July 17, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Valley. This is aglife. My name is Bob Quinn.
With you for the next hour. We're talking about agricultural
production here in the valley and all across the country. Well, friends.
Regardless of size or goals, there appears to be characteristics
shared among successful dairy producers. Rod Main has our opening reports.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
How would one define a successful dairy farm? University of
Minnesota's Jim Sulfur acknowledges.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Probably changes and it probably is really variable from farm
to farm. A lot of that really should be based
on the farmer's goals.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Whether it's family, financial, or business oriented. Yet, regardless of goals,
Selfur notes some common characteristics among successful dairy growers.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
You can almost kind of lump them into two broad categories,
kind of big picture items business items. And then there's
obviously you need to have a lot of good successful
production skills.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
And he says it starts with producers having what he
calls an attitude of gratitude.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
So gracious if I come out, they'll be thankful. They
thank the agro business people that are out there as
we meet, and they just go out of their way,
and they're also very thankful for the customers that they have.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Like most business owners, passion for work is a common
characteristic for successful dairy operators.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Most of these successful farmers really have pretty flexible business plans,
and they think about long and short range goals, so
they tend to try to be as nimble as they can,
and that's forward looking.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
After developing an action plan to reach stated goals for
the success of their dairy farm.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Annually, they'll get together with their group of trusted advisors
and say, this is how we did this year based
on our goals. What do you guys see coming down
the road. This is what we think, this is where
our business is going. So in the next year, we're
going to have these plans. The next five years, we're
going to have these plans. Tell us what you think,
tell us if you think we're on track.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Likewise, when it comes to hiring employees within the operation.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Really good farmers say what are my weakness and I'm
going to hire a team of people around me that
are different than I am, with a really different set
of skill sets and a different mindset, and I think
that's really beneficial.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Soll for ads. Successful dairy farmers tend to prioritize organization,
keep good records. Add are proactive about getting work done
on time.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Also, they really kind of have this cow sense. They
have a unique ability to spot cows before she's sick.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Add Along those lines, successful dairy operators are sure their
cows are healthy and comfortable, know how to care for
special deed animals.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Add consistently put up high quality forge.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
I'm broad Bain, reporting for the US Department of Agriculture
in Washington, d C.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Friends, the National Cattle Producers recently met in San Diego.
One topic of conversation the new world screwworm. We'll have
that story coming up on Aglife. Bob Quinn. Here are
some farmer use today. Friends. The landscape of potential tariffs
continues to shift. Chad Smith has the latest on implementation
postponements as well as new threats.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Several major developments have taken place when it comes to trade.
This includes delays of implementation of country specific tariffs, as
well as new threats of tariffs against the European Union,
Mexico and Brazil. Dave Salmonson, Senior director of Government Affairs
for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the new deadline

(03:26):
to circle on the calendar is August first.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
The President announced that about a week ago, giving many
countries more time to negotiate deals with the US to
lower tariffs, and certainly in agriculture, we hope to reduce
barriers and increase our opportunities to export our products.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Salmonson says farmers could face the brunt of impacts s
if tariffs are implemented.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
I think you'd get a couple of impacts. One their
products coming in here, of course, would be more expensive
some of these tariffs from the twenty eight to thirty
percent or higher. Things that farmers use inputs to come
from overseas would definitely become pricier. If tariffs go into effect,
countries will respond either they retaliate with their own tariffs

(04:11):
on US, or they may look elsewhere to buy.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Salmonson said, it's still too early to know how trading
partners will react.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
We've seen in the past China put on some higher tariffs.
They ended up about ten percent more. Other countries don't
have a big history of retaliating even though they get
higher tariffs. They don't usually put higher tariffs on what
they get from US. But then again, they may look
to purchase elsewhere if they can find it.

Speaker 6 (04:37):
Chad Smith, Washington.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well Friends of the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting recently
wrapped up in San Diego. While the session covered multiple topics,
one was of grave concern to the US cattle industry.
Michael Kelsey, executive vice president of the Oklahoma State Cattleman's Association,
said topic number one was the advancing of new World screwworm.

Speaker 7 (05:00):
In San Diego, we had developments regarding the discovery of
the movement of the of the screwworm north in Mexico
to Vera Cruz and the Secretary responding to off ran
the border process that she had instituted. So I mean,
even while we're there, we're still having those things and
a lot of discussion about the screw worm, and we've
got to take this serious, and we are. We're taking
this very serious, much more serious than Mexico is. At

(05:22):
the same time, we got a lot of planning to do,
a lot of work to do, and which leads me
to iris, So appreciate the leadership doctor Hall, Doctor Rod Hall,
clumb state veterinarian, and what he's doing to help us
prepare for because it truly is and I think we
just need to be truthful with ourselves. It's not a
matter of if, it is a matter of when.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Unfortunately, the screwworm isn't far away from the southern US border.

Speaker 7 (05:43):
It's not very far at all. And so there's things
that we talked about. For instance, if a good question
came up about what about a storm we're in the
hurricane season, We're coming into the hurricane season. Here can
a hurricane move the fly to a degree? Really good
information about that. A fly is not a virus. You know,
a virus can survive those types of events, whereas a
fly is pretty fragile, and actual hurricane probably really wouldn't

(06:05):
move a fly very much because it's so fragile, the wings,
the legs, et cetera. And that makes sense to me.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
The flies do have options for getting over the southern
US border.

Speaker 7 (06:14):
At the same time, the headwinds are the fronts around
a hurricane, if you will, might be able to move
the fly a little bit unnatural, if you'll let me
use that term. So it's not something that we just
want to go, oh, never mind, we don't need to
worry about that. But I think it's also something we
just need to be real about. We're much more worried
about wildlife movement, people movement as well as in the
domestic animal movement as well.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Again, that's Michael Kelsey of the Oklahoma State Cattleman's Association.
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule for
the renewable volume obligations for twenty six and twenty twenty seven.
Chris Bliley, Senior vice president of regulatory affairs for Growth Energy,
offers his reaction to the proposal.

Speaker 8 (06:55):
We're very pleased because these are the largest renewable fuel
volumes proposed by the EPA for ethanol. That means fifteen
billion gallons of conventional biofuels for both twenty six and
for twenty seven, and so for farmers once this rule
is finalized, which we expect later this year, that provides certainty.

(07:17):
That gives our ethanol producer certainty about what the market
is going to look like for the next two years,
and that provides certainty to the farmers as well as
they provide inputs to the ethanol producers over the next
two years.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Chris Wiley of Growth Energy with US Farmer used this morning,
you're listening to Aglife.

Speaker 9 (07:36):
It's another agnews update. We focus on trade. What's happening
more after this.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
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Speaker 9 (08:15):
University of Nebraska agg economists Brad Lubin.

Speaker 11 (08:18):
We have generally seen growth and exports and growth in imports. Yes,
we're a major agricultural producer in the world, and we're
a major exporter of those egg products. We also are
the number one consumer market in the world, and we're
a major importer of many egg.

Speaker 9 (08:32):
Products as well.

Speaker 11 (08:33):
Often, maybe most of the time, those are complementary products.
We export grains, and we export meat, and we import
coffee and other exotic fruits and so forth. Sometimes they
appear to be competing products. We actually export beef and
import beef at the same time. Well, but it is different.
We export higher value cuts. We tend to import lean
trim that compliments our ground beef production in the US.

(08:55):
But what we have seen here is that exports have
actually fallen back in the last couple of years. Twenty
three and twenty four have fallen back from the record
of twenty two. Imports, however, have continued to push higher,
and we actually have a rather sizeable trade deficit, even
in agriculture, which is one of the sectors we historically
always said was one of the few US sectors that

(09:15):
ran a trade SERPUS. Well, right now we're running a
trade deficit, and some of the challenges we see with
US exports and trade policy don't really tell a better
table this going forward. So it comes down at the
moment until we see better signs of what's going on
in the trade front.

Speaker 9 (09:30):
It's another ag news update, Ryan.

Speaker 12 (09:34):
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Speaker 6 (09:37):
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Speaker 14 (09:50):
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Speaker 15 (09:51):
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Speaker 9 (10:02):
American Cattle News Today we take a look at reopening
the Mexican border for feeders. More after this, here's farmer
and landowner John True.

Speaker 17 (10:14):
We purchased the land about three years ago and there
was an old farmstead on there with trees. You're going
to clear the lands. We could farm through it. We
thought we knew where the pipe was, so we didn't
call to get it located. The work on our property
led to the damage of a light cruded pipeline. Fortunately
no one was hurt, but it could have been much worse.

Speaker 9 (10:30):
Never assumed the location or depth of underground lines.

Speaker 18 (10:33):
Always call eight one to one or visit clickbefore youdig
dot com before you start work.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
A message from the pipeline operators for egg Safety campaign.

Speaker 9 (10:41):
Doctor daryl'peel, Oklahoma State livestock economist.

Speaker 19 (10:46):
The greatest threat is in the Texas ports to South Texas.
If you think about the way Texas dips down to
the southern tip, that gets farther and closer to the
area where the threat would be. So so you know
we're going to begin a phase reopening. I think the
dates they published are right after July fourth, or Douglas, Arizona,
and then from there on Columbus, New Mexico, Santa Theresa,

(11:07):
New Mexico. And you know, the Douglas port doesn't cross
that many beef cattle, and they said it would be
limited only to Chihuahua and Sonora cattle, but I wouldn't
expect very many Chiuha cattle. Chihuahua is a big beef
cattle state for exportation, but you know that's going way west,
that's kind of going away from where their markets are,
so I really don't expect to see a lot of cattle.

(11:27):
And I think that's intentional on the part of USDA
to kind of start with the low volume report ports,
and there'll be some backlogs or there'll be some bottlenecks
at the border with this process. Once you get into
the New Mexico ports at Columbus and especially Santa Theresa
that's the biggest port on the border, we'll get into
more potential for cattle to come up. But even there,
I think the process will be fairly slow. There will

(11:50):
continue to be some undoubtedly some bottlenecks with just the
physical process of getting cattle across the border. So all
of that to say that we are going to begin
some phase reopening, but theliume of cattle coming in from
Mexico will be quite slow for certainly several more weeks
to a few months, and you know, maybe by the
end of the year we're getting back close to normal.

(12:11):
But all of that to say that it's going to
continue to restrict the number of cattle coming in.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
As we go forward.

Speaker 19 (12:17):
You know, it's a process, it takes time, it's a
very complicated process, and it's a very long border, so
there's a lot of things that have to take place
to take care.

Speaker 14 (12:25):
Of all of that.

Speaker 9 (12:26):
American Cattle News.

Speaker 6 (12:31):
This is Dairy Radio Now, a rundown of the latest
dairy news across America with Bill Baker.

Speaker 18 (12:38):
Today we head to our nation's capital and get an
update from Paul Bliberg, Executive VP of Government Relations with
the National Milk Producers Federation. Paul, thanks for joining us.
The one Big Beautiful Bill is now law. How does
this affect our producers in the dairy industry overall?

Speaker 14 (12:53):
Yeah, So the Reconciliation Bill that was enacted in the
law on July fourth does include a number of important
and dairy policy provisions. It reauthorizes the dairy Margin Coverage
program through twenty thirty one, which is great for providing
certainty to the producer, and it continues the discount option
that existed before, where if a farmer chooses to lock

(13:14):
in their coverage for the duration of the reauthorization, they
can get a twenty five percent discount on their premium.
And it also updates the production history calculation, which is
something we wanted to do to make sure that the
program was based on more recent on farm production levels.
Previously it was a bit of an outdated number. Now
a farmer will be able to get coverage on their
production history of their highest year of twenty twenty one,

(13:37):
twenty twenty two, or twenty twenty three, and so that's
a helpful update that we bought to be made in
the program. In addition at DMC, the bill also includes
nine million dollars to set up a process at USDA
for every two years for the department to do mandatory
dairy processing cost surveys to figure out how much does
it cost to turn milk into things like cheese and butter.
And the idea here is to give everybody in the

(13:57):
industry good data, the same data to help inform future
conversations around federal milk marketing orders, around make allowances, especially
as you know, Bill, we went through a process over
the last couple of years on updatingly modernizing the FMMO system,
and that process wrapped up earlier this year. But I
think we all agreed that in the future would be
good if we all had better data, and that's really

(14:18):
what this was about, So we were very excited to
get that in there. And outside of the commodity provisions,
there's new funding for AGG trade promotion, AG research, animal health.
The conservation dollars are spread out over a longer period
of time, so the farm provisions have a lot of
positive attributes. And then over on the tax side, the
one ninety nine, a tax deduction that farmer co ops

(14:38):
can claim and pass back to their members, is made permanent,
and the clean Fuel Production tax credit is extended for
several years and has improved frankly to be a little
bit of a better option for you know, dairy farmers
who might provide manure for dairy derived renewmal electric gas
and create a little bit more opportunity as a new
revenue stream there.

Speaker 18 (14:58):
These megasized federal spending bills are a lot of detail
in them, but overall it sounds pretty positive for agriculture
and the dairy industry.

Speaker 14 (15:05):
Yeah, like I said, there were a lot of good
things included. Not everything that we would want to pass
in the law can be included in the bill like this,
because the budget reconciliation process, especially in the Senate, has
very strict parameters regarding what canon can't be in So
if something is a policy only like the Whole Milk
for Healthy Kids Act that we've talked about before now,
that can't be included in the bill like this because

(15:26):
it doesn't have a fiscal impact one way or the other.
But many of these other items, you know, the ones
I talked about on the tax side and the spending side,
were able to be included because they fit those rules.

Speaker 18 (15:36):
This is separate from the work that's also going on
with a new farm bill.

Speaker 14 (15:40):
Well, so I think you know you've maybe heard Chairman
Thompson in the House refer to what was in this
bill as Farm Bill one point oh right. In other words,
a lot, not all, but a lot of the funding
issues that had been raised during the Farm bill process
we're handled in this bill, and he's now and others
on the hill as well. I've started talking about doing
sort of farm bill two point oh. This is sometimes
called the skinny farm, building on who you talk to,

(16:01):
and I think the idea is to do a bill
that deals with the remaining items that couldn't be dealt
with in reconciliation. Many of those will be policy items.
There may be a few funding items too in a
second process. So I think that's kind of how I
would look at the different pieces of it.

Speaker 18 (16:16):
You mentioned the whole Milk for a Healthy Kids movement's
been getting some traction.

Speaker 14 (16:20):
What's the latest that We've been making good progress this
month here on the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act?
And I think we're hopeful that we can get some
further steps in very soon, you know, maybe passing the
Senate in the House in short order. I don't know
if that'll be this month or fore when they come
back in September, but you know, something we're very closely
tracking and working on.

Speaker 12 (16:40):
Thanks for the update.

Speaker 18 (16:41):
That's Paul Bleiberg, Executive VP of Government Relations with the
National Milk Producers Federation. Find more at NMPF dot org.

Speaker 13 (16:48):
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Speaker 12 (17:21):
Biological materials can be used in trinat industry, but they
do have their weakness. I'm Patrick Cavanaugh with the California
Trina Report, part of the vastag Information Network. David Havilin
is a uc an R farm advisor specializing in anomology.

Speaker 20 (17:37):
They tout themselves in their environmental profile, you know, very
low mam million toxicity, so safe to people, very low
environmental talk issues waterways and danger species and so on.
But a lot of that's because they break down very
quickly in the environment. And breaking down quickly in the
environment is great if you're talking about environmental safety. It's
not necessarily great if you're talking about trying to control

(17:59):
insects or these.

Speaker 12 (18:00):
And of course that's why you need residuals.

Speaker 20 (18:03):
You do. You don't want something that's going to work
for three days and break down if you're trying to
control anthracnose or a mildew's or a you know, shothole
or some kind of you know, disease, monolinea brown rod,
and so on. So yeah, they do play a role,
but at the same time they have their weaknesses, just
like any other product.

Speaker 12 (18:20):
But the biologicals are being incorporated and then they do
have their value, but mainstream.

Speaker 20 (18:25):
Is still on a case by case basis. Some are
having some great value. A lot of them are still
trying to find their home and you know, the right pest,
the right crop, the right environment, the right situation, and
you know, trying to focus on identifying that and and
filling that niche again.

Speaker 12 (18:40):
That's David Havilin is a UCA and R enymology farm
advisor based in Kerrent County.

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Speaker 12 (19:43):
The ag Information Network. I'm Patrick Kavanaugh.

Speaker 22 (19:47):
USDA announced the new Farm Security Action Plan that covers
several areas of US agriculture. It's a seven step plan
designed to protect America's farms and the food supply, which
in turn will protect national security. Jim Pillen, Nebraska Governor,
was in Washington, d C. To hear the official announcement.

Speaker 23 (20:07):
The whole issue is about really economic revitalization. The whole
issues about family farms being successful and being protected because
as we said, family farm security equates to food security,
which equates to national security. They're really really important, and
with partnerships with the USDA, nobody can execute and do

(20:28):
it better than what states can. And that's why Governor
how could be Sanders from Arkansas was invited to it
as well as Governor Bill Lee from Tennessee, as well
as myself, because we've worked hard on taking productive steps.

Speaker 22 (20:41):
Pillan says, there's never been a national safety plan like
this that includes agriculture.

Speaker 23 (20:47):
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think that for all of
us that have spent our lifetime in agriculture, it's pretty
inspiring because food security is a big deal. It's really
really important for the long term success of the State
of Nebraska in the long term success in our country
so that we can have great quality of life for
a long term. If we don't have food security, we
don't have national security. It's a severe problem.

Speaker 22 (21:08):
Now, Nebrawska is taking its own steps to protect agriculture
within its borders.

Speaker 23 (21:13):
We're getting the Tinese equipment off telecommunication towers. Obviously that's
in the execution phase and that's been going on two years.
Should be taking care of. Then second place is making
sure that the legislature is being effected that nobody from
porn adversary countries can buy land. And then the third
step would be if there is land owned by anybody

(21:33):
from point adversaries, that we can take care of that.

Speaker 22 (21:36):
Again, that is Nebrawska Governor Jim Pillin. Flooding has devastated
parts of Texas Agriculture Commissioner said. Miller says he's not
sure folks outside of Texas can grasp just how bad
it is.

Speaker 24 (21:51):
In less than twenty four hours, there was an equivalent
amount of water and down the Guadalupe River they would
go over Niagara Falls in a month and a half.

Speaker 22 (22:00):
He says it's too early to know how many cattle
or crops have been lost in the floods. Right now,
the priority is finding people.

Speaker 24 (22:08):
So far, of the twenty one counties that have had
severe flooding, we've had eighty two casualties, eighty two deceased.
We still have over forty missing. We're doing search and
rescue assuming that those are still alive. We hope to
find more people alive. One lady was washed down river
thirty miles and we found her clinging to the top

(22:29):
of a tree, so that there is still hope. Agriculture damage,
we haven't assessed any of that yet, but I can
tell you there's hundreds and hundreds of miles of fencing, gone, structures, barns,
hay washed down river, tractors, underwater implements washed down river.
We found cattle and livestock in the top of trees,
you know, dead. Those are all going to have to

(22:51):
be buried and cleaned up.

Speaker 22 (22:53):
He says. It will take weeks to figure out the
agricultural losses, but some farmers will not have anything to
harvest in the fall. He said. While outside help will
be needed in the weeks to come, spiritual support matters too.

Speaker 24 (23:07):
I mean, there's nothing more powerful than prayer. That's the
most important thing you can do. These people they've lost
loved ones that have loved ones missing, lost their home,
their property, you know, their livestock, their livelihood, their crops
are gone. So just if you would just bathe those
people in prayer, that would be great again.

Speaker 22 (23:23):
That is Texas Agriculture Commissioner sid Miller, and he says
farmers and ranchers who want to donate hey fencing supplies
or just dollars should contact his office in Austin, Texas.
Gas prices over the last couple of weeks are remain
steady in the mid sixties now. Patrick de Han ofgasbuddy
dot Com says the Trump administrations change their relationship with

(23:47):
OPEK allowed for more oil production, which he called a
game changer.

Speaker 25 (23:52):
Without that, oil prices probably would not be anywhere near
where they are today at about sixty five dollars a barrow.
OPEK had cut all production back in twenty twenty three,
and so to see OPEK raising production this year certainly
has been surprising and a large part of why gasoline
prices are lower.

Speaker 22 (24:09):
When it comes to the second half of the year,
the Hansa's oil prices could.

Speaker 25 (24:13):
Struggle as opex increased production will start to lead to
more supply at a time of year that demand is
starting to decline. So hopefully the second half of the
year will be a little bit quieter than the first
half in terms of geopolitical tensions. Will still keep an
eye on Russia, but for now, Russian oil output does
continue at brisk levels. So I think that all is
going to lead to a second half of twenty twenty five,

(24:35):
at least for oil markets, maybe a little bit more
bearish than the first half of the year.

Speaker 21 (24:40):
It's time for California AGG today on the AGG Information
Network I in Haley's ship. There is a fresh legal
fights over eggs, specifically who gets to decide how they're
produced and sold. The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit
against California, arguing that the state's cage free egg laws
are driving up prices and overstepping federal authority. California voters

(25:05):
passed the laws in two thousand and eight and then
again in twenty eighteen, requiring all eggs sold in the
state to come from cage free hints. Because California is
such a large market, those requirements have influenced egg production
across the country. Federal officials say that is unfair and unconstitutional. California,
on the other hand, says the real issue behind price

(25:28):
hikes is avian influenza, not regulation. Since twenty twenty two,
nearly one hundred and seventy five million birds have been
lost to bird flu, disrupting the supply chain. Prices have
dropped from record highs earlier this year, but are still
well above average. Once again, agricultural producers find themselves in
the middle balancing consumer preferences, disease challenges, and legal uncertainty.

(25:52):
To take a look at those formal filing documents yourself,
you can head on over to our website that is
aginfo dot net. Attention all growers. Have your packouts been
reduced due to damage caused by heat stress or sunburn?
This is Cultiva. We are the manufacturer of Parka. Parka
is a plant based folier product with a unique MOA
that helps plants resist and recover from heat stress. Parka

(26:15):
reduces heat stress and sunburn by reducing the development of
oxidative compounds and stressed crops. It allows the plant to
continue photosynthetic activity, which ultimately means your crops continue to
perform during times of excessive heat. As a result, plants
treated with Parka are better equipped to sustain growth under
environmental stress conditions to deliver high fruit quality and marketable yields.

(26:37):
Unlike other products on the market, Parka is highly tank
mixed compatible and leaves no residue on fruit or equipment,
making it easy to incorporate into spray programs. The heat
is coming. Is your crop ready to handle the stress?
Give us a call at eight eight eight six three
eight nineteen fifty five or visit cultiva dot com. This
is California agg today on the AG Information Network. I

(27:01):
am Hailey Ship. For more agnews, check us out online
at aginfo dot net.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Bob Quhen, here are some farm use today friends. The
landscape of potential tariffs continues to shift. Chad Smith as
the latest on implementation postponements as well as new threats.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
Several major developments have taken place when it comes to trade.
This includes delays of implementation of country specific tariffs, as
well as new threats of tariffs against the European Union, Mexico,
and Brazil. Dave Salmonson, Senior director of Government Affairs for
the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the new deadline to

(27:39):
circle on the calendar is August first.

Speaker 5 (27:42):
The President announced that about a week ago, giving many
countries more time to negotiate deals with the US to
lower tariffs, and certainly in agriculture, we hope to reduce
barriers and increase our opportunities to export our products.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
Solomonson says farmers could fit the brunt of impacts if
tariffs are implemented.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
I think you'd get a couple of impacts. One their
products coming in here, of course, would be more expensive
some of these tariffs from the twenty eight to thirty
percent or higher. Things that farmers use, inputs that come
from overseas would definitely become pricier. If tariffs go into effect,
countries will respond either they retaliate with their own tariffs

(28:24):
on US, or they may look elsewhere to buy.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
Salmonson said, it's still too early to know how trading
partners will react.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
We've seen in the past China put on some higher tariffs.
They ended up about ten percent more. Other countries don't
have a big history of retaliating even though they get
higher tariffs. They don't usually put higher tariffs on what
they get from US. But then again, they may look
to purchase elsewhere if they can find it.

Speaker 6 (28:50):
Chad Smith, Washington. Beef demand continues to increase, and so
does the demand for consumers to know how that beef
is produced. Sustainability is a keyword that can make producers hesitant,
but Kirsten Nichols with Certified Angus beef says it doesn't
have to. Now, the sustainability and animal care scientists noted

(29:11):
that most ranchers don't need to completely change their management strategies.

Speaker 10 (29:15):
Realistically, you're doing a lot of these things already today,
right when it comes to cattle care, when it comes
to the environment. Now, let's just go through programs like say,
even the Beefquity Insurance Program for example, Let's go get
VQA certified, right, because that is going to help us
drive consumer trust and consumer demand. Because we know that
consumers have questions about animal welfare, how cattle are raised,
why they raise the way that they are, and we

(29:37):
know through consumer research that even just something simple like
a VQUA certification and saying hey, look, producers are professionals and.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
What they do.

Speaker 10 (29:45):
They're going through continuous education, they're staying up to date
on the best management practices, the latest and greatest research
that's out there today coming from land grants. That's what
builds the QA program. So it's really great from the
standpoint of it increases consumer trust, but it's also a
good thing for the cattle producer.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
Nichols added that it's also important for producers to be
proactive and share their story, even if it seems like small,
mundane tasks. That information will help educate consumers about what's
taking place on today's ranch. It's important for consumers to remember.

Speaker 10 (30:14):
Behind every pound of beef that gets sold in this country,
it ties back to a family somewhere, right, it's a
family farmer ranch somewhere in this country that really does care.
We want to leave things better than we found it,
because it's inherent in our nature. We want that next
generation to come back and take over the family farm,
the family ranch. And like I said, at the end
of the day, we've made a lot of progress over
the last several decades, and I think it's just inherent

(30:37):
in our producer culture of we can always get better.
We're always looking for the next technology that's going to
help us. We're looking at how to improve and I
think that's truth still holds to you today.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Kristen Nichols certified Angus Beef with US this morning. Well
Frendsy Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule for
the renewable volume obligations for twenty twenty six and twenty
twenty seven. Chris Bliley, Senior Vice President Regulatory Affairs for
Growth Energy offers his reaction to the proposal.

Speaker 8 (31:05):
We're very pleased because these are the largest renewable fuel
volumes ever proposed by the EPA for ethanol. That means
fifteen billion gallons of conventional biofuels for both twenty six
and for twenty seven, and so for farmers. Once this
rule is finalized, which we expect later this year, that

(31:25):
provides certainty. That gives our ethanol producer certainty about what
the market is going to look like for the next
two years, and that provides certainty to the farmers as
well as they provide inputs to the ethanol producers over
the next two years.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
He expects a final decision by October, but Growth Energy
in the ethanol industry will be watching further developments.

Speaker 8 (31:45):
Yes, we again, we hope to get these finalized. The
Administrator of EPA has said by October thirty first, and
so we want to get these finalized, but we're keeping
an eye out on those refinery exemptions. It's a shark
in the water, I've termed it.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Chris Bliley, Growth Energy. This morning, farm us. You're listening
to aag Life.

Speaker 15 (32:08):
From the AGG Information Network. This is your agribusiness update.
While most US grown okra is produced in the southeast California,
farmers like farm boyri Organics owners Andrew and Eric Walker
have found success growing the tropical vegetable in the Central Valley.
Okra isn't a primary crop at many California farms, but
its appeal to shopper seeking ingredients for African, Asian and

(32:29):
Southern recipes has helped them attract new customers at farmers' markets.
Eric says people who like okra really like it. Republicans
clear their agricultural megabill hurdle and are now looking to
pass a smaller farm bill with important priorities that haven't
been updated since twenty eighteen. Politico says sixty seven billion
dollars in farm bill spending was included in the reconciliation bill,

(32:51):
but there are still farm programs and priorities that need funding,
extension and updating. Houseagg Chair Gt. Thompson looked ahead to
a skinny farm bill with a predicted cost of less
than eight billion dollars. The National Cattlemans BF Association applotted
at Secretary brook Rawlins. Farm security is national security action plant.
The USDA is releasing a number of farm security and

(33:13):
national security policies supported by NCBA and American Cattle Farmers
and ranchers. The plan has USDA increasing its oversight of
foreign land acquisitions, strengthening inspections to root out dangerous products
entering the US and prevent the spread of potentially devastating diseases.

Speaker 6 (33:29):
Empower Dairy a full solution approach for producers, mark Animal Health,
Livestock and dairy veterinarian doctor John Champagne Cows.

Speaker 26 (33:37):
Are most productive when all aspects of dairy management sort
of work together. Even though we focus on individual parts,
it's the entire system and the dance that that system does.
This includes identification, are monitoring, and our biopharma portfolio, and
by using all three of these, the Empower module allows
us to maximize productivity while reducing animal stress, labor and inefficiencies.

(34:02):
We have not only just the products, but the solutions
as well to enhance and go along with the products,
and those things can be interchangeable. In addition to that,
we have expertise within the organization and a significant amount
of research and development.

Speaker 6 (34:19):
Visit Productivecows dot com or contact a MERK animal health
representative to learn the best empower approach to keep your
cows productive.

Speaker 15 (34:27):
From the Egg Information Network. I'm Bob Larson with today's
agribusiness update.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Bob quin here to wrap up AGLI for today friends. Well,
a handheld scanner designed to detect pathogens and prevent food
born illness at food processing facilities owe some inspiration to
a television classic, Rod Bain wraps us up today.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Prevention of food board illness in our nation's food supply.
That's the focus of USDA researcher moodkib His work includes
using modern technologies and innovations to approve both contabinet detection
and prevention. The result development of a handheld scatter to
detect pathogens on food utensils and surfaces at processing facilities

(35:12):
at other locations. His inspiration.

Speaker 27 (35:17):
When I initiated this actually, I was inspired by TSI,
a US fluorescence based technologists to inspect a crime scene,
and then it just sort of a erequa moment. Well,
I can make handheld devices to inspect food contact surfaces.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
The innovation continued through several prototypes at introduction of new
tech within the scatter.

Speaker 27 (35:38):
In recent years, miniature aichips became available and our commercial
partner and be doin ideas together and incorporate edge computing
and run AI models to detect contaminant on food contact surfaces.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
And with this tech tool image based the.

Speaker 27 (35:56):
Images he captures in realtime and stores it. Actually you
have actual record of what you've just respected.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
Currently, inspections that many food processing facilities rely on visual observation.
The scatter improves that capability and can provide both greater
efficiency and cost effectiveness. The device is already commercialized and
drawing interest not just nationally but globally as well. Kim
sees the scatter and it's potential beyond the current applications.

Speaker 27 (36:26):
This device has many applications not only for food industry,
but it could be potentially used in actually crimes investigations.
It's got a lot of new technologies incorporated into a device.
I believe that this will clearly have an impact soon.
Since commercial unit's been marketing the past couple months, and
once it's being implemented in industry, I think it'll really

(36:49):
help mitigate any contaminants penetrating our food systems.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Recently, KiB was honored for his research and its connection
to public service and food safety, receiving a Samuel J.
Hayman's Service to America medal a Sabi on the.

Speaker 27 (37:04):
Reed bed Relativit servants and they've got fantastic services for
the American public. Researchers that have developed either technologies or
anything simpler and efficient, ultimately serving US public.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
A broad Bain reporting for the US Department of Agriculture
in Washington.

Speaker 15 (37:23):
D C.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
With that, friends around of time for today, Thanks for
joining us back tomorrow morning with another edition of Aglife