June 23, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Valley. This is iglife. My name is Bob Quinn,
with you for the next hour talking about agricultural production
here in the valley and all across the country. Well, friends,
June is a quiet month for USDA reports. Rod Bain
starts us off.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
A quiet month for the jude world agricultural supplyed to
bad estimates from USDA. If you ask Chief Economis Seth Meyer,
he might concur for a couple of reasons.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
First, we didn't have a bunch of last minute policy
changes we had to incorporate in the WASDI. No fur
information yet on any new changes. Also, by the time
we went into lock up, no renewable fuel standard had
dropped yet that's likely to be something we'll have to
incorporate into the next WISDI.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
And even with this month's crop production report featuring a
winter week production forecast at that crop's largest since two
Thy sixteen incorporated into the domestic ballad sheet.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Even there write in line with expectations and unchanged from
last month.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yet, if there is one area that was notable from
USDA's June reports, ongoing rains in southern crop growing regions
that hampered planting and led to changes and harvest acreage projections.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
We don't normally make acreage changes, but we did make
some acreage changes this time in a couple crops. The
first thing to note is we add a net acreage
change of a loss of seventy thousand acres in rice.
We added thirty thousand acres of rice in California, but
reduced acreage in the Delta by one hundred thousand acres

(01:37):
as the really excessive rainfall excessive moisture we think has
delayed planting there. And addition, we made a reduction in
cotton acres because of that same heavy moisture in the delta.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
The chief economist adds that the situation of planting delays
and what that means regarding data and treads within future
USDA RAP report is worth observing.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
We'll see how those acreage changes play out. So here
in the Dune report we don't normally make these changes.
We'll get acreage and we'll see how that actually turns
out here at the end of the month.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
When USDA releases it's June thirtieth Annual Crop Acreage Report,
a broadbade reporting for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, d.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
C Well, friends, how might the high path avian influenza
vaccine impact agriculture. We'll have that story ahead on ag Life.
Bob quinback with some farm us this morning friends. In
the area of bird flu, when the Trump administration took
over earlier this year, the priority was moved from culling
all infected birds to developing a vaccine. Washington State veterinarian

(02:48):
doctor Amber Idyl says it's important to remember what vaccines
do and don't do.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
So just like all of us we get flu vaccine
or COVID vaccine, that doesn't mean we don't get infected.
It just means that we might not get as sick.
So one of the things that we really have to
do is if we use a vaccine the United States,
we have to still be able to detect the virus
in a vaccinated flock. So having a diva vaccine that
can differentiate the two, that's just one of the many issues.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Idle noted that another vital consideration is that you can't
develop a vaccine that benefits one commodity at the expense
of another.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
So we have to make sure that by vaccinating one
we don't have a negative impact on another. Industry. You know,
another conversation's been around vaccinating dairy cattle, which I think,
you know, that's a good thing to start thinking about.
So if we have naive herds like here in La
Human State, I'd really like to see that we have
an option for a vaccine because it does two things.
Cows wouldn't get a sick number one, cows would be

(03:45):
less likely to shed and spread and infect another herd.
So that's really what we would be using it for
from a control strategy in dairy cowle.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Idol says her goal and the goal of the health
community at large, is to ensure animals are taking care of,
but more importantly, that humans are taken care of well.
Friend z AIG Secretary Brook Rollins announced this past week
that USDA would be re establishing a new World Screwworm
sterile Fly Facility at More Air Force Base in South

(04:16):
Texas to protect the US from the spread of that
past from Mexico. Mike Davis has our story this morning.

Speaker 5 (04:23):
This facility was used in the nineteen sixties to help
eradicate a screwworm infestation that threatened the US livestock industry.
At that time. National Cattleman's Beef Association President Buck Warebin
was at the announcement and told The Beltway Beef Podcast,
we've had issues.

Speaker 6 (04:40):
With getting the flies distributed in southern Mexico, and so
there's been a change from instead of bringing them from
Panama where they're creating one hundred million of them a week.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
To.

Speaker 6 (04:54):
More Air Force base staging them there and then delivering
them and that will be a big hell. It was
a facility back in the sixties that helped create these
things and to where we overwhelmed it, and we can
do that again.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
It's estimated that upwards of three hundred million steroll flies
must be propagated per week to combat the screw worm,
where bind says USDA has formed a detailed plan to
overwhelm the dangerous past.

Speaker 6 (05:22):
Secretary Rollins also has committed or twenty one million to
the Mexican government to assist them in getting a facility
going down there that could produce sixty two one hundred
million flies a week, and so these things are all
part of the longer She's got a five point plan
with a lot of detail. That's good to see that

(05:43):
they've got something on paper that is well thought out.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
Where bind says, Rollins and her team at USDA have
put a lot of work into keeping the screw worm
out of the US.

Speaker 6 (05:54):
We are grateful for her for this action, for the
action that she's taken, Grateful that she is, in my view, listening,
but more importantly than that, hearing us. And as I said,
she understands the urgency of this. And I mentioned that

(06:14):
the longest journey begins with a single step, and this
is one of the early steps in this what I'm
afraid it's going to be a long journey.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'm Mike Davis Well Friends, the Renewable Fuels Association and
Growth Energy reacted positively after the Supreme Court issued its
opinion that the Washington d c. Circuit Court of Appeals
is the proper venue for challenging small refinery exemption decisions.
This is a victory for the American biofuels industry and
for the rural communities that depend on a strong renewable

(06:45):
fuels standard. The group's said, the court agreed with our
argument that the DC Court is the only appropriate venue
for litigation on EPA's small refinery exemption decisions, again quoting
from that source. Now, the group's also said, because the
Renewable Fuel Standard is a national program and sres have

(07:05):
a nationwide impact, and he challenges to the SRA decisions
belong squarely in that DC circuit. Farm use This morning,
you're listening to WAG Life.

Speaker 7 (07:16):
It's another agnews update. Conservation. How important is it in
the new farm bill?

Speaker 8 (07:24):
More after this, I'm Russ Kohler, a dairyman from Utah.

Speaker 9 (07:30):
Safety.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Know your limits.

Speaker 8 (07:32):
Heatstroke is life threatening. Know the symptoms confusion, loss of consciousness, seizures,
high body temperature, hot dry skin, and profuse sweating. Reduce
your risk during the heat of the day by working
earlier or later, allow time for water and rest breaks
by drinking two to four cups of water each hour.

Speaker 10 (07:50):
This public service message is brought to you by Farm
Bureau and the US AGG Centers.

Speaker 7 (07:55):
Chairman of the HAUSAG Committee from Pennsylvania, Gt. Thompson.

Speaker 11 (07:59):
The Farm, Food and National Security Act was passed by
this committee last year and contains many bipartisan priorities in
its conservation title. To build on the gains that we've
made in recent farm bills. This includes reforms to improve
the administration of our cpp ACP and the Small Watershed Program.
The bill encourages more innovation in the programs by requiring
more frequent updates to conservation practice standards, and makes precision

(08:23):
agriculture eligible for cost share and EQUIP and CSP. It
also proposed a modernization of CRP and important improvements to
the Technical Services Provider Program. And while these are just
some of the reforms this committee can take in can
take to improve the administration of each program, we also
have a tremendous opportunity this Congress to bolster conservation programs

(08:45):
over the long term with significant new funding. The Farm,
Food and National Security Act also proposed resending the unobligated
IRA conservation funding and reallocating it into Title II. House
Republicans are now trying to provide similar reinvestment through the
recon selling process. Instead of letting the IRA fund funding expire,
investing it would provide additional funding for the programs that

(09:07):
we all know work and increase the baseline for the
Conservation title into perpetuity.

Speaker 7 (09:12):
It's another agnews update.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Meet Blue.

Speaker 12 (09:15):
Blue's not feeling well the prescription generic medication Blue wonders
do they really work as well as name brands? Yes,
generics and name brand medications do work. The same, even
though they may look different. Generics have the same key ingredients.
FDA approval is equally rigorous for generics to make sure
they're as safe and effective as name brands, and Blue

(09:36):
even save some green, making him a little less well.

Speaker 13 (09:39):
Blue.

Speaker 12 (09:39):
Talk to your doctor about generics and visit FDA dot
v slash generic drugs.

Speaker 7 (09:44):
American Cattle News one trillion dollars just sitting there? Where
will we find it more? After this?

Speaker 9 (09:54):
This is Shaquille O'Neill reminding you that anytime is a
good time for the cooling, drying, freshen of gold, bump
out of spread, like after the gym, a credit elevator ride.

Speaker 10 (10:04):
Golf, working with bomb animals.

Speaker 9 (10:07):
Or hard day's work. Stay cool with gold, bomb out
of spreads.

Speaker 8 (10:11):
Stay with.

Speaker 7 (10:14):
Secretary of Interior Doug Bergan. Taking questions from Representative Jared
Huffman from California.

Speaker 14 (10:21):
Now, you have said that American public lands are assets
that should be leveraged to pay down the national debt.
Finance experts, including the former Republican director of the CBO,
have said your proposal could only work at the US
entered into agreements with our foreign creditors to put specific
lands up as collateral. I want to ask you specifically,
because some of these creditors are China, Canada, France, India,

(10:43):
Saudi Arabia, UAE, will you put American public lands up
as collateral in agreements with any of these foreign interests.

Speaker 15 (10:51):
No.

Speaker 16 (10:52):
And the thing that you've just suggested has never been discussed,
never been in a meeting with that, so I don't
even know where that idea came from. This is there's
not when we you're talking about leverage, meaning debt, but
we're talking about if we want to run advertisements to
the American people and say you've got thirty you own
part of thirty six and a half trillion dollars of debt,
which we do every time we have a presidential campaign,

(11:12):
we should also be running ads and say Americans, you
own part of a whate hundred trillion, two hundred trillion dollars.

Speaker 14 (11:19):
You have repeatedly said we should gentle our public lands,
eliminate the national barger.

Speaker 16 (11:23):
Yes, because we're getting a horrifically poor return on the
assets that we have in our country. If our national
balance sheets worth one hundred trillion and Interior pulled in
twenty billion, a one percent return on one hundred trillion
dollar balance sheet would be one trillion. We'd have all
kinds of money for you guys to appropriate to spend
on deferred maintenance. Our parks would be sustainable forever. These

(11:47):
are simple things, but you know, we've got the greatest
resources land, minerals, rare, earth minerals, wind, solar. I mean,
you name all the resources that we have on public land.
We're managing them in a way where we're getting really
horrifically bad returns. And there's nothing contrary with getting good returns.
I mean, some of the companies that have the highest
return in the country are also the greatest stewards of

(12:07):
the assets that they manage. We can do the same thing.

Speaker 7 (12:10):
American Cattle News. This is Dairy Radio Now with Bill Baker.

Speaker 17 (12:18):
It's time for our feed for on Friday with doctor
by Kutchens, Professor emeritus from the University of Illinois.

Speaker 18 (12:24):
Well, welcome to today's feed form, and we're going to
talk about ways to work with dairy technology are presented
by Ben Thorpe, a person that works with Laily Company
and Heed did review some things about as to what
technology can do on dairy farms. Certainly we know we
need to manage cows individually in a herd environ. That's
a real challenge nowadays is to start seeing these larger

(12:46):
herds across the United States as well. The ideal feeding
system would be getting the right feet to the right
animal twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
and three and sixty five days in the year to
maximize potential out here on the farm. So certainly we
look at these robotic feeding systems. That's one technology, and
their data would indicate that first location cols in the

(13:07):
first thirty days after calving, we'll use it make about
three point five visits to the station. Second location collegs
will visit four point five visits per day, and three
plus location colls four point eight. So certainly reflects that
heifers will be a little bit slower coming in here
and we'll make as many visits. Therefore, we want to
overload those units where we are going to have heifers

(13:29):
in the feeding program. He says, look at technology the
thing we're going to look at farmer the future. He said, well,
certainly this technology can improve the farm profitability. That's going
to be key for sustainability. We have to get buy
ins from our consumers as well, because they are ultimate
purchaser of our dairy products. Certainly we have to look
at dairy products that are going to be very nutritionally
important day to consumers as well. We want to improve

(13:52):
the environment and of course find the animal welfare. A
number of our consumers are concerned about that and we
as producers should be aware as well. We heard another
technology is artificial intelligence AI as we call that, and
of course that's coming quickly in the dairy area because
we are now assimilating large amounts of data. We have
data coming from the melking systems, from the milking parlors,

(14:15):
from cow movement pen and feedbunk evaluations, and of course
AI can assimilate all that into a nice summary package.
So when the dairy farmer goes to the farm each day,
he knows or she knows what needs to attention and
be done on the farm. When we look at robotics,
they recommend having three robots in each of the pen.

(14:36):
If that's possible. That reduces the competition for heifers and
boss colls to try to control if there's only one
or two robots in that pen. As well as far
as that goes We certainly want to minimize the number
amount of time that the cow is away from the
feed bunk and the opportunity to lie down as well,
and they'd like to see that less than forty five

(14:57):
minutes per milking or in robots less than one hour
per day. Key on the automation is going to be
local support, and most companies are doing an excellent job
of training their local people to service their equipment out
there as well, and in some cases we'll see financial support.
The new focus is going to be looking at manure management,
and of course California we see some very neat programs

(15:20):
where larger herds get some support in which companies will
come in and put in some of that technology there
and share some of the power that's being generated from
that manure, which solves some of the problems as well.
And the last thing will be on some of the farms,
we have the abilities to pull animals from the milking
pilot as they're leaving, be it a robotic milk or
a standard type milking system. We call that a pole pan,

(15:42):
and therefore we can treat those animals without disturbing the
rest of the herd. So take all messages Bill and technologies. Here,
farmers are going to take a look at how they
work on the farm, what does that cost, it's going
to be, and how we use AI in the future. Thanks,
have a great day.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Thank you, Mike.

Speaker 17 (15:56):
Doctor Mike Cutchins, Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois,
featured every Friday here on our feed Forum Friday.

Speaker 19 (16:03):
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(16:23):
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Speaker 2 (16:33):
Regarding usdased beef production at steer price forecast.

Speaker 20 (16:37):
Beef supplies, extremely tight prices continue to set new records.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Mark Jekanowski.

Speaker 20 (16:44):
Twenty twenty six, We raised our production forecast a bit
about one hundred and forty million pounds, kind of reflecting
higher placements in the second half of this year, but
still year over year, little over a billion pound reduction
in beef production.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
With next year's projected price at two high ndred and
twenty eight dollars fifty cents one hundred weight. Broad Bain
reporting for the US Department of Agriculture.

Speaker 21 (17:08):
We're talking about red leaf blotching almonds again today. It's
pretty serious. I'm Patrick Cavanaugh with the California Tree Nutt Report,
part of the vastag Information Network. Brent Holt is an
Orchard Systems farm advisor in San jai Qing County.

Speaker 22 (17:23):
It's pretty serious. I mean, you know, it went from
being obscure and not here to being quite prevalent this year.
But like I said, it's mostly showing up in orchards
that didn't get a fungicide spray after full bloom. We
did a fungicide trial. I was working with Laurent Tulios
in UC Davison at the kurneyagg Station, and we did

(17:45):
a nice fungicide trial in my county and we had
some fungicides that worked really well. But we did a
pedal fall spray and two weeks after pedal fall and
the five weeks after peddal fall spray, and they all
looked good. Other than what we need to work on
more is dissecting down what time it might be the
best out of those three, and.

Speaker 21 (18:06):
Holt said they're still working on that and should have
better treatment plans for growers. Now this message, a wide
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(18:31):
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Speaker 23 (18:34):
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Speaker 10 (19:04):
It's been popping up in orchards and vineyards all over
any origin theories.

Speaker 24 (19:08):
Scholars, Oh hey, yeah, it's Seva fungicide from BASF, a
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Speaker 10 (19:14):
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Speaker 24 (19:16):
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Speaker 10 (19:23):
So a fungicide that is out of this world. I
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Speaker 21 (19:32):
Bressions with the AG Information Network. I'm Patrick Kavanaugh.

Speaker 25 (19:36):
Welcome back to AG life. I'm Dwayne Merley. The Trump
administration is in the middle of trade negotiations with a
large number of countries to help rectify trade imbalances. Kenneth Hartman,
junior President of the National Corn Growers Association, says China
and Mexico are two of the biggest international corn buyers.

Speaker 13 (19:56):
China has brought corn from the US. Definitely want them
as a customer. There's definitely concern there as far as
carn though. Our major concern is Mexico. You know that
the Trump administration negotiated USMCA in his first administration, and
right now, Mexico is our number one purchaser of carn.

Speaker 25 (20:12):
And Canada is also an important market.

Speaker 13 (20:14):
Canada is our number one purchaser of ETHANL, So Mexico
is probably more important to us than China. There's opportunities
there and we definitely want to be able to sell
to China too, so we're hoping that the President can
do some negotiations there when it comes to the carn
side of it too, and any opportunities that we can
have with S and L or dry distillers green.

Speaker 25 (20:31):
Again, that is Kenneth Hartman, Junior president of the National
Corn Growers Association. Recent Catalans heeed report show that producers
are starting to keep a few more heifers than their herds,
suggesting that herd rebuilding may be underway. Doctor Darryl Peel,
livestock market economists for Oklahoma State University, says the rebuild

(20:52):
appears to be starting slowly, well a little bit.

Speaker 26 (20:55):
I mean, the only real data point we have now
that really kind of suggests halfer retention and the beginnings
of herd rebuilding would be. In that April Cattle on
Feed report, we've got the quarterly breakdown of steers and heifers,
and the heifers on feed as a percentage of total
feed lot inventories was at the lowest level in the
last five years. So that's kind of the first real
data point. But when you look at pepper slaughter again,

(21:17):
particularly in the last few weeks, has dropped off more significantly.
Steers have two for that matter, but heifer's in particular
heepperslaughter has dropped and so you know, and if you
put heifer and cowslaughter together and think about female slaughter
as a percent of total cattle slaughter, it continues to
come down.

Speaker 25 (21:34):
He says. It's not a full scale herd rebuild yet.

Speaker 26 (21:37):
It's still well above levels that would confirm that we're
actively rebuilding the herd. But we're certainly, I think, moving
in that direction. And that's consistent with what I sort
of hear out in the country anecdotally among producers and
lenders for that matter. There's a lot more interest now
in the possibility of retaining heifers and getting started at
least with some herd rebuilding.

Speaker 25 (21:56):
No drought in the southern plains is also encouraging producers
to think about rebuilding their herd numbers.

Speaker 26 (22:03):
Yeah, I think that's absolutely correct. You know, producers have
been wisely very cautious about this, but with the improvement
we've seen in forage conditions in the last six weeks
or so, producers in the southern plains probably are now
moving forward. I don't think again, we're moving dramatically aggressively
at this point. I think we're still proceeding relatively modest
pacete at this point. And of course we know that

(22:23):
there's still a fair amount of drought and drought threats
in the northern part of the country, the northern planes
in particular, so that's going to limit it on a
total basis.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Again.

Speaker 25 (22:32):
That is doctor Darryl Peel, livestock market economists at Oklahoma
State University, and he went on to say that significant
beef production will not increase until twenty twenty eight, and
the beef's supply will be squeezed even tighter as fewer
cows and heipers enter the pipeline. Just because we haven't
seen the bird flu in any headlines recently doesn't mean

(22:54):
the virus is no longer a concern for the farming community.
One of the more recent concerns for the health community
are farm workers who have come down with HPAI, both
on dairy and chicken farms. Washington State veterinarian doctor Amber
Idol says for the last three years, HPAI has not
had a massive human health impact which could breed complacency.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
In fact, CDC says the risk is low to the
general public, moderate to farm workers, and mostly what we're
seeing is conjunctivitis, you know. So the most important things
that we can do is provide ppe that doesn't just
protect the farm worker, but it's comfortable so they actually
wear it. Right, So, what you know, right now, we
really need folks to wear eye.

Speaker 25 (23:37):
Protection masks, she says. With the virus actively fairly low,
now is a good time for farm owners and managers
to take inventory of what they have and what they
need to protect employees.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
You know, you don't have to have enough to last
you a month, but you have to have enough to
last you a few days until you can you know,
you know what you need. So I would encourage producers
in that space to make sure you're What we do
know is that the virus you know right now, like
I said, doesn't have a huge human health implication, pretty
low risk. But what we don't want is to have
an opportunity for people to get infected, or have an

(24:13):
opportunity for the virus to reassort in a way that
it does become a human health crisis, so that there
is human to human transmission. They're not yet, and let's
keep it that way.

Speaker 25 (24:22):
I'd ladded that states cannot respond to a farm for
proper containment and protocol until steps to ensure work or
safety has been taken by the farm. I am Dwayne Merley.

Speaker 27 (24:32):
It's time for California and today on the AG Information Network,
I am Haley's ship. California has made a bold move
to fight climate change expanding organic agriculture, but farmers say
the reality is more complicated, as reported by AG alerts
from the California Farm Bureau. As simply built seventeen fifty seven,

(24:54):
signed into law in twenty two, requires ten percent of
the state's cropland to be certified organic by twenty thirty,
fifteen percent by twenty thirty eight, and twenty percent by
twenty forty five, but acreage is trending the opposite direction.
In twenty twenty two, just one point eight million acres
were certified organic, down from nearly two point two million

(25:17):
in twenty twenty. Now just seven point four percent of
California's cropland and rangeland. Farmers point to shrinking premiums, steep
certification costs, and a three year transition process that makes
going organic a tough sell. Some face disease pressures and
limited tools under organic rules. Others have shifted to green

(25:37):
labels like regenerative or sustainable, which don't count towards state goals.
Yolo County farmer Jim Durst says profit margin, not policy,
will drive adoption, adding that if growers feel like they
can get a fair price for the extra expense, they'll
do it. For the full story, visit aginfo dot net.

Speaker 23 (25:56):
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(26:18):
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Speaker 27 (26:55):
With California AGG Today, on the ag Information Network, I
am Hailey's shit Ye.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Bob went back with some farm news. This morning, Friends
Farmers for Free Trade hosted a town hall on agriculture
in the Midwest. Riley Smith has a report for us
this morning.

Speaker 28 (27:11):
A local distillery in small town Swisher, Iowa, was the
host site for an important discussion between farmers and Iowa
AGG industry leaders about the impact of President Trump's tariffs
on small family farms and seen a Ridge Distillery wasn't
just the venue. CEO Jeff quint was also one of
the feature panelists, as his business has also seen significant
consequences from the current administration's trade policy. Brian Keel, executive

(27:36):
director of Farmers for Free Trade, said, a fifth of
total farm revenue is generated by exports.

Speaker 29 (27:42):
Right, Well, I mean this is an important conversation, one
would argue almost the most important conversation for farming. Twenty
percent of farm revenue comes from exports. So if we're
not exporting food, are farm economies drying up and blowing away?
So these types of conversations on hall events, we've been
holding these all over the United States as a way

(28:03):
of trying to raise awareness about tariffs, how they impact farmers,
and how we need to have trade in order to
have farming.

Speaker 28 (28:11):
Keel said, the Pinealists brought a variety of ag expertise
with them, and.

Speaker 29 (28:15):
That's part of the story we're trying to tell with
these events, is you know, we had a farmer from
Iowa Soybean Association on the Cedar Ridge Distillery. They obviously
buy ag products and incorporate them into their food and beverages.
And then to have Kinsey Manufacturing talking about ag manufacturing
and those sort of hardcore manufacturing jobs and how they're

(28:37):
being impacted by tariffs. It's the whole ag economy, which
is the Iowa economy.

Speaker 28 (28:41):
A comment slogan for the current trade policy is short
term pain for long term gain, but Keel said many
small family farms won't be able to hold out long
enough to see any of those potential benefits.

Speaker 29 (28:52):
And that's what keeps me up at night.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
Literally.

Speaker 29 (28:55):
I mean, if you look at twenty eighteen, the last
time we had a big trade war, we saw farm
bankruptcies increase, and so you know, farm bankruptcy is obviously
an indication that something's going wrong, someone's going out of business.
But even before you see farm bankruptcies, you got a
lot of farmers who are just folding it up and
getting out. The smaller guys can't hold on, so they
sell out, they sell to the bigger guys, and it

(29:16):
changes the face of our community, it changes the face
of our rural towns, and it's really important that we
try to avoid that. So I absolutely agree we got
to hold on for the small folks, and we've got
to make sure that we continue to have a robust
ag economy.

Speaker 28 (29:30):
Office representatives for Senators Ernst and Grassley, we're also in
attendance Keel said, it's important for our political representatives to
hear about how these tariffs are impacting hardworking Iowa farmers.

Speaker 29 (29:40):
They need to hear that these tariffs are having a
real impact on real people in Iowa, on farmers, and
on farmers' lives. You know, farmers, farmers get squeezed two ways.
One we're trying to sell our products overseas and that's
made harder by a trade war. And two we're relying
on inputs, whether that's farm chemicals or fertilizer or the
steel that goes into track. All of that gets more expensive.

(30:02):
So farmers get squeezed on both ends, and that's where
you see bankruptcies, people getting out of farming, suicides. These
are all bad things that happen when farmers get squeezed.

Speaker 28 (30:12):
Keil added that they will continue to host these town
hall events across the country.

Speaker 29 (30:17):
Well, we've done about seven of them so far. We
were in Raleigh, North Carolina last week, Austin, Texas the
week before. We'll take a break for July fourth, and
then we're going to come back. We'll be in Kentucky,
we'll be in Montana, we'll be in South Dakota. So
we're just we're holding these types of events to stimulate
this kind of conversation.

Speaker 28 (30:36):
That again was Farmers for Free Trade executive director Brian Keel.
I'm Riley Smith reporting well.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Friends AG Secretary Brook Roddins announced this past week USDA
would be re establishing a new World Screwworm sterile fly
Facility at More Air Force Base in South Texas to
protect the US from the spread of that pest. For
Mexico Mike Davis has Our story.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
Was facility was used in the nineteen sixties to help
eradicate a screw worm infestation that threatened the US livestock
industry at that time. National Cattleman's Beef Association President Buck
Warebein was at the announcement and told The Beltway Beef Podcast,
we've had.

Speaker 6 (31:16):
Issues with getting the flies distributed in southern Mexico, and
so there's been a change from instead of bringing them
from Panama where they're creating one hundred million of them a.

Speaker 9 (31:28):
Week, to.

Speaker 6 (31:31):
More Air Force Base, staging them there and then delivering
them and that will be a big help. It was
a facility back in the sixties that helped create these
things and to where we overwhelmed it and we can
do that again.

Speaker 5 (31:45):
It's estimated that upwards of three hundred million steroll flies
must be propagated per week to combat the screw worm,
wherebind says, USDA has formed a detailed plan to overwhelm
the dangerous pest.

Speaker 6 (31:58):
Secretary Rollins also has committed OR twenty one million to
the Mexican government to assist them in getting a facility
going down there that could produce sixty two one hundred
million flies a week. And so these things are all
part of the longer She's got a five point plan
with a lot of detail that it's good to see

(32:19):
that they've got something on paper that is well thought out.

Speaker 5 (32:22):
Where Bond says, Rollins and her team at USDA have
put a lot of work into keeping the screwworm out
of the US.

Speaker 6 (32:30):
We are grateful for her for this action, for the
action that she's taken. We're grateful that she is, in
my view, listening, but more importantly than that, hearing us.
And as I said, she understands the urgency of this.
And I mentioned that the longest journey begins with a

(32:52):
single step, and you know this is one of the
early steps in this What I'm afraid is going to
be a long journey.

Speaker 5 (32:58):
I'm Mike Davis Farm US.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
This morning. You're listening to aag life from.

Speaker 30 (33:05):
An egg information network. This is your agribusiness update. With
peak lemon season winding down in Ventura County, California's top
lemon producer, growers say ongoing challenges with lower prices make
it hard to earn a profit. While central Valley growers
have been able to produce quality lemons, coastal area growers
struggle with unfavorable weather. Ventura County grower Craig Colton says,

(33:27):
because of our older trees, wind damage and size issues,
we can't get the fruit quality the packing houses want.
According to recent data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers,
US sales have combines and tractors dropped in all categories.
In May, total agricultural tractor sales were down twelve percent
and combine sales we're twenty one percent lower. AM Senior

(33:47):
Vice president Kurt Blade says this continued slump of US
tractor and combined sales reflects broader challenges in the ag economy,
like higher interest rates, global trade uncertainty, and higher input costs.
The USBA led a trade mission to Purdue last week
aimed at expanding market access and boosting US agricultural exports
to help address the three point sixty six billion trade

(34:10):
deficit with Peru. The delegation of agribusinesses, trade organizations, and
representatives from five state departments of agriculture was working to
strengthen economic ties. Peru is the fourth largest market for
American ag exports in South America, and the US is
Peru's second largest agricultural supplier.

Speaker 10 (34:27):
It's been popping up in orchards and vineyards all over.
Any origin theories callers, Oh hey.

Speaker 24 (34:33):
Yeah, it's Seva fungicide from BASF, a category leader in
disease control.

Speaker 10 (34:37):
How do you explain these healthy crops well.

Speaker 24 (34:40):
Longer lasting residual. Plus, it's built for current regulatory standards
and prepared for what's to come, which improves crop marketing flexibility.

Speaker 10 (34:47):
So a fungicide that is out of this world. I
knew it, Sevia fungicide from BASF. For is it always
reading vote libressions?

Speaker 31 (34:57):
Today we're talking with aphis and wife flies about safena
insecticide from BASF.

Speaker 8 (35:02):
We just get nailed with it.

Speaker 31 (35:03):
So tell us, how are you feeling really really weird,
and you still wanted to devour this field.

Speaker 28 (35:10):
No way, bro.

Speaker 7 (35:12):
There you have it, folks.

Speaker 31 (35:13):
Safena insecticide is specifically engineered to disorient aphis and wi
flies so they can't eat, and when they can't eat,
they can't destroy.

Speaker 23 (35:21):
He'll protect your alfalfa from aphids with sefena insecticide. Always
read and follow label directions from the Egg Information Network.
I'm Bob Larson with today's agribusiness update.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Bob Quinn here to wrap up AGLI for today friends
with the report on the Emergency Livestock Relief Program with
Rod Bin.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
This the livestock producers eligible for emergency payments as qualified
under USDA's Emergency Livestock Relief Program.

Speaker 15 (35:46):
If you qualified with a loss, you should be receiving
a payment in the mail if you've not received it already.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Armed Service Agency Administrator Bill Beebe says the payments released
May thirtieth cover grayze losses due to eligible drought or
wildfire events in twenty twenty three and or twenty twenty four.

Speaker 32 (36:06):
Farm Service Agency is issuing emergency relief payments to ranchers
who have approved applications through the Livestock fore Disaster Program
for grazing losses due to eligible drought or wildfire.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
The administrator notes the connection. The administrator notes the connection
of LFP enrollbit to e LRP payments.

Speaker 15 (36:27):
E l RP payments will be equal to eligible livestock
producers gross LFP calculated payment for the calendar year multiplied
by an ELRP twenty twenty three R twenty twenty four
payment factor to determine the gross EURP payments for twenty

(36:47):
twenty three or twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
And use of existing LFP data to both streamline payment
calculations as well as expedite payments.

Speaker 15 (36:56):
ELRP payment eligibility requires live stock producers to have suffered
grazing losses or drought for either twenty twenty three or
twenty twenty four. We're eligible for both years and have
applied and been improved for LFP. Producers who permitted grazing
on federally managed lands was reduced by wildfire are also

(37:18):
eligible for ELRP if they applied and were approved for
LFP in twenty twenty three or twenty twenty four are
both calendar years.

Speaker 18 (37:27):
Again.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Further supplemental Disaster Assistance Program information on payments and timelines,
including Emergency Livestock Relief Program payments for flooding, are found
online at www. Dot FSA, dot USDA dot go. Click
the resources tab on the home page, then select the
disaster recovery link. Rodbaine reporting for the US Department of

(37:51):
Agriculture in Washington, DC.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
With that, friends, a ount of time for today, Thanks
for joining us. Back tomorrow morning with another edition of
Baglife