December 15, 2025
Quarterly Economic Condition Report for U.S. Agriculture
The Farm Credit Administration received its quarterly report on economic conditions affecting agriculture and an update on the overall performance of the Farm Credit System. Despite a turbulent year with tariffs and trade, the U.S. economy is expected to end 2025 on a relatively stable footing. In agriculture, producers face a mixed outlook. Bumper crops have created marketing challenges amid a fluid trade environment and a shortage of storage. Grain and soybean producers continue to experience margin compression from low commodity prices and rising fertilizer costs. Meanwhile, strong prices and low cost of feed are boosting livestock profitability. Although liquidity and solvency positions remain relatively strong in the farm sector, continued low or negative profitability for grain producers could erode financial resilience heading into the 2026 loan renewal season. The System reported solid financial results through the first nine months of 2025. Loan growth continued at a modest pace.
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Rollins Challenges California Ag Land Redistribution Plan
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins sent a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom demanding that the state abandon a proposal that would redistribute land based on race, ethnicity, and national origin. The letter comes as the California Land Equity Task Force considers a draft proposal that would encourage and facilitate land transfers and financial assistance exclusively to certain minorities. “Those proposed policies would grievously hurt farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers,” the Secretary said in the letter. “All people should be treated equally, and what California has proposed directly targets those who work from sunrise to well past sunset, faithfully tending our nation’s land and livestock.” In 2022, the state’s legislature established the task force to develop recommendations on how to equitably increase access to minority farmers and tribes. The task force is currently reviewing a draft that recommends action that would only apply to certain minorities.
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TFI Applauds House Passing the PERMIT Act
The Fertilizer Institute praised the House of Representatives for passing HR 3898, the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act. It’s legislation designed to bring clarity, consistency, and predictability to the federal Clean Water Act permitting process. “Permitting reform is essential to strengthening America’s fertilizer supply chain,” said TFI President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch. “For new phosphate and potash mining projects to nitrogen production and modern distribution facilities, today’s permitting process is too often defined by years’-long delays and significant uncertainty.” He added that the PERMIT Act provides the guardrails needed to keep critical projects moving while maintaining protections for water quality and natural resources. TFI members routinely face permitting delays for new and expanded fertilizer production operations that stretch into decades and cost tens of millions of dollars. The delay impacts the farmers who rely on a stable, affordable, and abundant supply of fertilizer.
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What Americans Think of the Dietary Guidelines
Every five years, the Dietary Guidelines are updated and released, based on current recommendations made by a scientific advisory committee. The guidelines were due to be updated this year, but are now being pushed to early 2026. Farmdoc from the University of Illinois used data from a Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey to help find out what consumers think about the DGA. Overall, consumers generally agreed to a strong extent with most of the recent recommendations. Over 50 percent strongly agreed with the recommendations to eat all types of vegetables and to choose food and beverages with less added sugars. The recommendations most likely to see dissent were eating fish or seafood twice a week and moving to low-fat or fat-free dairy milk or yogurt. As far as who should be developing the recommendations, over 90 percent of respondents strongly believe it should be nutrition experts, HHS, USDA, and medical experts.
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U.S. Corn Exports Well Above Last Year’s Pace
A USDA report says exports of corn continued their torrid pace while soybean shipments remained well behind 2024 year-end totals during the week ending on November 13. The report contains the latest export sales data as USDA continues playing catchup after the government shutdown that ended a month ago. Corn exports from the start of the marketing year through mid-November totaled 16.23 million metric tons, which the agency says is up 74 percent year over year. Commitments from overseas buyers to purchase U.S. corn were up 30 percent annually to 40.72 million metric tons. Soybean exports plunged 41 percent to 10.048 million metric tons. USDA said promises to purchase U.S. soybeans were reported at 18.043 million metric tons, also down 41 percent year over year. Wheat exports from the start of the marketing year totaled 12.196 million metric tons, up 23 percent annually.
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FACA Welcomes New Regenerative Ag Program
The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance welcomed the USDA’s announcement of a $700 million Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program. It’s a farmer-focused initiative designed to advance voluntary conservation and expand practical soil health and water management efforts that support the long-term productivity of America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest owners. The pilot’s focus on measurable outcomes will help strengthen confidence in the environmental benefits of longstanding conservation and regenerative practices. “We look forward to hearing more details about the implementation of this new initiative to ensure it is practical and available for a wide variety of producers, including livestock, row crops, and specialty crops alike,” the group said in a statement. Earlier this year, the FACA Steering Committee developed Regenerative Agriculture Guiding Principles, including Advancing Measurable Soil Health and Ecosystem Benefits, Voluntary Science-Based and Incentive-Driven Guidelines, and Economic Viability and Farm Sustainability.
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