By Tom Han
ce and Angela Dansby
It continues to be a challenging time for biodiesel, both commercially and on the federal policy front. President Trump and the Administration are dealing with backlash following the decision to grant an additional 31 retroactive Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) in August under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The SREs undermine RFS volume requirements and result in reduced demand for biofuels, especially biodiesel. Read More »
By Brian Hrudka
Flea beetle damage to an emerged canola crop is a relatively common occurrence across the Northern Plains every year. However, the timing and severity of damage can vary tremendously from year to year and even from one field to the next for various reasons.
“The ‘bee-pocalypse’ is mostly a myth, and neonic pesticides shouldn’t become bogeymen when other types of pesticides would be much more harmful,” writes Dr. Henry I. Miller in The Federalist. “Neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics for short) are state-of-the-art crop protection products that anti-pesticide zealots have been campaigning to eliminate for the better part of a decade. Applied mostly as seed coatings, which obviates the need for foliar spraying, they are absorbed into crop plants and control crop-destroying pests.
On May 15, 2019, the U.S. Canola Association once again called upon U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to include canola and other crops indirectly affected by retaliatory trade tariffs in Market Facilitation Payments (MFPs). While these payments in 2018 were limited to commodities directly subjected to tariffs, it is vital for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide assistance this year to other crops whose prices and demand are tied to those of crops with tariffs.
What is clubroot?
Clubroot is a disease that affects the roots of plants from the botanical family of crucifer crops. This family includes broccoli, cabbage, canola, cauliflower, kale, radish, mustard, among others. It can also hit plants considered weeds, like Shepard’s purse and wild mustard. The causal organism requires a living plant to reproduce and complete its lifecycle; however, in the absence of a host, it can survive in soil as a cyst for many years. Cysts are resting spores that can germinate in the proximity of roots of host plants. Upon germination, “zoospores” emerging from cysts will swim towards root hairs and penetrate.
The U.S. Canola Association (USCA), along with other biodiesel industry stakeholders, continues to lobby Congress to reinstate the biodiesel blenders tax credit. The $1 per gallon credit for biodiesel and renewable diesel expired at the end of 2017, and while a bill that would have extended it seven years was passed by the House last December, it was not acted on by the Senate before Congress adjourned for the year. Supporters are keeping up the push in 2019 with USCA Capitol Hill visits in late January, a targeted industry fly-in in early February and an industry coalition letter to House leadership urging quick action on a package of tax extenders. Read More »
On Feb. 25, 2019, the first case in the federal multidistrict litigation In re Roundup Products Liability Litigation (MDL) before Judge Vince Chhabria went to trial in San Francisco. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in most Roundup® brand herbicides and other weed-control products.
Glyphosate, given its effectiveness and wide adaptation, is one of the most studied herbicides in the world. An extensive body of research on it and glyphosate-based herbicides, including more than 800 studies over several decades, 40 years of real world experience and conclusions of regulators and international agencies around the world support the safety of these products when used as directed.
The country’s longest government shutdown in history came to a sputtering close on Jan. 25, costing the U.S. economy an estimated $6 billion and a wave of anxiety among Americans from TSA agents to national park workers to, yes, canola producers. Lawmakers agreed to reopen the government for 21 days to try to reach a deal with President Trump – and they succeeded in keeping the government functioning – but the quagmire around border security remains.
Interest in agricultural biologicals is increasing and the numbers are showing it: the biological industry grew to $6.2 billion in 2018. Inoculants on soybeans have been used for hundreds of years and wewe are just now starting to expand the use of beneficial bacteria and other organisms beyond Rhizobium species. As we learn more about soil bacteria, we also see the potential of new species to improve the health and vigor of crop plants.
On Nov. 30, the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Agreement was officially signed by North American leaders at the G-20 Summit in Buenos Aires. However, each country has to get their respective legislatures to approve it before it officially goes into effect.