August 7, 2026: Farm Economy Pressures Continue as Farm Bill Hits Another Roadblock

Today on Agnews Daily, farmers continue to demonstrate just the ability to be very productive and it certainly looks like we're going to have a pretty robust crop coming online in the very near future and so then that the attention turns to the degree to which we can accommodate that. So we want to have a fire to attach to a fire that can all too often we have more of a garden hose attached to it. Welcome back to the weekly edition of the Agnews Daily Show and showsy it is your last week with us. Yes and an internship. Yeah I'm gonna miss it. It's been a really good internship but headed back to school. How have you felt about seeing your face blast across social media? It's been weird and I get a lot of comments about it. A lot of people that I didn't know watch the show, make sure to let me know. So well Josie for your final week here the internship as many growers are watching the forecast, heading into the weekend. DTN says much of the central Corn Belt is expected to see rainfall and slightly cooler temperatures which should help ease some crop stress after recent heat and support that final grain fill. Forecasters say rainfall won't be evenly distributed however while parts of the Midwest could see widespread precipitation through the weekend. Warmmer and drier conditions are expected to persist across portions of the southern plains and areas south of the latest weather system. Additional rainfall will remain important in to next week as corn and soybean conditions continue through one of the most critical stages of the growing season and I was chatting with some North Dakota agronomists this morning and they said they desperately need that rain. Looking at the crop progress support and most recent USDA crop progress support it shows that corn and soybeans continue to develop steadily across the country. Nationally 66% of the corn crop has reached the doe stage ahead of the five year average of 56% but just behind last year's pace at 71%. Soybeans are also progressing with 63% blooming compared to 74% on the five year average while 39% of the crop has reached the pod setting stage ahead of the five year average of 31%. Crop conditions slipped slightly from the previous week with both the corn and soybean crops rated 63% good to excellent conditions. As crops continue through a grain fill timely rainfall and moderate temperatures will be critical to maintaining yield potential during one of the most important stages of the growing season. Ridgeback provides a very broad scope of insects in terms of its control power. It's combining a group three motive action that's going to handle the beetles and a lot of our caterpillar insects but it combines then the group 4c, isoclass active ingredient, also known as sulfoxamines that are going to be very good on things like swaving leaf favorites so the combo is really good one-two punch for a broad spectrum of insects a grower is going to face the season. If they want to learn more about Ridgeback, visit corteva.us, backslash, Ridgeback to learn more details. Those are really here in central Iowa crops are looking good but I know elsewhere they're seeing a lot of unfavorable conditions so we'll keep our listeners up to date on that as we head into the final stretch. But the Senate Ag Committee failed to advance their latest Farm Bill proposal on Thursday August 6th after a 10 to 11 vote that left the legislation short of moving forward. Committee Chairman John Bozeman recessed the markup leaving the bill stalled as lawmakers head into their August recess. Bozeman says the committee will reconvene in September and vote again on the same bill. The proposal includes several agriculture priorities including language, authorizing year round E15 sales and lawmakers remain divided over provisions related to SNAP benefits. The failed vote means another delay for updates to the Farm Safety Net conservation programs and other policies that have not been fully reauthorized since 2018 so certainly not welcome news here as we are now years into getting a new Farm Bill through to the finish line Josie. Looking at the financial challenges facing agriculture they continue to ripple through rural communities. Creighton University's July role Main Street Index showed economic conditions weakened across farm country as wheat commodity prices and elevated input costs continue to pressure producers. Economist Ernie Goss says low cash flows trade uncertainty and higher input costs are making producers more hesitant to invest with farm equipment sales remaining weak for the 35th straight month. More than half of the role bank CEOs surveyed said weak commodity prices remain the biggest challenge facing agriculture underscoring the financial pressure many farm operations continue to face. Well while rural communities continue to face economic headwinds a separate report suggests farmers are feeling a bit more optimistic about their own operations. Farmer optimism improved in July after three straight months of declining confidence. According to the Purdue University CME Group Ag Economy Brominer released August 4th. Stronger corn and soybean prices help boost producers outlook on both current conditions and the year ahead. But despite that improvement challenges of course remain. Nearly half of the farmers surveyed said high input costs are still their biggest concern while about 30% identified crop and livestock prices as the biggest threat to their operation over the next five to 10 years. Looking ahead most producers expect cash rents to remain steady in 2027 and many remain cautiously optimistic that new export opportunities will emerge over the next five years. So certainly a mixed bag there Josie but we'll be back with more news right after this short break. Farming comes with trade-offs and an extra pass means dinner in the cab an early morning becomes a late night unnecessary restrictions turn into headaches but when you make and list herbicides the foundation of your herbicide program the trade-offs will be in your favor effective weed control that's ready to work when you are flexible tank makes options and neighbor-friendly applications all without the need to jump through hoops. See what you'll gain with America's most trusted herbicide system protecting your enlistee three soybean fields at enlist.com. Last week we reported on USD's plan to be gradually reopening the southern border to Mexican cattle imports while continuing efforts to keep new world screwworm out of the United States. Now the USD is investing $25 million in a new sterile fly dispersal facility in Douglas, Arizona to strengthen that protection. The facility would release sterile flies as part of the USDA's long-term strategy to push the pest further south into Mexico and eventually eradicate it from North America. Officials are still determining the exact location and operating plan but USDA says construction could be completed within the next several months depending on the site. The investment would complement existing sterile fly operations in Texas, Mexico and Panama while helping protect the US cattle industry as imports gradually resume. So good deer. Well just a couple of months is actually a shockingly fast timeline I feel like for something of this scale. So great news there will keep you all up to date but new export opportunities could create additional demand for US ethanol and the corn use to produce it. Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen is leading a new trade mission to Japan and the Philippines this week or officials are discussing the expanded use of higher ethanol blends and other low and lower carbon fuels. Japan is exploring wider adoption of E20 fuel as part of its carbon reduction goals while the Philippines are noted to be moving directly from E10 to E20. Industry leaders say those changes could increase global demand for ethanol and open new markets for US producers. For corn growers stronger ethanol exports could help of course corn demand as countries across Asia look to expand their use of renewable fuels. So maybe we'll try to get an update on an interview with someone who attended that trade mission in the weeks to come. The US Department of Agriculture is providing additional flexibility for farmers managing crop insurance costs the season. USDA's Risk Management Agency announced August 5th that approved insurance providers may have producers up to 60 extra days to pay crop insurance premiums administrative fees and other amounts do on policies with billing dates between July 1 and September 30th. During that extended payment period insurers may also waive interest charges. USDA is also reinstating the option for producers to purchase an additional 5% of prevented of prevented planting coverage beginning eligible 2027 crops. The agency says that the changes are designed to ease financial pressures while strengthening risk management options as producers continue navigating tight margins and whether uncertainty here in the upcoming months. Well, Josian some other USDA headlines. The USDA is asking farmers to help shape the future of the department's agricultural data and reporting. Ag Secretary Rollins announced on August 4th that the USDA will hold listening sessions across the country as it develops a new data modernization plan expected to come out later this year. The sessions will take place at major agricultural events including the Iowa State Fair, the Illinois State Fair, Dakota Fest and the Farm Progress Show. USDA says producer feedback will be used to improve data collection, increase participation in agricultural surveys, and strengthen their confidence in those reports used to track acreage, crop production, and market conditions. For farmers more accurate and reliable USDA data, can better support, of course, marketing decisions, planting decisions, and risk management decisions. So if you're attending one of those events, be sure to be on the watch to be part of those listening sessions. Well, earlier at the top of the show, we discussed the weather, but as Midwesterners, look ahead to more summer heat, it may not just be the temperatures making the air feel uncomfortable. Cornfields release moisture through a process known as evapotranspiration or corn sweat during peak growth. Did you know that one acre of corn can release between 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere each day? Across millions of acres, that moisture can add to the already muggy conditions, built throughout the Midwest. Although climatologists say that the weather patterns remain the main driver of humidity. So, as temperatures climb in the weeks ahead, stay cool, keep that water bottle close by, and remember that the corn is sweating too. That is an interesting way to put that Josie's bloody head, that fun little piece here as we head into our final stretch of the show, our interview for the week. As transportation continues to be one of the biggest factors influencing grain prices, local basis, and ultimately the farmer's bottom line yet, it's often overlooked until problems arise. As harvest approaches, the ability to move grain efficiently by barge, rail, and truck is going to become increasingly more important. This week, we're joined by Mike Steenhook, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition to discuss the current state of the nation's transportation network. The challenge is facing agricultural logistics and wine investments in infrastructure matter for producers across the country. Well, we're chatting, of course, today with Mike Steenhook of the Soy Transportation Coalition. Mike, thanks for joining us on the podcast. It's been a little while since we've had you on. Well, it's always good to be with you. Thanks for having me. So Mike, I know harvest is just around the corner here, and we're weeks away in some parts of the country. When you look across barge, rail, and truck transportation, how prepared do you think the system is as a whole to handle another crop coming off the field? In the metaphor, I consistently come back to the business of attaching a garden hose to a fire hydrant. You know, we in the United States, we have a real capacity of producing an abundant amount of soybeans, grain, and other agricultural products. Farmers continue to demonstrate just this ability to be very productive. And it certainly looks like we're going to have a pretty robust crop coming online in the very near future. And so then that the attention turns to the degree to which we can accommodate that. So we want to have a fire hose attached to a fire hydrant and all too often we have more of a garden hose attached to it. And so that's the certain monitor. And, you know, there are a number of things that are going well. Right now, oh, we continue to hear some pretty good feedback from grain shippers about rail service, which is obviously very, very encouraging. That being said, we do given the fact that fuel costs are what they are. Transportation providers are often very quick to impose fuel surcharges when fuel costs escalate. And so that's an additional cost into the supply chain. And it's really not just manifest with rail, it's also working with a barge with ocean, all of the various modes of transportation. I would say one of the areas that continues to be a concern and we're going to continue to monitor is water levels on the Mississippi River. And, you know, we, this is the time of the year that river levels naturally are on this stage. And actually don't get as much rain during the late summer months and of course into the fall. That also happens to be a time where a lot of the muskis are asking a lot of barge transportation to move products from some of these key soybean and grain producing states down to export terminals near New Orleans on the lower Mississippi River. That's our number one export region about 60% of soybeans depart from that area every year. And, you know, what we're seeing right now is, you know, water levels are even lower at this time of the year than they were last year. And so you're starting to see barge companies having to adjust the amount of tonnage that they can put in an individual barge. So that's something we're going to obviously continue to monitor. And we've had a number of years now where we've had low water conditions on the river and it's had a negative impact on our industry and we're certainly hopeful that that does not occur yet this year. Mike, I'm glad you mentioned river levels because that's definitely something we monitor and track a lot. But the other part of that equation is actually the physical infrastructure itself. I know you watch and look a lot at aging locks and dams, the maintenance and some of those bigger issues. How are we as a system as it relates to not just the water levels, but also the infrastructure to support that barge traffic? Yeah, I mean, the good news has been we have had a noticeable increase in funding allocated to things like locks and dams over the past number of years. That's due to quite effective advocacy and promotion across the agricultural spectrum as well as the barge in towing industry. And so there's been a really effective collaboration to be able to achieve that. One of the issues that really is a significant area of concern for stakeholders when it comes to the in low waterways to some of these very extreme cost overruns and project delays. So it's one thing to have an expensive capital project whenever you're building something like a lock, like a dam, bridges, those kind of things, ports. That's a capital project with a very significant price. It can always be the case. We as Americans are used to that. We've grown to that. We expect that. But what is undecided and what's continually to be frustrating is when you have these cost overruns and project delays, cost overruns can easily be 100, 200, 300 percent even of the original cost of a project. So what that means is you might have a $700 million or $1.5 billion or close to $2 billion. And we will never have a robust enough bank account in this country to be able to give all of these objectives. If that's the kind of performance that we're getting from that sector. And so it's easy just to focus on we need more funding and more investment gravitating toward these important projects. But I think there also needs to be the increased mindset. We need to get more bang for our buck. We need to make the taxpayer dollars extra short. And we need to insist on more effective project delivery. And so there's a huge opportunity for improvement when it comes to that area when it relates to our Illinois system. Mike, looking a little bit more at the rail side of the equation. You especially keep a close tab on the various rail strikes and employee issues that we've had over the last few years. Do you feel confident that railroads have the equipment crew and capacity to handle, as you said, the fire hose that's about to be opened up here? Yeah, I mean, I think we're pretty well-positive right now, but we're going to have to have more problematic service than the other. But overall, I think we're pretty well positioned because see what's going to be coming on. You know, of course, things like individual issues can certainly impact that because, you know, the metaphor that a lot of people you don't like, you know, attributed to Wayne Gretzky, I don't skate to where the park is going. So when you're trying to plan an infrastructure and a supply chain to accommodate a harvest, of course, one of the fundamental questions you ask is where's it going? Where's the park going? Where are going? Where's the international destinations that are going to be consuming the significant volume of soybeans and grain and other agricultural products? And when all of a sudden we've got some turmoil in among our international destinations, well, that can really change things. So that's certainly something that can throw a wrench into the plant. But I think overall, we're pretty well positioned when it comes to our rail infrastructure to handle the harvest. Mike, I'm glad you mentioned the international destination location as well. That brought up a question for me. Do you watch the infrastructure developments happening in other countries such as Brazil, for example? We certainly do. And the fact is we've known for a long time that, you know, all of our competitive advantage has often resided and not our ability to produce a crop at a lower price point because so often Brazil is able to do that at a lower price point than we can. We've more than made up for it by having a superior transportation system. So, you know, you've got, you know, the cost that a customer pays is essentially the cost of producing the crop, plus the cost of transporting that crop. And if you can have a lower number, a lower transportation number, you can overcome or at least mitigate the advantage that Brazil can have. So that's kind of been the story for a number of years. But we've always known that there's nothing rocket science to Brazil's need or what kind of benefit they would realize if they were able to, if they ever had the will and the wherewithal to invest in their rent work, to invest in their inland lottery system, to invest in their roads. And we've actually seen that happen with increased intensity over the last 10 years. A lot of that funding, a lot of that investment coming from places like China. And so what we have seen is that competitive advantage has significantly narrowed and in certain years it can be completely eroded. And so obviously that's a that's a real concern when it comes to our competitiveness on the global stage. Now, there's not a whole lot we can do about what happens in Brazil. But there's a whole lot we can do about what happens in the United States. And so a continual message that I've transmitted to this is, you know, if if Brazil becomes ever comes, there's ever a day where they're the most economical choice. I hope it's because they have done an exceptional job of investing in their infrastructure, not because we've been lackadaisical in investing in our infrastructure. So it should really just further motivate us to make these needed investments. And also, of course, get making sure we're getting effective project delivery too. It's not just a matter of just writing a check. It's also making sure are the projects getting done on time and budget. And that's what really our focus is. So as we think about not just writing the check, but making sure those projects get done on the on the policy front, the Water Resources Development Act, I'm sure, is one of many you're watching to see how our administration continues to put focus on this. Talk to us a little bit about some of those policies that could have the impact that you were just talking about to keep us ahead, pace competitively compared to other markets like Brazil. Yeah, you know, having a Water Resources Development Act passed every two years is something that's very important when you're when we're as a nation when you're trying to do something at a federal level to improve our inventory system like the Mississippi River, there's essentially two steps. The first step is an authorization step, and that's what a Water Resources Development Act or a word to build a place establishes. What's the game plan? What's the approach? What are the what are the boxes that we want to check? What are the queries? The second step is the appropriation step, and that's where funding actually flows to those projects that have been identified, that priority list that have that's been established in a developer. And so it's both steps are very important. And so we're very happy to see of all of the things that are that's not getting done in Washington DC. It's nice to see continued momentum for getting a work bill passed. We've seen both the House and the Senate committees have actually advanced it, so we're hopeful to see an actual bill completed by the end of this calendar year. All of the areas that's really important to us, there's a proportion within word that will provide additional plans for or dredging the Columbia River. And the Pacific Northwest is our number two export region, about 25% of soybean exports leave from that area. A lot of wheat, it's a lot of corn exports as well. And dredging is not the most sexy issue on the planet, but it's, but, you know, so much of your competitiveness as an industry, it is incumbent upon having a shipping channel that's of an adequate depth. And rivers naturally silt in, they become, there's more sediment buildup, there's less draft, it happens, then you can't push freight per vessel. And so being able to maintain that channel at a 43 foot depth is really important to us. And there's a provision and a current word to bill that will provide more of a fell responsibility for sending the cost of maintaining that navigation channel. So that's something that we're really continuing to pursue. Also, there's some provisions within word that really seek to address this whole issue about these cost of project, to be able to get more effective project delivery, that's something that we need to have a lot more dependent to as well. And so, again, it's really important to have a word of bill passed. And so it's encouraging and building the part of the acro money that's happening in Washington DC. It's still one of those, kind of those remnants where you can actually see some bipartisan work getting done. It's happened up to this point. We just need to get it across the finish line. Mike, before I let you go, is there anything else we haven't covered that you think farmers and ranchers across the US should know about? Well, I just think, you know, you kind of take your supply chain for granted. There's naturally, there's a lot of focus in with an agriculture growing the crop and being able to see what's the fruit of your labor in the fall. And we're approaching that time where you have this kind of, you know, moment of realization and, you know, kind of spike the football moment a lot of time to have a really robust, robust harvest. But that's only a part of it. Once you've produced it, you actually have to get it from point A to point B. And that can be all the difference between whether you're industry's product or not. And so that whole situation, whether it's truck, whether it's rail, whether it's barred, whether it's ocean, if that cost number is high, then transportation is an impediment for our profitability. If that number is low, transportation will save for roughly. So the facility transportation coalition and one of the phrases that we often utilize is we're promoting subtraction math. How can you reduce the sense per bushel of that truck movement, that argument, that ocean vessel movement, trying to, trying to have that subtraction math to make sure that number is smaller. And if we're successful in doing so, farmers will be more competitive. So it's very, it's a very important issue for farmers to some profitability. Fantastic, Mike. Well, always a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. It was great hearing from Mike, but looking at fertilizer prices, they continue moving lower ahead into August offering similar leaf as producers begin making plans for fall applications. According to DTN's August 5th retail fertilizer trends report, five of the eight fertilizers tracked were less expensive than one month earlier. UAN 32 recorded the largest decline following 14% to an average of $459 per ton, while UAN 28 dropped 8% at 464 per ton. Enhiders ammonia fell 7% to 960 per ton, and Urea declined 4% to $686 per ton. However, most fertilizer prices remain higher than they were a year ago, including in Hydrous, which is up 26%. For producers, the recent declines could improve fall purchasing opportunities, but prices remain elevated through that comparing products and watching local bids will remain important. Well, Josie, as we look at the markets this week, news was light to push grain's other direction as opinions are certainly becoming mixed regarding the size of this year's U.S. crop for both corn and soybeans. Weekly export sales this week reflected a marketing year low for soybean oil crop sales and new crop sales were also on the low side for the week. Corn Weekly export sales also hit a marketing year low 31.5% below this same time last year. Live in FeederCattle had a gnarly trading day on Thursday after hitting a three-week high in October live cattle earlier in the week. FeederCattle closed down anywhere from about 680 in the September markets to 7.5 in the November feeder contracts, while live cattle ended the session anywhere from 3 to 4.5 dollars lower. So certainly a wicked day on Thursday will see how Friday's trading session closes things up, but that's a quick look at the markets for this week as well. You can follow along with us on social media. See Josie for her final week here of the show on all of those social platforms and stay connected at Agnews Daily, but Josie, thanks for a great summer. It's been great to have you as an intern and we certainly appreciate all that you brought to the podcast this year. No, I've loved the internship for sure. Well, what do you say with that we let the people go. For my final time let's let them go.