The Department of Agriculture is offering assistance to farmers and ranchers affected by the devastation caused by historic flooding in the Midwest. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says USDA staff in the regional, state, and county offices are responding and providing a variety of program flexibilities and other assistance to residents, producers, and communities.

Perdue encouraged farmers to contact their local USDA Service Center, as USDA will “do everything in their power” to assist producers. USDA can help producers with the Livestock Indemnity Program, Emergency Assistance payments, along with resources through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and others.

The department can also assist rural communities in removing debris, and offers technical assistance, loans, grants, and loan guarantees to rural communities and individuals to assist with the construction or rehabilitation of utility infrastructure including water and wastewater systems, community infrastructure, and housing.

Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor is calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to help expedite rail delivery of biofuels amid historic flooding. Flooding in a four-state area has delayed transportation of critical supplies of biofuel, which in turn, could impact consumer fuel costs.

Rail lines in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri remain closed with many washouts reported from the flooding. Those rail lines are critical for the daily operation of biofuels facilities in the Midwest to receive and distribute its products. In her letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Skor said: “Further delays could not only impact our industry, but could also ultimately increase fuel costs for American drivers.”

Ethanol plants report some damages, delays or even closures as flood waters inundated Nebraska and the Missouri River bottom grounds, home to ethanol facilities and critical rail lines for the region. President Trump issued a federal emergency declaration for Nebraska last week.

The Department of Agriculture reports China last week made another 2.6-million-bushel purchase of U.S. sorghum, to the delight of the National Sorghum Producers. China also announced significant purchases of U.S. corn last week. The purchase occurred as China confirmed continuing the ongoing trade talks with the United States.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will meet with Chinese constituents in Beijing later this week. President Trump has also made comments saying he is pleased with positive direction U.S.-China trade negotiations have taken. Concerns remain, however, after President Trump said last week he would keep tariffs in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods until it is clear Beijing is complying with any trade deal that is reached.

That could be further concerning if China doesn’t agree to remove trade tariffs on U.S. agricultural products implemented as part of last year’s tit-for-tat trade war. Still, signs remain that the trade talks are progressing and could be finalized by early this summer.

Flood losses along the Missouri River include farm ground and farm facilities, along with stored grains and livestock. The flooding came quick for many, leaving little time to evacuate farm products, animals and equipment. Those damages, topping $1 billion from flooding in a four-state area, includes rural roads, bridges and public infrastructure such as schools.

Lawmakers are prepping to quickly consider adding the flooding to a large disaster bill when Congress returns to session next week. However, officials in states like Nebraska say the impact is not yet tallied, as the adverse conditions linger. Meanwhile, flooding continues to move downstream, and weather officials warn of more flooding this spring as the snowmelt begins and broken levees leave large areas unprotected.

The National Weather Service Kansas City office reported Thursday the Missouri River was discharging 315,000 cubic feet per second at Rulo, Nebraska, where the river beat its 1993 records earlier in the week. NWS says that’s enough water to fill Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium in under nine minutes. The stadium has room for more than 76,000 football fans and stands 260 feet tall.

The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to issue partial waivers to some of the 39 refiners asking for a reprieve from the Renewable Fuel Standard. Reuters reports the EPA is set to decide on its pending 2018 exemption applications by the end of March, the compliance-year deadline under the RFS.

Officials close to the issue say the EPA seems likely to issue partial waivers, a move only made once by the EPA in the past. Expansion under the waiver program has angered farmers, as the waivers reduce ethanol demand. Just last week, reports showed ethanol consumption declined last year for the first time 20 years in the United States.

Under the trump administration and then EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, the number of small refinery exemptions granted went from seven in 2015 to at least 34 in 2017. The waivers are intended for small refiners, but the EPA granted waivers to facilities owned by billion-dollar oil companies, including Chevron and Exxon Mobil.

With the Federal Reserve hinting at leaving interest rates unchanged in 2019, the farm economy has one less chance for deterioration. Low-interest rates have been cited as the reason the current farm economy has not reached the crisis seen in the 1980s.

Politico reports that while farmers are having losses, those losses don’t compare to the 1980s when interest rates were between 10 and 20 percent, compared to the five or six percent rates seen today. Despite declining farm income and low commodity prices, the low-interest rates are keeping land values strong.

The Federal Reserve bank this week signaled interest rates will not likely be raised in 2019, veering away from the previous plan that included two interest rate hikes this year. Chairman Jerome Powell noted that there is “major uncertainty” regarding the U.S. economic picture, suggesting that the outlook is overall positive, but growth “is slowing somewhat more than expected.”

The African Swine Fever virus is continuing to march through parts of Asia and Europe. A National Pork Board update says it’s causing increasing disruption to the world’s pork production. Much of the ASF concern centers on China, for good reason, because it’s number one in global pork production.

The World Organization for Animal Health now says nearly all of China’s provincial-level administrative units have reported one or more ASF outbreaks. That means all but the far western portion of China now has at least some level of ASF exposure. Official reports now say China has had to cull approximately one million pigs since the outbreak got going last August. However, there are unofficial reports say the actual number of lost animals may be ten times the official number.

Economist Steve Meyer with Kerns and Associates, says China’s breeding herd is down 19 percent from a year ago. Total market hogs are down 16 percent from 2018. Non-governmental reports from U.S. pork industry visitors are calling China’s ASF outbreak “endemic,” which means there is little hope of containing the disease or getting rid of it any time soon. Good evidence of this designation is the fact that ASF has now been confirmed in neighboring Vietnam, where 17 provinces in the northern part of the country have confirmed cases of the disease.