The government of Ontario is proposing changes to biofuels regulations, including increasing the current five percent ethanol mandate to ten percent in 2020. Advanced Biofuels Canada notes that a 10 percent ethanol mandate is likely to see sales of E15 and higher blends to meet the new average. The organization says the proposal will create expanded job and growth opportunities for Ontario’s agricultural, forestry, and waste sectors. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says if finalized, the proposal will be “a win for Canadian consumers.” In March, Growth Energy filed comments to Canada’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, focusing on including ethanol in the development of Ontario’s fuel standard. The comments claimed that the easiest way to reduce greenhouse gas and other harmful emissions is to increase ethanol blended gasoline at a minimum of ten percent.

The Environmental Protection Agency Thursday finalized a rule that establishes the required renewable fuel volumes under the Renewable Fuels Standard program for 2018, and biomass-based diesel for 2019. The agency set a total renewable fuel blending obligation of 19.29 billion gallons next year, maintaining the statutory requirement of 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuel such as corn-based ethanol and 4.29 billion gallons of advanced biofuel, including 288 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel, a slight increase from earlier proposals. The 2019 biodiesel amount is set for 2.1 billion gallons. American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings says, “ACE members are very pleased” that EPA set the RVO for ethanol at the statutory level of 15-billion gallons, as other industry groups applauded the announcement. However, the National Biodiesel Board noted that the EPA recommended only 4.29 billion gallons of advanced biofuels and 2.1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel, a reduction and a flatline, respectively, from last year. Doug Whitehead of the National Biodiesel Board says: “EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has disappointed the biodiesel industry for failing to respond to our repeated calls for growth.”

Even though the Trump Administration hasn’t followed through on a potential threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, the possibility is already affecting the U.S. Grain Trade. The fifth round of talks wrapped up last week in Mexico, with all sides promising to get the deal done “as soon as possible.” U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer recently said he’s concerned about the lack of headway in the negotiations in spite of reports that some progress has been made to modernize the agreement. Farm groups like the U.S. Grains Council are expressing their concern that the potential threat of withdrawal is already affecting grain trading with other countries. Tom Sleight, president of the U.S. Grains Council, says U.S. competitors are already starting to increase their trade to current U.S. trading partners. “The U.S. is no longer seen as a reliable supplier, which is really alarming to us in terms of the investment we’ve put into making our economies and businesses intertwine over the last 35 years,” Sleight adds. Lighthizer says there’s no evidence that Mexico and Canada are willing to make the concessions that will lead to a rebalanced agreement.

(NCGA) With only a day remaining, the National Corn Growers Association reminds farmers to submit their harvest forms for the 2017 National Corn Yield Contest by Friday, December 1, at 4:30 p.m. CST. These forms are available online for those who entered the contest. Please do remember though, entrants are asked to report within two weeks of their final yield check or by Dec. 1, whichever comes first. The online harvest form is available to both farmers, seed representatives and supervisors completing on behalf of farmers using the same login process as the initial entry form. Login does require submission of the entrant’s NCGA membership number. To complete the form, entrants will upload weigh tickets and a yield calculations worksheet that details the number of rows harvested and length of each pass.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a preview of its long-term planting projections Tuesday. The USDA considers a lot of factors when making the projections, including macroeconomic conditions, GDP growth, and farm policy. An important projection from the early release is the overall number of planted acres. Total planted acres for the eight principal crops and land in the Conservation Reserve Program was 275.8 million acres. The forecast for 2018 calls for an increase in acres for all crops except upland cotton and wheat, with the total increase of 1.8 million acres. From 2019-2027, USDA projects acreage to remain steady between 276 to 278 million acres, slightly lower than the 280 million acres over the last decade. Another big takeaway from the report is that USDA predicts soybeans will overtake corn in planted acreage starting in 2019. Projected acres for both corn and soybeans are both at 91 million acres in 2018. In 2019, soybeans will stay at 91 million acres while corn is projected to drop to 90 million. If this forecast comes true, it would be the first-ever market-driven shift in which soybeans overtake corn in planted acreage in the U.S. USDA says one of the biggest reasons behind the increase in soybean acres is demand for soy products from China.

The Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is mailing the 2017 Census of Agriculture to the nation’s producers this week. Conducted once every five years, the census aims to get a complete and accurate picture of American agriculture. Data collected in the census is used by farmers, trade associations, researchers, policymakers and others to help make decisions in community planning, farm assistance programs, farm advocacy and rural development, according to USDA. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the census “gives every producer the opportunity to be represented.” The census will be mailed in several phases through December. Farm operations of all sizes which produced and sold, or normally would have sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural product in 2017 are included in the census. The census response deadline is February 5th, 2018 and responding to the Census of Agriculture is required by law.

New items added to the list of negotiation objectives include eliminating Canadian tariffs on U.S. poultry as part of the next round of North American Free Trade Agreement talks. The next round of negotiations, scheduled for next month in Washington, D.C., will include the new objectives by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, according to meat industry publication Meatingplace. Lighthizer recently updated the objectives list to include the elimination of all remaining Canadian tariffs on imports of U.S. dairy, poultry and egg products, along with the elimination of “discriminatory barriers and unjustified technical barriers,” including those affecting U.S. grain and alcohol beverages, among other objectives. However, Lighthizer issued a statement last week that said he was “concerned about the lack of headway” in NAFTA talks.