The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing an increase in the biofuels mandate. Two sources with knowledge of the proposal told Reuters that the agency wants to increase the volume of biofuels that refiners must blend annually to 20.04 billion gallons in 2020. That’s up from the requirement of 19.92 billion gallons in 2019. The proposal is currently under review by other government agencies before it can be finalized. It includes 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels like ethanol, which is unchanged from this year. The proposal also includes 5.04 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, such as those made from agricultural waste, up from 4.92 billion in 2019. The biofuel mandate has helped farmers by creating a huge market for ethanol and other biofuels. However, oil refiners say compliance with the mandate costs a lot of money. An EPA spokesman did confirm that the agency has submitted the proposal but wouldn’t comment on anything it contained. As part of the advanced biofuel proposal, the agency set mandates for cellulosic ethanol at 540 million gallons and non-cellulosic at 4.5 billion gallons. The agency also set a biodiesel mandate of 2.43 billion gallons for 2021.

Vice President Mike Pence made a visit last week to talk with farmers and other agricultural officials in Glyndon, Minnesota. House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson reacted to Pence’s visit to his district. “He visited my district to urge me to get the Speaker of the House to bring up a vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement,” he says. “As a supporter of USMCA, I’m happy to make that request. However, the Vice President also knows that there are some hurdles to get over between now and getting this done.” First things first, Peterson says the Administration needs to submit it to the House so it can be considered. There are also challenges in the Senate as Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley says Republicans have told the Administration it’s “dead on arrival” without removing the Section 232 Tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico. Peterson says the Administration hasn’t given his farmers any assurance that the tariff war with Canada and Mexico would end even if USMCA is officially passed. “My farmers are facing the double whammy of commodity prices below the cost of production and an uncertain trade future in all of their regular export markets,” Peterson adds.

U.S. and Chinese officials wrapped up trade talks with no deal. However, there wasn’t any breakdown in talks, even as the U.S. Trade Representative moved forward on raising import tariffs from 10 to 25 percent on $200 billion in Chinese goods. Farmers and agricultural organizations across the country are very concerned about the move. The National Association of Wheat Growers, the American Soybean Association, and the National Corn Growers Association were hoping a deal would be in place by March first, right before farmers started back into their fields. Instead, the trade war with China is escalating. “U.S. wheat growers are facing tough times right now,” says Wheat Growers Association President Ben Scholz, “and these additional tariffs will continue to put a strain on our export markets and threaten decades worth of market development efforts.” Davie Stephens, ASA President, says his group believes President Trump supports farmers. “We’d like the President to hear us and believe what we are saying about consequences as the trade war drags on,” Stephens says. “Adding to the current problems, it took us 40 years to develop the China soy market. For most of us in farming, that’s two-thirds of our lives.” Lynn Chrisp, Corn Growers President, says corn farmers are watching the tariff battle as many can’t even get into fields to plant this year’s crop due to wet weather. The Administration says China has 3-4 weeks to come to an agreement or face tariffs on $325 billion in tariffs on items currently not covered by duties.

U.S. equipment manufacturers are urging the White House to end tariffs that are harming U.S. farmers and businesses. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers says the increase in tariffs as a negotiating tactic “only makes a bad situation worse.”

President Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are increasing certain tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion of goods to China, and plan to introduce another 25 percent tariff on an additional $350 billion of goods in the coming months. China’s Ministry of Commerce released a statement earlier this week saying, “China will have to take necessary countermeasures,” being an escalation of retaliatory tariffs.

China calls the increase in trade friction by the U.S. “not in the interests of the people of the two countries and the people of the world.” The association says the additional tariffs will hurt American families that are “just trying to get by.” AEM is asking all industries take action through its national campaign, I Make America, at IMakeAmerica.com.

Employees within The Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service voted to unionize Thursday afternoon. The vote, 138-4, is part of the employees’ efforts to slow down or stop a plan to move the agency out of the Washington, DC area. The Economic Research Service employees will be represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, according to the Hagstrom report.

USDA, under the direction of the Trump Administration, has proposed to move the Economic Research Service, along with the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, out of the Washington, DC area. Critics say the move will trigger the loss of valuable staff members and isolate the agencies from the Washington, DC community and its resources.

Earlier this week, USDA announced the final three potential sites for the two agencies, being the Kansa City metro area, Indiana’s Purdue University and Research Triangle Park of North Carolina. USDA says the moves will cut costs, improve employee quality of life and bring the agencies closer to stakeholders. Employees of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture are scheduled to vote on unionizing next month.