[audio mp3="https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2113/2024/04/22190151/CJ-WRAP-HAT-E15-SUMMERTIME-WAIVER-042224.mp3"]   It’s a win for Michigan’s corn producers and the state’s five ethanol production facilities, as the EPA has issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15—gasoline blended with 15% ethanol—to be sold during the 2024 summer driving season. “Probably about 400 million gallons of E15 sales occurred last summer, again, only because this waiver was issued last summer. We would expect similar numbers or even larger numbers this summer,” says Geof ..read more

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack appearing before a U.S. Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. [audio mp3="https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2113/2024/04/22002025/SABRINA-WRAP-MAT-VILSACK-BUDGET-PRIORITIES-FOR-USDA-041824.mp3"]   Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appeared before the Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee last week to examine the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Requests for the USDA. Vilsack detailed several priorities for agriculture in President Biden’s budget request. “Clearly, we need to continue to look at w ..read more

Michigan’s sugarbeet grower-owners working to get the 2024 crop planted. Dean Haubenstricker, who farms near Frankenmuth in Saginaw County, is a Michigan sugarbeet grower-owner and board director with the Michigan Sugar Company.  He says he’s made some progress so far this planting season. “We’ve got about 15-percent of our sugarbeet acres planted, which is right about where Michigan Sugar Company is as a whole,” according to Haubenstricker He says he will have a total of 655 sugarbeet acres planted this year, but he adds that the planting process isn’t a “sprint”. “The days are getting ..read more

Dry and cool for the weekend. Canadian high pressure dominates the discussion Saturday through Monday morning. Soil temps are backing up a bit this weekend and corn may not like conditions a whole lot. However, we stay dry, with good sunshine, so we do see some evaporation, even if it is not super fast. Temps moderate on Monday and we stay sunny. Clouds increase Tuesday with scattered showers moving through the state. We are projecting a few hundredths to half an inch with coverage at 60% over Indiana and lower Michigan. However, we are clearly not drying much in that period even if we miss r ..read more

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 to be sold during the summer driving season. The agency says the move will provide communities with relief at the pump from ongoing market supply issues created by the ongoing Ukraine war and conflict in the Middle East by increasing the fuel supply and offering a variety of fuel blends that consumers can choose from. “EPA is taking action to ensure that American consumers have more choices at the pump,” says EPA Administrator Michael Regan. “Allowing E15 sales during the summer driving season will incr ..read more

A statement from Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin says CNH Industrial plans to lay off over 200 employees at its Racine, Wisconsin facility and shift that work to Mexico. CNH Industrial, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment, intends to reduce costs by $150 million as part of a company-wide reorganization. “Agricultural machinery has been made in Racine for over 175 years and made Case-New Holland into an international manufacturing powerhouse,” Baldwin wrote in a letter to Scott Wine, CEO of CNH Industrial. “Moving production to Mexico is a slap in the face to the workers who have given so ..read more

Six of the nation’s major commodity groups sent a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission encouraging it to vote no in advancing a petition from Corteva Agribusiness. The petition asks ITC to place antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of the herbicide 2-4D shipped from India and China. The letter says if the case continues beyond the preliminary stage, farmers across the country could soon find it difficult to access critical supplies. “Corteva is the only U.S. supplier of 2-4D,” the letter says. “To put it simply, America’s farmers cannot rely on a sole domestic supplier ..read more

[audio mp3="https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2113/2024/04/18151210/MAT-plant-wx-041924-wrap.mp3"] The weekend will be dry but cold air is on the way in Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin’s Michigan Planting Weather Forecast. Martin says after moisture Friday morning, we’ll settle into a period of decent sunshine, but those cool temps won’t help move us toward planting. “Some gusty winds, I think, for Saturday morning, but temperatures that are going to be a good ten degrees below normal. I expect us fully to go sub-freezing in parts of Michigan over the weekend. So ..read more

Patience is a virtue. It’s also required if you’re a farmer waiting for the right soil conditions to get out and get seed in the ground! Mother Nature might bring some overnight temperatures back into the 30s this weekend while farmers are stuck looking at their fields instead of planting them. “If we make it through this weekend and we get lows that don’t dip into the 30s anymore, get some sunshine, I think we’re in the realm of planting here in the next 10 days, two weeks for sure,” says Pioneer agronomist Mike Swoish. Swoish, the Southwest Michigan for Pioneer, runs through part of the chec ..read more

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack testifying before a Senate Ag Subcommittee appropriations hearing on the USDA’s budget for 2025. [audio mp3="https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2103/2024/04/17194503/SABRINA-WRAP-HAT-VILSACK-TESTIFIES-BEFORE-SENATE-AG-APPROPRIATIONS-HEARING-041724.mp3"]   Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified in front of the Senate Appropriations agriculture subcommittee, Tuesday, at a hearing to review the agriculture department’s 2025 budget. While the secretary spoke on a wide range of issues, his opening comments did not include trade. Still ..read more