June 16, 2025
RFA: Proposed RVOs Provide ‘Crucial Growth Opportunities’
The Renewable Fuels Association welcomed the release of proposed renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2026 and 2027, calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft rule a “very positive signal” for America’s ethanol industry and farmers. EPA has proposed renewable volume obligations for 2026 of 24 billion gallons, including 15 billion of conventional renewable fuel, 9 billion advanced, 5-point-6 billion biomass diesel and 1-point-3 billion cellulosic…with slightly more advanced biofuel in ’27. By prioritizing domestically-produced renewable fuels over imports, RFA said the EPA proposal makes good on President Trump’s commitment to put America first when it comes to energy and agriculture. “Today’s proposal is an important step toward achieving President Trump’s vision of lower gas prices, a stronger agriculture industry, and American energy dominance,” the RFA said in a release. “The volumes proposed today provide crucial growth opportunities for U.S. ethanol producers and farmers, while boosting the supply of lower-cost, American-made energy.”
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Trump Says Farmworkers Will Not Be Deported
President Donald Trump, citing pressure from the agriculture and hospitality sectors, says farmworkers who are in the country illegally shouldn’t be deported and reiterated that the administration would be taking action on the issue. “We’re going to have an order on that coming out soon,” he said Thursday in response to a reporter’s question at a White House ceremony. Trump didn’t elaborate on what the administration would do about farmworkers and hospitality industry employees. Trump had previously suggested that farmworkers would be allowed to stay but required to return to their countries temporarily. Trump’s latest remarks followed enforcement actions this week on farms in California and at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska. Trump said, “Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers. They’ve worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great. We’re going to have to do something about that.”
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NCBA: Screwworm Likely to be in U.S. Later This Summer
Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, says the screwworm, a parasitic pest, is likely to cross the southern border of the United States later this summer. It’s no longer a question of whether we see a return of New World screwworms in the U.S., it’s a matter of when, Woodall said, probably sometime later this summer. The screwworm females lay eggs near open wounds, any kind of wound in cattle, and the eggs hatch into larvae, which are maggots that burrow into the wound and feed on living tissue. He said the only cure is to sterilize the male screwworm flies, which they do in a factory in Mexico. When the female screwworm lays her eggs once, she dies, but the male screwworm lives on. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told the House Ag Committee last week that she will make a major announcement soon concerning the next preventative steps.
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Waterhemp Continues to Spread Westward in North Dakota
Farmers are turning to post-emergent herbicides, but concerns about certain weeds, such as waterhemp, last until harvest. Waterhemp continues to be a major weed problem for soybeans in North Dakota, with confirmed resistance to glyphosate, group 2 herbicides, and group 14 herbicides in many counties. When we find waterhemp, it’s going to be almost guaranteed it’s glyphosate-resistant and resistant to our group 2 herbicides, said Joe Ikley, weed specialist at North Dakota State University at field days last summer. Some counties have been confirmed as having group 14 resistance to waterhemp. Ikely said the primary region for where waterhemp resides is from Fargo to Jamestown and the southeast corner of the state. That is where we kind of live and breathe waterhemp, unfortunately, from a weed control perspective. However, Ikley has heard from the northern tier of counties and up into Manitoba over the last two years. *************************************************************************************
Finalized 10-Year Sage Grouse Study Confirms Benefits of Grazing
The University of Idaho on Friday released the finalized results of its 10-year study looking into the impacts of grazing on greater sage grouse populations. The study concluded that cattle grazing does not negatively impact greater sage grouse and can only benefit the species through building robust habitat, increasing forage, and reducing invasive grasses that lead to catastrophic wildfires. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Idaho Cattle Association, the Public Lands Council (PLC) and the Idaho Public Lands Council have all highlighted the benefits of grazing and pushed back against anti-grazing myths for decades, making this landmark study a must point of reference moving forward for anyone questioning the benefits of grazing on wildlife. “This study finally proves what ranchers have been saying all along – livestock grazing benefits wildlife, native grasses and the overall landscape,” said Public Lands Council president Tim Canterbury.
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Land Managers Defend Budget Cuts, Plans to Sell Public Lands
The country’s top land managers testified before U.S. senators last week to defend sweeping budget cuts for the nation’s public lands and a plan to sell 3.3 million acres managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management so communities can build housing. The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday published a provision for the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill requiring the Forest Service to sell between 965,000 and 1.45 million of its 193 million acres and the Bureau of Land Management to sell between 1.23 million and 1.84 million of its 245 million acres to encourage development of housing. The House last month stripped a plan to sell public lands in Nevada from its version of the budget bill. “This is not about our most sacred and beautiful places,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the committee. “This is often about barren land next to highways with existing billboards that have no recreational value.”
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