday,” AAR said in a statement.

What’s the likelihood a strike happens? There are a lot of moving parts, but Erikson says a last-minute deal is still possible.

“I can see where you may get one, maybe two unions that can come together on terms and I think he could get to a point where you have a high percentage over 50%, maybe closer to 60%, if not more, where this is an opportunity to make it known just how important labor is to the railroads, how important labor is to the country, and that there are important things that the unions want to demonstrate that they have as having proper wages, proper respect and proper benefits,” says Erikson. “It’s just maybe an attention getter to make a point.”

The Biden administration on Monday urged railroads and unions to reach a deal to avoid a shutdown of the rail system, saying it would pose “an unacceptable outcome” to the U.S. economy.

Tuesday’s release of inflation data showed core inflation was up not down and CPI did not go down as much as analysts predicted. Erikson points out even if a strike lasts one or two days, it will have a severe economic impact, but rising wages will also be passed on to those not at the negotiating table.

“Today’s inflation numbers are terrible,” says Erikson. “And this would be making the point that look, we got to preserve these wages somehow. And that could be backfire, because if you get higher wages, and someone’s going to pay that freight, and that’s the consumer for farmers, its basis, it’s just weaken basis for the consumer and retail goods, it’s higher prices somewhere along the line. And that may be the adverse effect to this is that Be careful what you read what you request, it may come back to hurt everybody and that’s the risk that’s being run here.”

Agricultural Impact of Railroad Strike

NGFA says some processors will be forced to temporarily shut down, no matter how long a rail strike lasts, and Erikson says it will be weeks to get the system back up and running, a system already facing severe backlogs. .

Farm Journal Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer is also looking into the impact it could have on farmers. In his daily report, Wiesemeyer focused on the possible rail strike, breaking down the impact by commodity:

Cotton: “There is a lot of old crop that needs to ship via rail,” said Jordan Lea, senior trader at Deca Global LLC, a textile supplier and former president of the American Cotton Shippers Association. “The whole logistical system is still too fragile from backlogs and Covid. We do not need this hiccup right now.”

Livestock and poultry: “A shutdown would quickly cause additional problems and force producers to make difficult decisions regarding the viability of their animals,” said NGFA.

Biofuels: “Processing and biofuels plants may have to scale back production due to an inability to both move in commodities for processing and move out finished products for consumption,” the NGFA noted.

Food industry: “Failure to finalize an agreement before the Sept. 16 deadline will hurt U.S. consumers and imperil the availability, affordability and accessibility of everyday essential products,” the Consumer Brands Association, which represents manufacturers of food, beverage, household and personal care products, said in a letter (link) to President Biden last week.

Congress Can Step In

While Congress can intervene, NGFA says that is a last resort, as that could become complicated. Yet, NGFA was on Capitol Hill this week talking to legislators about the importance of stepping in if a strike does take place.

“This is a political football, you know, and I’m sure that Congress really doesn’t want to be in the middle of this, no doubt, they want the two parties to come to an agreement,” says Fisher. “we’re trying to convince the rail carriers and the rail labor for the last two unions to come to an agreement, we don’t want to have to depend on Congress to solve this. That’s kind of our, our last, last line of defense, so to speak.”

Infrastructure

Energy Secretary Granholm, ‘We Want to Help Them Get to Work’

Biden to Call on Congress to Suspend Gas and Diesel Tax This Summer

Rail Strike Derailed as Biden Signs Labor Bill

USDA releases more food supply infrastructure grants

South Carolina grants

Oklahoma grants

John Phipps: Is the Jones Act Hurting American Agriculture?

Possible U.S. Rail Strike Now Back On the Table

Transportation Nightmare

History of Ongoing Rail Strike Threat

Impact on Farmers

More Traffic Slowdowns At The Panama Canal

New Legislation Looks To Connect Farmland And Ranchland To Broadband

Packer Insight — Infrastructure bill, buy local campaigns, retail strategy

USDA announces the 15 organizations that will administer the Farm and Food Workers Relief Grant Program

Could Rail Workers Now Strike Starting Monday As Concerns Of a Feed Shortage Continue In the West?

Read More: Livestock Producers Report Being Just Days Away From Running Out of Feed Due to Shipping Rail Issues

Looming Rail Strike?

Read More: Labor Contract Negotiations Continue Past Deadline at Some of America’s Most Important Ports

The Issue in Storing and Transporting Grain

Trouble Shipping Grain And Feed Via Rail Far From Over, Concerns Now Growing About Possible Worker Strike At Harvest

Read More: U.S. Rail Strike Averted For Now As Biden Steps In Before Sunday’s Deadline

What’s Driving the Issues Shipping Via Rail?

Read More: Livestock Producers Report Being Just Days Away From Running Out of Feed Due to Shipping Rail Issues

Hearing Hints at Complexity of Issue

Concerns About Labor Issues Growing Worse at Harvest

Tense Labor Negotiations?

Congress Urges STB to Take Action

Wait Times Cause Economic Pain

John Phipps: Why Can't the U.S. Figure Out a Way to Move Water From the Great Lakes to the West?

Read More: Water Shortage is the Number One Concern for this California Dairy Producer

U.S. Infrastructure Reality Check

Facing our challenges to guarantee our competitive edge

Read more about our nation’s infrastructure challenges.

The Report Card

Three Co-ops, One Train

Co-op investment tightens basis, but venture is not risk-free

$1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Clears Senate Hurdle, Includes Biggest Bridge Funding Since Eisenhower Era

52% of New Spending in Senate Infrastructure Bill Funds Transportation, Passage Expected to Hit Major Roadblock in the House

Dissecting Congress' $1.2T Infrastructure Plan, What's In It For Agriculture?

Solving Supply Chain Challenges?

While the topline items in the bill sound packed with funds to help the United States’ infrastructure, what’s in it for agriculture?

Another element Washington watchers are bringing to light–a foreign freight car ban.

How will the federal government pay for the new plan?

What’s Next?

DC Signal to Noise: Infrastructure Passed; It's Time for Reconciliation

Newest Tax Proposal in Washington Won’t Impact Most Farmers Today, But Tax Expert Warns it Could Be a Trojan Horse for Higher Taxes

Newest Tax Proposal Wouldn’t Impact Most Farmers

A Trojan Horse for Higher Taxes?

The House passes BBB Act — Do the costs outweigh the benefits?

Will The USDA Pop-Up Site Solve The Clogged Ports Issue?

U.S. Ag Exports Missing The Boat Due To Out Of Whack World Supply Chain

President Biden likely to address War, Food and Fuel Costs, Ocean Shipping Reform

John Phipps: Can the Push for More Solar Energy and Farmland Coexist?

Shipping Container Rates Down 63%, But We're a Long Way From Back to Normal Operations

East and South Coast Ports Status

Container Costs Plummet

Container Ships Run into Rail Roadblocks

Rail Labor Trouble Ahead

Railroad Strike Days Away? Here’s What it Means for Agriculture

Agricultural Impact of Railroad Strike

Congress Can Step In