Farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses from all over the country have been very generous in donating to wildfire relief. Donations have topped $640,000 for the Drovers/Farm Journal Foundation Million Dollar Wildfire Relief Challenge to benefit ranchers. That total pushes the partnership with the Howard Buffet Foundation more than halfway to its goal. The Foundation agreed to match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $1 million by July 31st. With the match included, the goal is to raise $2 million for wildfire relief for ranchers affected by March wildfires. There’s a lot to rebuild, especially fencing. The damage totaled 1.6 million acres in Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Thousands of miles of fencing were damaged, estimated to cover 18,000 miles at a cost of up to $10,000 a mile. Thousands of cows will also need to be added back to herds. Charlene Finck, President of the Farm Journal Foundation, says, “We’re grateful for the outpouring of support to date and we’re working hard to meet the full challenge. We hope that all of agriculture will pull together to meet the challenge by July 31st.”

Amazon has a new Prime program for the millions of Americans who have EBT cards. The new policy is causing America’s grocers to complain to Washington, D.C. that the online giant may not be playing by the rules. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says USDA feels Amazon isn’t doing anything wrong. The grocery store industry is telling USDA officials and lawmakers that the Prime deal, which includes rapid free shipping and other perks, violates a USDA rule mandating equal treatment for the 42 million people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A grocery store insider who wanted to remain anonymous told Politico’s Morning Ag Report that the “Marketplace has been ruffled. It’s an unfair targeting of SNAP recipients which is creating an unfair playing field.” Grocery retailers are asking lawmakers to take another look at SNAP program guidelines. Those rules are understood to mean that retailers can neither discriminate against SNAP recipients or give them preferential treatment and special programs.

The European Union and Japan formally agreed to the outline of a free trade deal. America’s pork producers want to know why the U.S. isn’t moving on its own bilateral deal with Japan, the highest value market for U.S. pork exports. A Pork Network Dot Com article says now that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has gone away, the U.S. needs to be moving forward quickly on a T.P.P. type of deal with Japan. Under the old TPP, Japan’s tariffs on pork would have been completely eliminated. When their agreement is fully in place, the E.U. will be able to sell pork at a lower tariff rate that will eventually disappear, making it harder for American pork to compete in the market. Other countries are moving ahead on bilateral trade agreements and U.S. pork producers don’t want to miss out on opportunities. “We’ve let the administration know they should focus on the Asian-Pacific area and start with Japan,” says Dave Warner of the National Pork Producers Council. “It’s the fastest growing area in the world.” Japanese consumers purchased $1.6 billion in U.S. pork. Demand is very strong in spite of tariffs and other measures that limit market access.

U.S. corn shipments to Mexico have slipped in recent months and Mexico in no longer the number one buyer of American corn. A Bloomberg article says it may be a sign that trade tensions are forcing the country to look elsewhere for corn in case the U.S. is no longer a reliable supplier. Sales through May of this year were down almost seven percent from last year, coming in at $1.04 billion. Japan has become the biggest importer of U.S. corn after boosting its purchases by 53 percent, totaling $1.19 billion. Mexico began looking for other corn suppliers after President Donald Trump’s criticism, which began on the campaign trail when he said Mexico has taken advantage of the U.S. through the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexican corn purchases are picking up as the peso rebounds from a record low against the dollar in January. Lesly McNitt, Public Policy Director for the National Corn Growers Association, says the sluggish pace of U.S. corn shipments to Mexico shows the trade relationship may be at risk. “They’re preparing a Plan B,” she said to Bloomberg. Mexico has initiated discussions with suppliers in Argentina and Brazil.

The European Union and Japan have formally agreed to the outline of a new free trade deal. It will eventually lead to an agreement allowing free trade between two of the world’s biggest economies. BBC Dot Com says there are few specific details available yet and a full and workable agreement may still take some time. The agreement is seen as a boon for the Japanese auto industry and agricultural products from the E.U. The outline was formally signed this week in Brussels. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, says the agreement shows the E.U.’s commitment to world trade. “We did it,” he says. “We were able to conclude political and trade talks with Japan. E.U. is more and more engaged globally.” Japan is the third-largest economy in the world and Europe’s seventh biggest export market. European Union dairy farmers have struggled with dropping domestic demand at the same time that Japan’s appetite for milk and dairy products has grown in recent years. Even with a signed agreement in place, it will likely take up to 15 years before the agreement is fully in effect. The delay gives businesses in both areas time to adjust to increased outside competition.

Some advanced biofuels were cut when the Environmental Protection Agency released its proposed renewable fuels volumes for 2018. The American Soybean Association wasn’t pleased with the lack of growth proposed by the EPA in biomass-based diesel volumes as well as a reduction in advanced biofuels. A.S.A. President and Illinois farmer Ron Moore called it disappointing and a missed opportunity for the administration to demonstrate support for biodiesel and soybean farmers. “A.S.A. believes the volumes for the biomass-based diesel category and the over-arching advanced biofuels category should be higher to capitalize on the opportunity to boost domestic biodiesel production,” says Moore. The National Farmers Union was pleased that the conventional biofuels obligation remained consistent but said the overall proposal falls short of preserving the integrity of the RFS. “President Trump and his administration have assured family farmers and rural residents that this administration plans to support biofuels and uphold the intent of Congress as it relates to the RFS,” says NFU President Roger Johnson. “But today’s disappointing proposal seems to back off these assurances.” Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley called the lack of any biodiesel increase a “missed opportunity.”

The Environmental Protection Agency released its proposals on how much biofuels will go into the national fuel supply next year and it was a mixed bag. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says there were some pleasant surprises and some disappointments. Ethanol producers wanted the continuation of an Obama-era requirement of 15 billion gallons of ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply and that’s precisely what they got. Advanced biofuels didn’t fare as well. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt cut the requirement for advanced biofuels by 40 million gallons, reducing the total amount of biofuel required under the program. Pruitt also cut the cellulosic ethanol mandate by almost a quarter. But the EPA chief didn’t stop there, starting down a path to possible significant changes to the guidelines. He’s starting an analysis for a possible reset of the volumes allowed under the law. He’s looking for comments on imported ethanol and biodiesel. Pruitt is also opening the door to examine the market with zero percent ethanol. Meantime, the EPA will accept comments on its current proposals until November 30th, analyze them, and come up with a final rule.

The last few years have been a challenge in the precision farming industry. Precision Farming Dealer reports that dealers all over the country have been navigating the instability in commodity prices and cautious buying habits of their customers. The fifth annual Precision Dealers Benchmark Study has a more optimistic tone to it than recent years. Retailers are more optimistic about revenue expectations and business objectives. Dealer responses from 28 states and Canada showed 23 percent of dealers showing growth of eight percent or more, more than doubling the 10 percent of dealers projected a year earlier. On the other end of the spectrum, eight percent of dealers reported revenue dips of eight percent or more. It’s the first time in three years that the percentage of dealers experiencing revenue drops was in single digits. Looking ahead, 59 percent of all dealers forecast at least a two percent gain in revenues this year. Only 11 percent of dealers in the study are predicting a revenue drop of at least two percent, the lowest number of dealers in the study’s history.

The Farmers National Company recently released a semi-annual market update on farmland prices and it’s hard to nail down just what the trend is. A Pro Farmer report says the best description may be “steady, with exceptions.” The report says the reason trends are hard to figure out is some farmland sells at better prices than expected while other farmland shows a price decline from previous selling prices. Ag land values in most areas should be expected to continue gradually declining over the next several years if commodity prices and farm incomes remain bottomed-out. Interest rate increases, small tax law changes, and world economic challenges will likely keep the pressure on farmland prices over the next year. The report says there are potential positives ahead for farm and ranch incomes in the future. If the stress on land prices slows and there are no other shocks to the market, land values should move to stabilize over the next few years.

It looks like lawmakers will have $130 billion less to write the upcoming farm bill than they did for the past one. The Congressional Budget Office made that announcement when it published its 10-year baseline projections. The C.B.O. predicts that both farm and nutrition programs would cost roughly $822 billion over the next ten years. That breaks down to $679 billion for the SNAP program and $143 billion for ag programs like crop insurance, commodity subsidies, conservation, and other programs. However, the money lawmakers have available could go even lower if Congress passes a budget resolution. House Budget Committee Chair Diane Black, a Tennessee Republican, along with the House Freedom Caucus, had been asking for massive farm bill spending cuts over the next ten years. House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway and Black came to an agreement on a spending number that Conaway says will allow him to write a farm bill. Politico’s Morning Ag Report took a look at costs in the 2014 Farm Bill and found lower numbers than expected. The SNAP program, crop insurance, and conservation programs all cost less than budgeted for, with commodity subsidies the only area that cost more than budgeted for in 2014.