June 5, 2026: Protecting Herd Health and Exploring Renewable Energy Opportunities

Today on Agnew Staley, it really struck me that we're way overdue to have a basic support group for folks who want to host renewable energy facilities on their farms and ranches. Welcome back to the weekly edition of the Agnew Staley podcast, Delaney Howell joined in studio this week by Josie Kelly, our summer intern, and Josie, what is this now week? Four, week three, four or five, I think. As we're recording in the studio today, the rain is pouring on us, so I don't know if anyone can hear that rain in the background, but certainly rain chances are expected to increase across much of the Midwest heading into the weekend. As a new system is moving east out of the northern plains, bringing several rounds of showers and thunderstorms through early next week, forecasts suggest that most areas will receive beneficial moisture, which should help improve some soil conditions and reduce stress on early season crops, although some isolated areas in the eastern Midwest could still miss the heavier rainfalls and see some dryness concerns develop there. Overall the wetter pattern is expected to support crop development as farmers continue monitoring emergence and field conditions across the region, and it is certainly coming down as we record this afternoon in the studio. Now for sure, Delaney, moving on, the USDA's latest crop progress report released earlier this week on June 1st shows planting progress across much of the corn belt, remaining ahead of the average pace. Corn planting across the top 18 producing states reads 91% complete, ahead of last year's 86% and above the 5-year average of 83%, while soybeans reached 71% planted compared to the 5-year average of 68%. Corn emergence reached 58% nationally, while soybean emergence climbed to 40%. Coming on to winter week conditions, which are we, conditions remain mixed nationally, with 52% rated good to excellent. Meanwhile, top soil moisture conditions across many of the Midwest states continued trending, mostly adequate, heading into late May and early June, as producers monitor crop emergence and rainfall opportunities across the region. Yes, certainly crops are looking pretty good this time of year. This rain is certainly going to help out with that, but we're going to talk about some tips this week, with Corteva Aggressions, so let's turn it over to that tip with Corteva Aggressions now. Wheat control is not getting any easier, it's getting more complex as for sure, you know, you think about some of the problem weeds that we have out there like water hemp or palm or amaranth or mayors tail or kosha, they are difficult to control. We're running into some resistance issues out there as well, but having a good plan in place is where to start knowing what's out there in your field, scouting, making sure you understand what you have out there, and then using the right product, and we think in corn we've got a good one in reservoir herbicide, not only is it going to control the weeds that are there today, but it's going to provide some residual control for you out there anywhere from probably four to six or up to eight weeks of control depending upon the rate and the time that you did something out there. As we head into post-applications, you can apply it up to corn that's 24 inches tall, so you have a good wide window of application to be able to use there, and if folks would like to know more about that, they can contact us at corteva.com/us. Well just in this week, Josie, we had some pressing news as Secretary Rollins has confirmed that the flesh-eating parasite new world screwworm has been detected in a three-week-old calf in Texas about 30 miles from the US-Mexico border. The case was confirmed by USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and was reported earlier this week on June 3rd. It marks the first detection of new world screwworm in the United States since the pest was eradicated back in 1966. The USDA says the flesh-eating parasite was found in the calf's umbilical cord area, and no additional cases have been reported as of yet. New world screwworm larva burrow into the flesh of living animals causing serious health issues and economic losses for livestock producers everywhere. USDA officials say the earlier restrictions on Mexican livestock imports helped slow the pests spread northward. The agency has also updated its new world screwworm response playbook, outlining quarantine procedures and livestock movement restrictions that would be implemented alongside state animal health officials if additional cases are detected. And we first heard about this world pork expo this week. It was certainly top of mind that a 7.30 p.m. press conference on Wednesday night. So let's hear more about the USDA's response plan from that press conference with Secretary Rollins. We are taking immediate action. We have number one formed a unified incident command team with the Texas Animal Health Commission and deployed our AFIS response team and personnel to the area there already on the ground. We have established a 20 kilometer infested zone around the detection and implementing quarantine movement controls and surveillance in this area. We have expedited targeted release of the sterile new world screwworm flies, which is how we saw for the issue by immediately deploying a 4 million ground release chambers in the area in addition to the 4 million sterile flies per week already being released airially in the area. We are increasing trapping and surveillance for new world screwworm flies along the border just outside of the dispersal area. We are implementing new world screwworm surveillance for the new world screwworm flies along the border and just outside of the dispersal area. We are implementing additional surveillance and management strategies in wildlife and conducting targeted outreach in the local area as well as across the state. Certainly good to hear, oil prices trended lower this week after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon raised hopes for broader negotiations involving Iran and the United States. However, energy markets remain volatile as uncertainty continues in the region, while the White House has maintained that a ceasefires in place between Iran and Israel, both countries, have reportedly launched overnight attacks this week, keeping all traders on edge. The conflicting developments fueled a broader risk off attitude across commodity markets. Thursday, with investors pulling money from several sectors, including agriculture and energy, traders are closely watching any progress that could lead to more stable shipping through the straight of Hormez, a critical route for global energy supplies. Certainly, as we think about the pump this week prices are starting to feel a little bit better at the gas pump. With that Brent crude oil fell nearly 3% following reports of potential diplomatic progress while President Trump's suggested movement in negotiations could come as soon as this weekend. Despite the decline, analysts say uncertainty surrounding Iranian oil exports, straight as straight of Hormez traffic and the broader global economy continues to influence fuel and fertilizer markets, outlooks for farmers. While we are going to be talking about a fertilizer outlook, a little bit more in the podcast from Josh Lindville, so stay tuned for that. But as we take a look at some other headlines, farmer sentiment slipped again in May according to the latest Purdue University in CME Group, Ag Economy Barometer released this week. The index fell from 121 in April to 119 in May, driven largely by weaker views on current conditions as producers continue facing pressure from rising input costs. More than half of farmers surveyed say high input costs are now their top concern, marking a new record high in the monthly survey. Only 14% of producers surveyed said their operation is financially better off as compared to a year ago, while willingness to make large farm investments also declined. Survey respondents pointed to weather risk, low commodity prices, and labor concerns as additional financial pressures, as additional financial pressures. Eight weaker sentiment overall, farmers remained more optimistic about farmland values moving forward with both short and long-term land value expectations, improving just slightly in May. Josie, this week in Iowa, we got a big move forward on who the next gubernatorial candidate will be, and water is a tap of show I know for those candidates. Yes, so EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin recently said that the agency's prioritizing legal durability over speed as it works to finalize a new waters of the United States or voters' ruling. Zeldin said the EPA wants to create a definition that can survive future court challenges and remain stable across changing administrations. The world determines which wetlands, streams, and waterways fall under federal protection through the Clean Water Act and follows years of legal battles, including the United States Supreme Court's 2023 Sacket Decision, that narrowed federal authority over certain wetlands. So definitely an important topic. The comments come as the EPA is expected to release a proposal soon that could further reduce the number of federally protected wetlands across the nation. EPA analysis shows more than 80% of mapped wetlands in the continental United States could lose federal protections under their proposal, potentially shifting more responsibility to individual states. Zeldin also says EPA's ongoing life-as-sape review will continue to be guided by scientific evidence with a final review expected later this year. important issue for many states, not just Iowa, but in some other EPA-related headlines. Administrator Zeldin also says the agency is continuing efforts to roll back diesel-exhaust fluid system mandates that many farmers say are creating costly breakdowns during some critical operating windows. Speaking during a producer-round table in Oklahoma, Zeldin said that deaf-related deratements can leave tractors, unusable, during harvest, creating financial stress for farmers already operating on, of course, tight margins. He went on to later share that actions have already been taken by the Trump administration, including software updates with equipment, manufacturers, and new guidance, which was announced in March, that removes requirements for certain diesel-exhaust fluid sensors. That's a little bit of a mouthful. He also says EPA has collected information from 14 engine manufacturers representing roughly 80% of the market, as the agency continues reviewing additional changes related to deaf systems and enforcement policies. So a quick update there, that's certainly a story we've been following a lot on the podcast, and we'll continue to follow as well. Moving on to some more water news. Three environmental organizations are threatening legal action this week against United States Environmental Protection Agency over Atrazine water quality standards. The group claims that the EPA has failed to establish required aquatic life criteria for Atrazine under the Clean Water Act, arguing federal standards are needed to better protect waterways and aquatic ecosystems from pesticide contamination. Atrazine remains one of the most widely used herbicides in U.S. agriculture, particularly on corn and sorghum acres, and has been the subject of ongoing debate between environmentalists and environmentalists, regulators, and farm groups. The EPA has previously completed ecological risk assessments on the herbicide, while agricultural organizations continue to defend Atrazine as an important crop protectant tool for farmers. Well, Josie, as we transition to some other policy-related news this week, the USDA's Farm Service Agency is giving landowners from June 1st through August 31st to review and potentially increase base acres enrolled in the Arc or Agriculture Risk Coverage and PLC Price Loss Coverage Programs. The USDA says the change authorized through the Working Families Tax Cut Act could add up to 30 million new base acres nationwide, marking the first expansion of Arc and PLC base acres in more than two decades. Eligibility will be based on planting history from 2019 through 2023. Landowners will receive summaries by mail and can also access information online through login.gov. The USDA is encouraging producers who rent farm land to work closely with their landowners during their review period. If approved requests exceed the National Acreage Limit, the USDA says eligible acres will be reduced on a "pro-rated" basis. Following up with some more policy news, President Donald Trump has announced tariff reductions on several agricultural industrial equipment products, a move that could help ease cost pressures for farmers, equipment manufacturers, and machinery dealers. Under the new proclamation, tariffs on products, including harvesters, bulldoversers, forklifts, and HVAC equipment, will we be reduced from 25% to 15% beginning June 8th and continuing through the end of 2027. The administration also created a new 10% tariff rate for imported capital equipment made with at least 85% U.S. produced steel, aluminum, or copper. The changes are part of the updates to Section 232 tariffs, which are designed to protect industries considered important to national security while reducing costs for metal-intensive manufacturers. The announcement comes as equipment manufacturers continue navigating higher raw material costs, labor shortages, and global trade uncertainty. Industry reports show nearly 90% of equipment dealers expect machinery prices to increase between 1 and 6% through the end of 2026, despite those challenges, some areas of the equipment market showed signs of stabilization in April, with combined sales rising 3.4% from year ago, while tractor sales slipped about 1%. Well, Josie, as we turn our attention here to a lighter headline, June is of course National Dairy Month, and the beef on dairy trend continues gaining momentum across the cattle industry. The International Dairy Foods Association President and CEO Michael Dykes says that dairy producers are seeing some significant added value by breeding dairy cows with beef sires, with some calves now bringing between $1,600 and $1,800 per head, and adding roughly $4 per hundred weight to that milk check. The practice uses beef genetics on dairy cows to produce calves raised specifically for beef production, improving both feedlot performance and meat quality compared to traditional dairy cattle. Beef on dairy cattle accounted for roughly 7% of the fed cattle slaughtered in 2022, totaling about $2.6 million as adoption continues growing across the dairy sector. And with it being dairy month, a lot of folks are out there celebrating, Josie, are you going to be heading to any dairy farm field days this month? Probably not, but I'll be eating extra ice cream. Turning from dairy to pork, the World Pork Expo 2026 returned to the Iowa State Fairgrounds this week on June 3rd and 4th, bringing together pork producers, exhibitors, and industry leaders from across the country and around the world. Hosted by the National Pork Producers Council, the event is expected to feature nearly 400 companies, close to 700 booths, and more than 3,000 square feet of exhibit space focused on the future of pork production. Organizers said 10 foreign countries are represented at this year's Expo, with strong international interest coming from South America as pork production expands alongside growing feed grain supplies. So a lot of pork news happening this year's Expo included a variety of business seminars, market academy sessions, and networking events covering topics like Swine Health, Consumer Demand, and Sustainability, Sustainability, Manure Management, and Market Trends. Here's a fun fact. Delaney, Iowa, remains the nation's top pork producing state at more than 40 million hogs annually, while the National Pork Producers Council estimates the U.S. pork industry supports more than 570,000 jobs through production, processing, and distribution. So a lot of big news happening this week, and certainly always great eats when you go to the world pork Expo. As wind and solar energy projects continue to be proposed across rural America, many farmers and landowners are weighing the opportunities and the challenges that they can bring to their local communities. This week we're joined by Greg Broffy, a fourth-generation farmer from Ray Colorado, a former Colorado state senator and a board member of the renewable energy farmers of America. Broffy has worked closely with renewable fuels, association groups, excuse me, renewable fuel groups, and local communities who are navigating the development and shares his perspective on how these projects impact agriculture, landowners, and rural economies. Let's get into that interview with Greg right now. Well Taylor, certainly we talk about this a lot on the podcast and more headlines continue to come to light around expansion in the solar and wind energy spaces. We're going to be chatting about this topic today with a Colorado farmer Greg Broffy, who also as I understand it served in legislation for the state of Colorado as well. But Greg, thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast, we're eager to gain your perspective. Well, good morning, thanks for having me on. Greg, before we get into talking about wind and solar and all of the energy expansion projects, let's talk a bit more about your background and farming operation, if you'll give us a little bit of your history. Well, sure, I'm a fourth generation family farmer from the north of Ray, Colorado, in the northeast corner of the state of Colorado. So it's like 13 miles from my house to Nebraska. That's how far out in Eastern Colorado, I am grew up there, went to college at CSU, got kind of got into politics by accident through my work with the farm bureau and I ultimately ended up running for the state legislature in Colorado in 2002, got elected to the house, moved over to the Senate, spent almost 10 years in the Colorado State Senate, ran for governor in 2014. That didn't work out. So after I got out of elected office, I continued to do consulting in the political sphere, doing a little bit on campaigns. And I've kind of fallen into working now, primarily in the renewable energy space helping developers and get through the local permitting process and then doing education and outreach to local elected officials. Greg, just to get back into it then, before we talk about some of the work that you've done in this space, walk us through from your perspective, why is this such a ten-year-old? There's a certain element of controversy with any time you see change in a rural community or any community for that matter. There's almost always an element of the population who just doesn't want to see anything change at all. And then there are others who are more open to the concept of change and changing the way things go. So for me, renewable energy represents an economic development opportunity for our rural communities and an opportunity to diversify income stream for a farmer or a rancher. In times when you have drought, you have low commodity prices. I mean, only people have high commodity prices right now are the beef producers. If you want to diversify your income stream and you don't happen to be sitting over a field of hydrocarbons, well, you know, solar and wind and batteries and combination can often give you that opportunity to diversify your income stream. So there's going to be some people in every community that are opposed to any kind of change. And that's where groups like the renewable energy farmers of America might come into this and offer a little bit of community support for those who are interested in it. A Cornell University study a couple of weeks ago that indicated a majority of farmers and ranchers are interested in hosting some sort of renewable energy facility for the diversified income stream, but they're afraid of pushback and blowback from their neighbors and other people living in the community. You know, that's that's kind of where a group like Refa can come in and help, you know, give you a sense of of communities. You don't have to be afraid of backlash from some of your neighbors who don't want to see the change. Well, tell our listeners a little bit more about Refa and what it takes on what responsibilities it has and how it assists in this process. Yeah, so the renewable energy farmers of America is a new organization started by a friend of mine here from Kansas, living in Colorado now and it's kind of modeled after the same concept that middle rights and royalty owners have when working with oil and gas companies in, you know, in wherever development is. We're trying to be a voice for and a place for people are interested in this to come and get information and again find community. So we started Refa about a year and a half ago and we're build out a really nice board and we're now seeking membership from people are interested in this kind of development from across the country. I think that members in 22 states, I think right now and we can be a, you know, again, we have a similar to Facebook board where people can come and post and ask questions and and, you know, look through some of our studies and other sources of information and we're just trying to, again, just be a resource for people that are kind of interested in this. I'm interested to know in the work that you're doing with landowners, but also company energy companies as well. I think one of the common concerns with local communities that I've heard at least has been these companies are going to come in they're going to provide us infrastructure and then they're going to leave it go out of business, whatever and then that infrastructure is stuck for the community to figure out what to do next with. And that what are some common questions or concerns that you see popping up and how can farmers best enable themselves to ask the right questions. All really good questions and all of that stuff needs to be dealt with when you are signing your lease with the development company and then also at the in Colorado anyway at the local government level, the county level. We have ordinances that deal with end of the life of the project making sure that they are bonded and have a you know a stream of revenue to do reclamation after the fact so we deal with that that way you know something by the way we learned from lessons on that because we didn't deal with that with the oil and gas industry so. If you have an abandoned well on your place it can be a big challenge to get rid of it speaking from experience there the what we do is we have we have in place ordinances in Colorado to make sure that there's a you know a bond there to pay for the difference in cost between what the recycled value of the. The material is in the cost of charity all down so that that that's all needs to be dealt with need to deal with it at the beginning if you don't have either county ordinances like that then you have to make sure you put it into your lease with the company to before you you know have a final agreement with the with the developer. So what drove you to have the passion to help refa out to team up with your friend to really push this forward is a resource. You know I just see so many farmers and ranchers who want to have you know this economic diversity this this you know mailbox money income stream who get beaten down by their neighbors and aren't you know when they when they bring the project to the county to get permitting they they get they get turns down by the by the county usually through misinformation about projects like this really frustrating to me so. It really struck me that we're way overdue to have a you know like a basic support group for folks who want to host renewable energy facilities on their farms and ranches and so a Jeff brought it to me at that you know what that's a great idea let's let me see what I can do to help you. And the other layer is local community members nonland owners non farmers they also certainly have strong opinions during times of change like this how do you advise other farmers to have those conversations and engage in their local community or what are the points that they should be bringing. You know that that's a great question and and and believe me these facilities represent an incredible opportunity for economic development in you know communities that sometimes struggle to find things to grow their economy so that's what you have to be ready to do and and you also work with another organization called the western way and we do studies of economic benefits of this type of development in in rural areas and so what we do then is we try to show the community. That the tax revenue and the job opportunities to that come with these developments will be very beneficial to the community writ large across all of them so for instance we have a couple of counties in eastern Colorado where half or more of their tax revenue comes from renewable energy facilities and and to be sure you know. 10 jobs doesn't sound like a lot of jobs if you're in Denver Colorado but if you're in line in Colorado 10 full time jobs with benefits might mean that some of these graduates from line in high school can stay in the community and not not have to leave and go to you know the front range of Colorado to find a job so that's really where you have to do it. Now is it going to change the the look of a landscape yes it will a little bit that always happens I mean that happens when you build center for sprinklers out in the sand hills that that happens when you add hog farms or feed lots or anything else to your community it changes the way things look and and so you have to accept that that's going to happen but you're going to see tremendous economic benefits from these things so once a renewable energy facility is built. It has a handful of local employees it pays a tremendous amount in revenue to the local community and it requires almost no services from the community to to be there just providing opportunity. I know we've talked a lot about Colorado today and some of the other areas but this I assume is a resource for farmers and producers across the US absolutely yeah I talk about Colorado because I'm familiar with the ordinances and the laws and the numbers here but as you know there are tremendous amounts of renewable energy facilities built in Texas and in Iowa and across all of the Midwest and you know we probably ought to talk a little bit about the. What I call the fallacy of the loss of farmland to solar production you know I grew up on this farm so I'm the fourth generation here I did the fields that I race corn and watermelons on have been farmed by someone from my family for over a hundred years now. So when I look at the opportunity to do a solar development that might be placed on that field. It's just for a blip and times really not much different than if it were bid into CRP it's at the end of the life of the solar facility it's going to come right back out of the solar production and go right back into agriculture production if that's what we want and all by the way you know if we do the solar thing right we can still do do use egg production underneath the solar panels so while I acknowledge that we have lost a lot of farmland since 1950 I think we've lost about 300 million acres of total farmland since 1950. You're real loss of farmland is when you lose it to suburban and ex urban sprawl when you're we build a Walmart parking lot there or target parking lot or something like that it's never coming back into agriculture. When you convert a field over to solar production at the end of the life of the solar facility when you pull all the all the materials out of there it's ready to go straight back into farming if that's the highest the best use for that property at that time. Yeah that's an interesting point as well some of the anecdotes I hear around that particular topic is on the one hand we don't know maybe in some instances if you have a 40 year solar lease for example what will that do long term to the ground will there be a period where you have. have to improve fertility and get it back to a production level. But on the same hand, we talk a lot about low commodity prices over supply of grain. Farmers are really good at producing the commodities that we produce. So I can see both sides of that, too, where do we need more acres pulled out of production? Does that help us long-term with some of the commodity prices and imbalances in grain supply that we see as well? Yeah, we grew 17 billion bushels a quarter last year. And I tell you, you know, in 1950 I think our peak agricultural acres, you know, farming and ranching was like 1.2 billion acres in 1950. We're down to 100 million acres now, but we're growing and producing twice as much agricultural production on even fewer acres. You know, if the farmer has decided that he wants the property owner has decided that they want to do a solar development to diversify their income stream, maybe help afford to bring another generation back to the farm a little bit sooner than they otherwise would be able to afford to because they've got this new stream of revenue. I think we should all support them. I'm a property rights advocate when it comes to that. And I think what we're going to find and we're seeing this a little bit. Now, we're still early in solar, but we know what we know what happens when you put a good field into CRP, for instance, and you do it right. At the end of that period, the soil is actually a better condition than it was when it was being farmed year after year after year because it's been rested and had had the opportunity to do a whole bunch of interesting things without being churned up. I think what we'll find is the same thing will happen behind a solar facility when when we take it back out of solar production and back into agricultural production. I do appreciate all the information you've shared and the topics that we've covered, but if our listeners are curious and they want to know more or have questions of their own, how best do they reach out to reefa? We can find reefa on the web pretty easily, just Google renewable energy farmers of America, and you can give a whole lot of the organization and see what you check it out, see what you think of it. I think it's going to end up being a great resource and a great home for people who are interested in this. Fantastic. Well, Greg, we certainly appreciate your insight. This was an engaging and interesting conversation. Thank you. It was great to hear from Greg, but we're going to look at fertilizer markets this week, so retail prices continue trending mostly higher according to the latest DTN fertilizer index. Six major fertilizers moved slightly higher compared to a month ago while Urea declined 5% to an average of $823 per ton. Even with the recent dip, all major fertilizer remains above year ago levels within Hydrasmonia up 44% year over year. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission says it's investigating potential anti-competitive behavior in the fertilizer industry after farmers raised concerns about persistently high input costs. Transportation and logistics also remain a focus as federal regulators issued waivers in some states to help move fertilizer products more efficiently during busy application seasons. With that being said, Delaney, what's happening in the markets this week? Well, next week we will have our June-wise report. So ahead of that time, there is some market development says corn, soybean, and wheat futures have remained under pressure as we've seen those warmer conditions, drier conditions, which hopefully will be alleviated by some of those storm systems moving into the weekend here. Corn futures are showing signs of becoming oversold, which has limited some additional selling pressure, but in the cash grain markets we've seen some strength in some key regions despite recent future declines this week. Export demand is also drawing attention with the trade watching closely to see China on that buyer's line for new crop US soybeans. And we haven't seen those sales confirmed as China destinations yet, but we have seen a lot of unknown destinations listed, which of course are often assumed to be Chinese buyers. And in the livestock markets this week, feeder cattle surged following the new world's screwworm detection in Texas, and live cattle have posted some gains this week as well. Hog futures were weaker, however, despite the expectation that perhaps pork could benefit from some of those higher-beath prices and the reaction to new world's screwworm, but that's a quick look at some market headlines for this week. Joe's any big weekend plans? Probably just eating some ice cream to celebrate National Dairy Month, but absolutely well. That a lot of field work is going to be happening this week in our household and as we're trying to get through side dressing. So I'm hoping some ice cream will be in our future this weekend as well, but certainly for all of you tuning in with us in the cab and the truck or wherever you might be tuning in, you can also find us across every major social media platform and connect with us there as well. Josie, what do you say for this week's show? We let the people go. Let's set them go.