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Articles under Capitol Hill

Draft House Farm Bill Reflects Producer Feedback

By Tom Hance

Very early on May 24th, the House Agriculture Committee passed a farm bill proposal put forth by Chair Glenn Thompson (R-PA). The mark-up started at 11:00 am on May 23rd and did not conclude until after midnight. Most of the discussion and amendments considered were related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In the end, four Democrats joined all committee Republicans to pass the bill out of committee. The Democrats were Yadira Caraveo (CO), Don Davis (NC), Eric Sorenson (IL) and Sanford Bishop (GA). A couple of withdrawn amendments are of interest to #canola growers: Read More »

Carbon Intensity of Canola Production: Why & How it Matters

Tom Hance, Gordley AssociatesBy Tom Hance

The primary market for canola oil is food. However, another important and growing market for the oil is renewable biofuel, typically biodiesel or renewable diesel and potentially sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the future. The biofuel market is growing as a result of policies and incentives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation fuel sector. Read More »

Will Canola Oil Use Take Off With New EPA Approval?

By J. Alan Weber

The second half of 2022 provided U.S. canola producers quite a bit of optimism regarding new demand opportunities in the biofuels market. It began with the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge, a government-wide effort to reach 3 billion gallons per year of domestically produced renewable jet production with at least a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. Then, on Dec. 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final determination that canola oil-based renewable diesel, SAF, naphtha, heating oil, and liquified petroleum gas (propane) met the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction requirement of at least 50 percent under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to qualify as advanced biofuels. In fact, the EPA final rule conservatively estimated a reduction of 67 percent for canola renewable diesel compared to petroleum-based diesel and similar reductions for the other biofuels. Read More »

FY2023 Agriculture Appropriations Favorable to Canola

By Tom Hance

They took it right up until Christmas Eve, but Congress passed an omnibus appropriations package to fund government programs for fiscal year 2023. The package totals $1.7 trillion with $858 billion in defense funding, including $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, and $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs. For agriculture, the bill includes discretionary funding of $25.48 billion. The Continuing Resolution (CR), which keeps the government operating at FY2022 levels, was set to expire Dec. 23 so the new appropriations package came just in the (saint) nick of time! Following are provisions of interest to the canola sector:

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EPA Fuels Debate on Renewable Fuel Standard Volumes

Tom Hance, Gordley AssociatesBy Tom Hance

On Dec. 1, 2022, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rule for Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) pathways for canola oil-based renewable diesel and related biofuels, it also issued a proposed rule for Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) for 2023-25. While biomass-based diesel (BBD) RFS volumes have largely been at the EPA’s discretion, this is the first time the agency has control of all RFS volumes and will set them for three years forward. Up to 2022, RFS volumes were set by legislative statute and implemented annually by the EPA.  Read More »

March 15 is Deadline to Enroll in USDA’s Commodity Safety Net Programs

Agricultural producers who have not yet enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs for the 2022 crop year have until March 15, 2022, to sign a contract. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers these two safety net programs to provide vital income support to farmers experiencing substantial declines in crop prices or revenues. Read More »

Congress Facing High-Stakes Agenda in Coming Weeks

Continuing Resolution & Disaster Assistance

The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 and with the annual appropriations bills uncompleted, Congress had to pass a  Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government functioning. The CR, signed by President Joe Biden at the nth hour on Sept. 30, will run through Dec. 3, which includes $10 billion for agriculture disaster assistance to cover losses in 2020 and 2021 due to drought, hurricanes, wildfires, etc. The disaster assitance is expected to be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture using a similar structure as the WHIP+ program for losses in 2018 and 2019. Read More »

Congress Moves Forward on Infrastructure Bill and Social Reconciliation Package

Tom Hance, Gordley AssociatesBy Tom Hance

At last, it happened: The Senate passed its $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill by a vote of 69-30. The U.S. Canola Association joined 37 other agricultural groups in a letter to Congressional leadership in support of this bill, which would invest $110 billion in U.S. roads and bridges, $65 billion for broadband, and $17.3 billion for ports and inland waterways. In addition, this bipartisan agreement includes a number of provisions designed to boost the resiliency of the agricultural supply chain, including investments in cybersecurity and programs to address truck driver shortages. Read More »

RMA Authorizes Emergency Procedures to Help Drought-Impacted Producers

By Tom Hance

On July 13, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the authorization of emergency procedures to help producers impacted by extreme drought conditions. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is working with crop insurance companies to streamline and accelerate the adjustment of losses and issuance of indemnity payments to crop insurance policyholders in impacted areas. These new crop insurance flexibilities are part of USDA’s broader response to help producers impacted by drought in the west, northern Great Plains, Caribbean and other areas. Read More »

Biden Poised to Take Presidency, House Margins Tighten and Senate Control Pending

By Tom Hance

The 2020 U.S. presidential election was closer than many polls showed, but it appears Joe Biden will become the next president. Contrary to pre-election projections, Republicans look likely to gain a few seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats will maintain the House majority but with a smaller margin. Senate control will come down to run-off elections on Jan. 5 in Georgia. Historical trends suggest Republicans will be favored to win these run-offs and maintain majority in the Senate, but a lot of money will be spent by both parties and trends can be broken.

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