January Washington D.C. Preview

QUICK FIX

— CEOs of major tech companies are set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about their “failure” to remove content that sexually exploits children.   — With AI-generated tools becoming mainstream, a key issue to watch as the 2024 presidential election grows closer is how Congress, federal agencies and the administration deal with the possible cyber threat.   — The fallout from December’s hearing on antisemitism on college campuses has only furthered lawmakers’ interest in why a long-awaited rule to combat antisemitism and other discrimination on campuses has been delayed.

AGRICULTURE Ag appropriations fight ahead: Time is running out for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to strike an agreement to fund the USDA, the FDA and a handful of other departments before the current stopgap funding measure lapses on Jan. 19.   Republican and Democratic negotiators failed to land on even a rough outline of a compromise before lawmakers left for the holidays. They’ll return in January with only a few days to avert a partial government shutdown.   — House Republicans ditched plans to try to pass their Ag-FDA spending bill on the floor after it failed earlier this fall amid opposition within GOP ranks, as POLITICO has reported.   Just before he was elected speaker, Johnson signaled to his Republican colleagues that he was willing to hammer out a compromise plan to pass the agriculture spending bill. But an intraparty row over abortion policy and steep USDA cuts has triggered anger among vulnerable Republicans in districts that supported Biden as well as GOP members in agriculture districts.   Johnson and his team have privately told several House GOP lawmakers that removing the mail delivery ban on abortion pills in the bill would trigger larger opposition than keeping it in. Given that reality, the speaker will likely need to hammer out some sort of funding compromise with Senate Democrats who are staunchly opposed to House GOP spending cuts and abortion policies in the bill. — Meredith Lee Hill

TRADE China tariff review: The Biden administration is expected to complete its review of Trump-era tariffs on China sometime early in the year. That review will likely keep most of the tariffs in place, though some adjustments are possible. In particular, Biden’s team has considered raising tariffs on high-tech goods like electric vehicles while potentially lowering tariffs on some simpler consumer goods and intermediate products used by U.S. manufacturers. The exact timing of the review is unclear.   — Trade legislation gets going: In Congress, trade activity is expected to pick up early in the year. Lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee are expected to unveil an Indo-Pacific trade bill in the first weeks of 2024 that will push Biden to adopt a more robust trade agenda for the region.   Committee lawmakers are also close to an agreement to reauthorize the Generalized System of Preferences, a long-expired tariff exemption program. They are further from a deal to reform the de-minimis loophole — which allows packages under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free — but there is bipartisan momentum to alter that program.   And throughout the year, China hawks in both parties are likely to push for a vote to repeal China’s permanent normal trade status — a gambit to put the Biden administration in a tight spot during election season.   — WTO ministerial looms: Worldwide, leaders will prepare for the World Trade Organization’s 13th ministerial meeting, known as MC 13, slated for February in Abu Dhabi. Major agreements are not expected due to the continued U.S. blockade on judges for the WTO’s appellate body and Washington’s recent decision to walk away from digital trade positions it supported under Trump. But the meetings will likely shed light on whether the global trade body can persist in an era of rising protectionism and economic nationalism. — Gavin Bade

EDUCATION House antisemitism investigations: Republicans on the House Education and the Workforce Committee are expected to launch their investigations into colleges' responses to antisemitism on campus. Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania are on the top of their list after the leaders of those institutions failed to sufficiently condemn protests calling for “Jewish genocide” in a five-hour hearing in December. Lawmakers say more schools are also expected to be investigated.   Republicans were already pressing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to explain the Biden administration’s decision to delay a long-awaited rule to combat antisemitism and other discrimination on campus. The fallout from last month’s hearing only increases lawmaker interest in knowing why the rule, once expected in December 2023, is now designated as a “long-term action” with a proposed rule expected in December 2024.   — FAFSA delays: The Education Department has soft-launched its new simplified federal student aid application. Most students are expected to start filling out the form in January, but education advocates say the two-month delay in releasing the form could hurt low-income student enrollment. Advocates and the department will keep a close eye on the form’s rollout to ensure students can complete the application and receive an estimate on what colleges they can afford to attend. — Bianca Quilantan

DEFENSE Stopgap scenario looms over Pentagon: The new year begins with old concerns about the lack of full-year Pentagon funding.   — Defense programs, except for military construction projects, are funded through Feb. 2 — the second deadline in Republican’s two-step stopgap gambit. But lawmakers will have just a few weeks when they return to session to meet that deadline, and they may punt funding even further with another stopgap.   Expect Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top Pentagon brass to step up their warnings about the consequences of continuing to operate under short-term funding, which freezes spending at the previous year's levels and doesn't allow the military to start new programs.   Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown and the military service chiefs have already cautioned lawmakers about the consequences of a long-term continuing resolution. In letters to congressional leaders, top officials have warned that thousands of programs could be impacted, including Navy shipbuilding, modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and efforts to ramp up missile production through multiyear procurement contracts. — Connor O’Brien

TECHNOLOGY Chipping away at microchip projects: As he gears up for a grueling reelection fight, President Joe Biden is reportedly eager to highlight projects funded through several spending bills he’s shepherded across the finish line. The Commerce Department, which has doled out only $35 million for one microchip project so far, is under tremendous pressure to award more CHIPS and Science Act grants in 2024 to support bigger projects before the presidential campaign kicks off in earnest.   — Gridlock caused by environmental permitting could stall new microchip projects: Senators attempted, and failed, to insert a provision in the year-end defense bill that would streamline permitting for chip projects. The issue will likely remain a live one on Capitol Hill going into 2024. The Senate unanimously passed the exemption as a standalone bill, sending it to the House just as lawmakers there left for December recess. Its sponsor, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), has also said he is eyeing the two upcoming funding deadlines as potential vehicles for the measure.   — Tech CEOs to testify on child sexual exploitation: The top bigwigs at Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord and X (formerly known as Twitter) will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 31 to testify about their “failure” to remove content sexually exploiting children. And Snap, Discord and X had to be subpoenaed to appear. Pressure is building on Congress to pass bills requiring platforms to strengthen online protections for kids. In the meantime, at least five states have passed their own laws. More than 40 states sued Meta in October over claims the platform’s harmful and addictive products violated state consumer protection laws.   — Federal agencies stare down AI deadline: Expect major AI developments across the federal government by the end of January, when nearly a dozen agencies will hit a 90-day deadline set by Biden’s October executive order on artificial intelligence. Two of the biggest moves to watch for: a regulatory proposal from the Commerce Department to compel cloud computing providers to report to the government when foreign entities use their services to train AI models capable of cyberattacks and new rules from the Department of Homeland Security to modernize the H-1B specialty occupation worker program.   — A spectrum auction snafu: A key committee leader sees renewed hope for negotiating a wide-ranging package of wireless airwaves legislation that would reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction spectrum, which lapsed March 9. This legislation could earmark billions of dollars in future spectrum auction revenue for key public policy priorities, such as ripping Huawei gear out of rural U.S. telecom networks or upgrading the nation’s 911 system.   Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told POLITICO in late December that new negotiation is afoot after the Biden administration finally started briefing members of Congress on classified findings around whether it can sell or share Pentagon spectrum for commercial wireless use. She recently submitted ideas to the Congressional Budget Office and will use its answers to help determine next steps for what legislation might ultimately look like and help set the table for early 2024.   — Net neutrality comments, take two: A second round of comments is due Jan. 17 in the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rulemaking, which would revive Obama-era restrictions on internet service providers blocking and throttling their customers’ online traffic. December’s first round featured the traditional tussling, with the telecom industry balking at heavy regulation and consumer advocacy groups cheering the rules’ likely return. January’s comment cycle will allow parties to respond to one another’s arguments, which could allow for more nuanced debate over what the new rules do and to what extent they may override any existing state net neutrality protections. — Brendan Bordelon, Mohar Chatterjee, John Hendel, Rebecca Kern, Christine Mui

HEALTH CARE Doc pay: Congress’ failure to address looming pay cuts to physicians is poised to become a massive challenge for providers and patients, several doctor groups have told POLITICO, and they are looking to the Biden administration for help. Doctors had been bracing for a 3.4 percent cut to Medicare reimbursement on Jan. 1. Many physicians assumed lawmakers would reduce — or eliminate — those cuts as part of a government-funding package. But the decision to punt the spending fight into January leaves doctors without their fix. Instead, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services promised that if Congress offers retroactive relief in 2024, it will reprocess the claims it has already paid under the new rates. It’s likely the best outcome doctors could hope for, but it creates two problems, they say: First, doctors could be waiting months for the government to reprocess the claims. Second, they might have to hound patients for an updated copay based on a percentage of the total fee.   — PEPFAR funds: Negotiations to extend U.S. global HIV/AIDS relief work are deadlocked — and that jeopardizes a program credited with saving 25 million lives and that has long enjoyed bipartisan support. PEPFAR supporter Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has been unable to bridge the divide between his Republican colleagues who say the Biden administration is using the program to fund abortion providers overseas and House Democrats who refuse to reinstate Trump administration rules that prohibited foreign aid to groups that provide or counsel on abortions.   The program’s best hope is a government spending process beset by delays and divisions and slated to drag through February. PEPFAR can hobble along without reauthorization unless there’s a prolonged government shutdown. But its backers say without a long-term U.S. commitment, groups fighting HIV and AIDS will struggle to hire staff and launch long-term projects.   — FDA changes: The agency is preparing for the departure of Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock after almost 40 years of experience. FDA Chief Scientist Namandjé Bumpus is slated to succeed her. The impact of Woodcock’s retirement on the agency’s regulatory stance toward drug oversight and day-to-day operations will ripple for a long time. Also, the agency will reorganize its inspection workforce with the rebranding of the Office of Regulatory Affairs as the Office of Inspections and Investigations. The goal? Strengthening the agency’s field-based oversight program, partly in response to the agency’s handling of the infant formula crisis and increased scrutiny by Republican lawmakers of the FDA’s foreign drug inspection program.   — Stakes in the states: State legislatures, except those in Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas, will convene in 2024. High-profile health issues will take center stage and will likely serve as a counterweight to renewed calls from former President Donald Trump to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Health care costs will likely remain top of mind as states look at industry consolidation, establish health care and prescription drug affordability boards, reduce premiums through public health insurance options and benchmark costs.   Some issues to look at in state capitols include expanding health care access, debating how to spend billions in opioid settlement dollars, establishing parity and improved access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment and taking up several reproductive health-related policies. — Pro Health Care Staff

CYBERSECURITY Election security: It’s going to be a record-setting year for elections worldwide in 2024, but for the first time, it comes with AI-generated tools going mainstream.   — How Congress plans to clamp down on disinformation and deepfakes will be a key issue to watch on the Hill as major elections go full tilt. The fear is that generative AI technologies, like ChatGPT, will make it easier for foreign state-backed actors to increase content production in influence campaigns. Because the U.S. presidential election nears, there is growing awareness not only on the Hill but also in federal agencies and the administration to deal with the cyber threat.   Along with the United States, key elections this year include the United Kingdom, European Parliament, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Mexico.   But the first test of the year is Taiwan’s election on Jan. 13, which cyber-strong Beijing has a marked interest in. — Joseph Gedeon

ENERGY FERC’s full agenda: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission often gets overlooked in the federal bureaucracy, but it’s playing an increasingly important role in the nation’s economy, particularly in the transition to clean energy. And though some major issues are on its agenda for 2024, the agency will start the year at a diminished capacity, with two of its five seats vacant. The commission seemed to operate smoothly enough with a 2-2 Democratic-Republican split this year, but with Democratic Commissioner Allison Clements’ term expiring at the end of June, its quorum may be in jeopardy, though she can stay on until the end of the year.   — And the items on its to-do lists are weighty. The commission will have to decide what changes, if any, to make to the sprawling transmission planning rule proposed under then-Chair Richard Glick in 2022. The rule as proposed would require developers to consider a future low-carbon mix of resources when planning new lines and give states more authority over contentious questions of how transmission costs should be allocated. It’s a key issue in clearing the roadblocks to new transmission the country will need to meet sharply rising demand and fight climate change.   — FERC will need to decide whether to approve Venture Global’s mammoth Calcasieu Pass 2 liquefied natural gas terminal in Louisiana. The project would be the largest in the world, capable of exporting more than 20 million metric tons per annum. FERC is under pressure from energy companies worldwide to finalize the project — but U.S. green activists are adamantly opposed to it as a project that will add pollution to the local community and lock in new fossil fuel consumption for years.   — FERC commissioners voted in December to look into large investment funds’ ownership stakes in utilities — and whether the deep-pocketed companies exercise too much control over power and water providers' consumer rates, competition and ESG policies. — Pro Energy Staff

EMPLOYMENT AND IMMIGRATION Two big bills: The House committee covering labor passed two major pieces of legislation last month: one to reauthorize the nation’s federal workforce programs and another to allow Pell Grants for short-term job training programs. In a win for Republicans, the Pell bill would allow for online and for-profit schools to benefit from the new expansion if they meet certain quality requirements.   Both bills were the result of months of negotiations and had overwhelming bipartisan support within the committee. But passing in the full House could prove to be a challenge as Speaker Mike Johnson picks his priorities for the new year. — Also on the Hill: The bill funding most of the labor agencies faces a Feb. 2 expiration date. Expect conflict over major proposed funding cuts on the House side — the difference between the House and Senate versions of the bill was the greatest by dollar value of any of this year’s appropriations bills.   — Regulatory front: The Labor Department seeks comments on whether to expand the list of Schedule A occupations allowed to bypass some immigration-related hurdles, which could bring more AI experts to the U.S. Comments are also open for a Labor Department rule proposed in December that would unwind a Trump-era health insurance rule. The previous rule on association health plans had made it easier for small businesses to purchase health insurance together and avoid some regulatory requirements mandated by the Affordable Care Act.   A long-awaited final rule on the definition of an independent contractor could be coming soon but still hasn't been released, after the department blew past estimates of rolling it out last year. — Olivia Olander

TAX Lawmakers seek a tax cut deal, but time isn’t on their side: They have punted a long list of decisions on tax policy until January.   — Lawmakers hope to pass a long-awaited deal expanding the Child Tax Credit and restore a trio of popular business breaks. They also want to move a bill granting treaty-like tax benefits to Taiwanese semiconductor companies operating in the U.S. And, with Congress passing few tax bills these days, any legislation will surely attract demands from rank-and-file members to address other issues.   But lawmakers won’t have a lot of time to reach a deal.   They face a Jan. 19 deadline for funding the government and have already postponed decisions on a number of other big issues, including aid to Ukraine and Israel and what, if anything, to do about border security.   The Senate won’t be back until Jan. 8.   All of that could potentially leave lawmakers without enough bandwidth to move a tax package.   — Meanwhile, the tax world will be watching the beginning of the 2024 filing season, especially with the IRS preparing to launch a pilot program that would allow some people to file their taxes online for free with the agency. The initiative is controversial, and missteps by the agency will surely get a lot of attention. — Brian Faler

November Ag Prices Received Index Down 0.1 Percent; Prices Paid Index Down 0.4 Percent

November Prices Received Index Down 0.1 Percent   

The November Prices Received Index 2011 Base (Agricultural Production), at 113.2, decreased 0.1 percent from October and 15 percent from November 2022. At 99.8, the Crop Production Index is down 3.0 percent from last month and 20 percent from the previous year. The Livestock Production Index, at 134.0, increased 0.6 percent from October, but decreased 6.7 percent from November last year. Producers received lower prices during November for corn, hogs, cattle, and turkeys but higher prices for market eggs, soybeans, strawberries, and lettuce. In addition to prices, the volume change of commodities marketed also influences the indexes. In November, there was decreased marketing of soybeans, grapes, wheat, and dry beans but increased monthly movement for corn, cattle, milk, and cotton.    

November Prices Paid Index Down 0.4 Percent  

The November Prices Paid Index for Commodities and Services, Interest, Taxes, and Farm Wage Rates (PPITW), at 138.4, is down 0.4 percent from October and 0.3 percent from November 2022. Lower prices in November for feeder cattle, diesel, feed grains, and supplements more than offset higher prices for nitrogen, concentrates, repairs,  and complete feeds. 

Top 10 Ag Stories of 2023: Best of Rest: New Corn, Soybean Yield World Records Set; Texas Dairy Fire Kills 18,000 Cows; Ag Community Says Goodbye to 2 Legends

OMAHA (DTN) -- From the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on two major ag cases to high input costs falling, U.S. corn exports slipping to second place behind Brazil for the first time, interest rates climbing to a 22-year high, and Congressional drama delaying the passage of a new farm bill, 2023 was undeniably another eventful year for agriculture.

During the past two weeks, DTN has revisited these and other big stories in our annual Top 10 Ag Stories of Year series.

But those stories were just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond the major events that dominated the headlines were numerous other stories that, though they may not have attracted as much attention, had a significant impact on the farming and ranching community and rural America.

In recognition of the importance of these stories to agriculture, we're presenting some of them here as part of our annual "Best of the Rest" list, in no particular order:

New Corn and Soybean Yield World Records Set

U.S. farmers continued to push the limits of corn and soybean yield potential in 2023, setting new world records for both crops.

The first to claim a new world title this year was Georgia soybean grower Alex Harrell. On Aug. 23, with the harvest of a 2.5-acre plot of irrigated soybeans averaging 206.7997 bushels per acre (bpa), Harrell achieved a new world record for soybean production, besting the efforts of fellow Georgian Randy Dowdy, of Valdosta, who held the record the past seven years. Harrell's average yield is the first to exceed 200 bpa. The previous record was 190.23 bpa, set by Dowdy in 2019. Dowdy had previously harvested soybeans yielding 171 bpa in 2016, which topped the 160.6 bpa record set by Kip Cullers of Purdy, Missouri, in 2010.

"It was surreal, but it was pretty cool," Harrell told DTN during a phone interview following the announcement of his record yield.

Then, on Dec. 13, the National Corn Growers Association announced that David Hula -- who holds more NCGA Yield Contest titles than Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have combined Masters Tournaments wins -- had set another new record for the national contest. This year, the Charles City, Virginia, farmer came to the top of the corn yield leader board with 623.8439 bpa in the irrigated strip-till category. It was enough to best the previous record of 615.1953 bpa, which was also set by Hula in 2019. It secured his 12th national high yield win in the contest and his fifth world corn yield record. He is the only farmer to exceed the 600 bpa mark in the contest and has done it three times (2019, 2021, 2023).

Texas Dairy Fire That Killed 18,000 Cows Ruled Accidental, Not Terrorism

An estimated 18,000 dairy cows were in a holding area for milking at Southfork Dairy Farm, in Dimmitt, Texas, on the evening of April 10, when a massive explosion and fire killed most of them and severely injured one worker in the building.

The incident initially raised concerns about terrorist attacks on America's food supply. But following an investigation, the incident was officially labeled an "accident" by the Texas State Fire Marshal's office.

According to a news release from the Fire Marshal, investigators were on the scene of the Castro County dairy fire for two days, April 10 and 11. They conducted "an origin and cause investigation to determine where the fire first originated and a cause for the fire."

It is believed the fire started at the northern end of the South Fork Dairy Farm operation, pen No. 3, and was the result of equipment failure. The Fire Marshal's report said that two other pieces of equipment, identical to the one that caught fire at South Fork, had burned previously. One such incident was at this same dairy, and the other at another unnamed dairy in the state. More investigations by engineers specializing in equipment failures were planned.

The estimated value of the 18,000 dairy cows was put at $35 million to $40 million. The Animal Welfare Institute, which started tracking barn fires in 2013, reported it to be the deadliest barn fire to date.

Ag Community Says Goodbye to Two Industry Legends

The agriculture community lost two industry legends in 2023: no-till pioneer David Brandt and TEPAP founder Danny Klinefelter.

Brandt died May 21 of complications from an auto accident at the age of 76. Long before the days of "climate-smart agriculture," Brandt was a no-till pioneer who reached stardom among his fellow farmers for his cropping practices and folksy way of explaining his 50-plus years of farming just outside of Carroll, Ohio. Brandt spent his career farming with a strategy of building organic matter in his soil and paying as little for chemical inputs and tillage equipment as possible. In the age of social media, he even became a meme with his photo and the quote, "It ain't much, but it's honest work." Earlier this year, Brandt was honored by the group No-till on the Plains with its first "Legacy Award," which also was named after him.

Klinefelter, professor emeritus of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service ag economist, and father of The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP), died July 24 after a brief illness. He was 76. He was a well-known instructor, speaker and author, with a reach that extended far beyond the campus of College Station, Texas, where he lived and taught. Klinefelter was also a long-time contributor to DTN, crafting the "By The Numbers" column from 2006 until 2017. In agriculture circles, Klinefelter was most known for his efforts to elevate the business mindset of farmers. Klinefelter taught what he called "continuous management improvement," an assertion that running a modern commercial farm was not a finite job, but required constant learning, evaluating, and changing to grow into the future.

Tennessee Farm Family Wins Battle Over Right to Operate Store on Their Land

A long-running legal battle between the Bernards, a multigenerational Tennessee farm family, and the little city of Orlinda, Tennessee, came to an end in February.

After more than a year of litigation, three Court of Appeals judges held that the county of Robertson, Tennessee, did not illegally spot-zone to allow for the Bernards' farm store. This affirmed an earlier holding by the lower Chancery Court.

DTN first reported on the family's costly struggles in 2022. Fourth-generation farmers in the area, the Bernards have long been proponents of diversification. They built a farm store on their property to sell products from their farm direct to consumers, as well as products from other area producers and artisans. The farm store was not built within the city of Orlinda, but it is close. The city brought a lawsuit against both the county of Robertson and the Bernards over the store and the rezoning that allowed for it.

Nebraska Sandhills 'Dumbbell' Ranch Sells to Locals

In late October, two locals purchased Nebraska's 15,500-acre Dumbbell Ranch for $16.5 million, according to state records and local media. The ranch covers portions of both Cherry and Grant counties and dates to the 1800s.

One buyer is well known in the state of Nebraska -- former Democratic state Sen. Al Davis. Based at Hyannis, he is reported as buying the larger share of the ranch, which separated pieces of his own family's ranch.

The other buyers are Chris and Jeanne Gentry. The couple has a ranch that borders the Dumbbell Ranch.

The original ranch was divided in the past into three sections. Records filed on the sale show that Gentry paid about $6.4 million for some 4,800 acres. Davis paid about $10.2 million for about 11,000 acres.

Hall and Hall listed the property at $16.7 million. It was described as a 900-cow, year-round operation, with live water, 27 windmills, eight solar wells and an average of more than 1,800 tons of hay production annually.

SEC Alleges Texas Beef Company Agridime Is Ponzi Scheme

In mid-December, the Securities and Exchange Commission froze the assets of Texas-based cattle marketing company Agridime LLC, alleging the company fraudulently sold securities in "cattle contracts" as a $191 million Ponzi scheme that would "soon implode."

The company, based out of Fort Worth, Texas, is now under a court-ordered receivership under the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas with Agridime's assets frozen after the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order against Agridime and its owners.

Agridime has raised $191 million since 2021 from more than 2,100 investors in at least 15 states, the SEC stated. The SEC stated Agridime, however, had less than $1.5 million in cash as of Sept. 30, and insufficient operating revenues. The SEC stated, "It appears that Agridime's Ponzi scheme will soon implode unless it continues to raise money from new investor-victims."

Agridime sells investment contracts related to the buying and selling of cattle, dubbed as "cattle contracts." The SEC complaint stated Agridime promised investors guaranteed annual returns ranging from 15% to 20% -- going as high as 32% -- and marketed cattle contracts on Agridime's website as a way for investors to passively profit from owning cattle "without having to do all of the work."

Agridime is owned by Jed Wood, 62, of Fort Worth, Texas, and Josh Link, 30, of Gilbert, Arizona. Both are named as defendants in the case. Wood and Link founded Agridime in 2017.

A U.S. District Judge extended the SEC's temporary restraining order until Jan. 9, 2024, and delayed a hearing on the SEC's request for a preliminary injunction until a hearing now set for Jan. 5, 2024.

National Focus on Foreign Ownership in Ag Land

Foreign ownership of agriculture land took center stage in 2023 when a controversial corn mill project by Chinese company Fufeng outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota, helped elevate the concerns into the national security debate. The Fufeng project was shelved in late January 2023 after the U.S. Air Force raised national security concerns about the proximity of the project to the Grand Forks Air Force Base. Fufeng was planning to develop 370 acres of land for the project.

A national debate of sorts ensued when members of Congress and other national leaders began focusing on the issue. The House of Representatives passed an energy bill in March 2023, which included a roll-call vote demonstrating bipartisan support for banning Chinese ownership of U.S. farm ground.

Carbon Pipeline Fights

As companies across the Corn Belt continued work on carbon pipeline projects that would move carbon from ethanol plants to sequestration sites, local opposition to the projects took center stage in 2023.

As a result of public outcry and other issues, one company, Navigator CO2, cancelled a proposed $3.5 billion 1,350-mile pipeline project planned for South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois. In a media statement in October, the company said it cancelled the project because of the "unpredictable nature of the regulator and government processes involved, particularly in South Dakota and Iowa."

Navigator had lost a construction permit application in South Dakota in early September and had asked the Iowa Utilities Board to suspend work on its permit application in that state as well. The Illinois Commerce Commission also had been preparing to hold hearings on Navigator's permit application, which was crucial because Navigator had intended to sink its carbon dioxide into an Illinois bedrock formation.

EPA Finalizes First Multi-Year RFS

For the first time in the history of the Renewable Fuel Standard, the EPA finalized a multi-year RFS volume rule that runs through 2025. The rule was significant because the biofuels industry for years has suffered fits and starts caused by late-approved volume rules that created uncertainty in the market. The rule finalized in June 2023, for the first time, provides certainty to the industry for several years. The final RFS was met with disappointment by the advanced biofuels industry including biodiesel and renewable diesel producers, who said the volumes set did not meet production potential through 2025.

US-Mexico Border Reopened for Rail

After five days of two international crossings for railroads between Texas and Mexico, and increasing calls to reopen the border by members of Congress, farm and commodity groups that said the closure was hurting Midwest farmers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection finally announced it was reopening the border Dec. 22.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials had closed the rail crossings at the Texas cities over El Paso and Eagle Pass following a spike in migrant crossings that overwhelmed the Border Patrol.

Mexico is the top destination for several U.S. agricultural products, including corn, wheat, soybean meal, pork and barley. The U.S., meanwhile, relies on Mexico for fresh fruits and vegetables. Union Pacific had reported more than 10,000 rail cars were being held up on both sides of the border and were backing up supply chains for more than 60 trains daily. 

Biden SAF Action Pivotal for Biofuels

U.S. farmers and ethanol producers will be a key cog in the growth of the sustainable aviation fuel industry for the foreseeable future after the U.S. Department of Treasury announced late in the year that it will use a modified version of a popular greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions model to determine how it allocates tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Using the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Technologies, or GREET, model will allow the Treasury to accurately determine ethanol's carbon footprint.

Because the model uses the latest real-world data on corn ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced using corn ethanol as a feedstock would qualify for the tax credits.

This meant numerous fuels will qualify for the credit, including valid biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuels, cellulosic biofuel or cellulosic diesel.

The announcement was an early Christmas present for the agriculture and biofuels groups that had lobbied for the use of the GREET model.

Brian Jennings, CEO of the American Coalition for Ethanol, said the Biden administration's decision could be a pivotal moment for the ethanol industry. "Treasury's decision will enable corn ethanol to emerge as a significant SAF feedstock in the years to come and fulfill President Biden's pledge that farmers would be providing 95% of SAF in the next 20 years," he said.

Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said it was difficult to overstate the significance of the decision.

"This is a pivotal moment for the future of sustainable aviation fuels," he said.

Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region - Storage Reservoirs in the Upper Snake River (1/1)

Average daily streamflows indicated in cubic feet per second.

Reservoir levels current as of midnight on date indicated.

Upper Snake River system is at 66 % of capacity.
(Jackson Lake,Palisades, Grassy Lake,Island Park,Ririe,American Falls,LakeWalcott)
Total space available:	1381648 AF
Total storage capacity:	4045695 AF