A new innovation challenge seeks to find the next big use for field corn. The National Corn Growers Association has partnered with NineSigma to launch the global competition. NCGA says the program was created to identify new and innovative uses for field corn as a renewable feedstock for making sustainable chemicals with significant market demand. The “Consider Corn Challenge” is geared to inspire new concepts, approaches and technologies that will help drive innovation, according to an NCGA spokesperson. United States corn production has increased from 105.5 million metric tons in 1970 to 345.5 million metric tons in 2015. NCGA is inviting innovators around the world from industry, academia and other research institutions to consider new ways to utilize corn and maximize its contributions to the economy. Up to six winning proposals will be selected, and winners will each receive $25,000. Winners will be announced in February 2018. The program is part of the NCGA strategic plan that includes a goal to establish three new uses of corn that each utilize 25 million bushels or more by 2020. Learn more online at www.ncga.com.

The National Pork Board, with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is creating a Secure Pork Supply plan to help America’s pig farmers respond quickly to a major threat, such as a foreign animal disease. The plan, announced Wednesday, will enhance communication and coordination of all pork chain segments to help producers keep their farms operating and all related business activities functioning, according to the National Pork Board. Newly elected NPB President Terry O’Neel of Nebraska said of the plan that: “If we get the news that FMD, African swine fever or another foreign animal disease has arrived, the Secure Pork Supply plan will pay big dividends by getting pork production back to normal much faster.” An Iowa State University study estimates potential revenue losses to U.S. pork and beef industries from a foot and mouth disease outbreak would run $12.8 billion per year or $128 billion over a 10-year period. Related losses to corn and soybean markets over a decade would be $44 billion and $24.9 billion, respectively. The Secure Pork Supply plan will provide procedures that pork producers, processors and federal/state agencies agree are feasible should a foreign animal disease occur in the United States.

The National Farmers Union is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finalize the Farmer Fair Practices Rules. Through comments submitted to USDA as part of the public comment period for the rules, NFU tells USDA the rules will likely result in a more transparent and business-like relationship between farmers and the processing companies. The rules were released in December of last year, but are under review by the new Donald Trump Administration. Livestock groups, including the National Pork Producers Council, oppose the rules. Groups opposed to the rule say it will lead to more lawsuits within the livestock industry, and the possibility of consolidation. NFU President Roger Johnson says the interim final rule on competitive injury “plainly restates the intent of the Packers and Stockyards Act” to provide individual farmers and ranchers with protection from the abuses by meatpackers. The rule would change the competitive injury that must be proven for a lawsuit to continue. USDA is seeking public comment on the competitive injury interim final rule through June 12.

The United State’s Cattlemen’s Association will bring a delegation of producers to Washington D.C. this week to talk issues with legislators. States represented at the fly-in will include Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. USCA President Kenny Graner says this is an opportunity for cattlemen to put a face on the issues being debated in D.C. “This year, we have a strong contingent of livestock haulers who will meet with staff at the Department of Transportation regarding the pending implementation of electronic log devices as well as concerns about the hours of service rule,” says Graner. USCA Vice President Bert Paris will speak with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his staff on issues affecting public lands users across the west. Graner says, “Other issues producers will touch on include the ongoing discussions on animal ID and traceability, along with ongoing issues with Brazil, Chinese trade, and the upcoming NAFTA renegotiations.”

It’s been roughly five years since ‘pink slime’ was a buzzword in the national media. A Reuters report says the Beef Processors, Incorporated, $5.7 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC television is underway this week in Elk Point, South Dakota. BPI claims ABC television, owned by the Walt Disney Company, and ABC reporter Jim Avila, defamed the company by calling its ground beef product ‘pink slime,’ while making errors and omitting other facts from the story. After the reports aired in 2012, BPI had to close three of its four processing plants while watching revenues drop 80 percent. Elk Point sits in Union County, where election records indicate Donald Trump won 67 percent of the presidential votes. Trump uses the term “fake news” to say that some media outlets can’t be trusted. BPI lawyers declined to say whether or not “fake news” would be part of their strategy. During a January pre-trial hearing, BPI lawyer Eric Connolly said ABC broadcast and online reports about lean finely textured beef, or LFTB, used unreliable sources and purposely set out to stir up public outrage. Connolly told the judge during the hearing that the ABC story amounted to “fake news.” BPI lawyers say ABC used the term ‘pink slime’ 137 times in their reports.

A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has come together to co-sponsor legislation that would end the Cuban trade embargo. The bill is called the “Freedom to Export to Cuba Act” and would bring an end to all legal barriers for the U.S. to conduct business with Cuba. Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar says U.S. policy toward Cuba has been defined by past conflict instead of present reality. She says, “More than 50 years of isolating an island just 90 miles from our border has not secured our interests and has disadvantaged American business owners and farmers.” Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi says the strategy of isolating Cuba has not been successful. “This bipartisan legislation would lift the travel restriction to Cuba, providing new opportunities for American businesses, farmers, and ranchers,” Enzi says. He calls trade a powerful thing, not just for dealing with the flow of goods but the flow of ideas like freedom and democracy. The bill would repeal all restrictions against doing business in Cuba, including the original 1961 authorization that put the trade embargo in place. It also would lift requirements to enforce the embargo and the limits currently in place on direct shipping between U.S. and Cuban ports. The Trump administration is expected to announce its policy on Cuba in the near future.

A recent study says any rollback of Obama-era moves to normalize relations with Cuba will harm U.S. Agriculture. The study by Engage Cuba, a coalition of private companies seeking an end to the Cuba embargo, says any new regulations on exporting agricultural commodities to Cuba could cost $1.5 billion and affect 2,200 U.S. jobs. That’s on top of the estimated $6.6 billion economic impact and near 13,000 jobs on the line, if President Donald Trump changes provisions by former President Barack Obama. USA Today says the expected rollback by President Trump is largely based on discussions with Cuban-American Republican lawmakers from Florida, Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, and Senator Marco Rubio. The announcement would come eight months after candidate Trump promised Cuban-Americans during a Miami campaign speech that he would reverse Obama’s policies on Cuba if the Castro government didn’t increase political and religious freedoms.