Unionized employees of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture demonstrated to show they weren’t happy about relocating to Kansas City. Several employees rose and turned their backs to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue during an afternoon meeting to talk about relocating their agencies to Kansas City’s metropolitan area.

The Hagstrom Report says the protest was put together by the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that employees in both agencies recently joined. The Federation said to its newest members that, “We believe it’s important to forcefully, yet respectfully, convey that ERS and NIFA staff members are nearly unanimous in their opposition to the move.” The organization also says the move to KC is nothing but an “attempt to undermine the employees’ scientific work.”

Local Union President Dave Verardo says, “The researchers and other stakeholders we work with don’t want us to move. They want us to stay right here in Washington, where we can easily coordinate with the other federal science agencies.” Verardo also says Perdue has stated the rush to finalize the relocation is him attempting to limit the burden on employees. “In reality, his announcement does nothing but increase the loss of mission-critical staff who can’t or won’t make the move,” he adds.

The National Biodiesel Board thanked a handful of senators for introducing legislation that would require small refineries to petition for Renewable Fuels Standard hardship exemptions by June first of every year. The legislation would also require the Environmental Protection Agency to properly account for exempted gallons in the annual Renewable Volume Obligations it sets each November.

Kurt Kovarik, NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs, says his organization appreciates the efforts to end EPA’s rampant use of small refinery exemptions to undermine the RFS. “Over the past two years, EPA retroactively granted RFS hardship exemptions to nearly every refiner that asked,” Kovarik says. “When EPA issues retroactive small refinery exemptions and refuses to account for the lost gallons in annual volumes, it very-much cuts the legs out from under the RFS.”

He says the exemptions handed out in 2015,2016, and 2017 destroyed demand for more than 360 million gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel. NBB says it conservatively estimates the demand destruction of 364 million gallons of biomass-based diesel. The University of Illinois estimates the economic harm to biodiesel producers to be $7.7. billion dollars.

There still aren’t any formalized plans for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet at the upcoming G20 Summit in Japan. Politico says that’s the latest update from chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Trump has said there is no deadline for imposing even more tariffs on Chinese imports. However, he’s also threatened to make a move if Xi refuses to meet in Japan.

So far, the president has imposed a 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods, which caused China to set up retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, especially agriculture products like soybeans and pork. Trump is taking action to potentially impose the same tariff on almost all remaining Chinese imports, worth about $300 billion. Some of those import targets include things like cell phones, clothing, footwear, televisions, and other electronics.

Politico says Kudlow emphasized that the administration is still looking at strong-arming China. Kudlow recently took part in an on-stage discussion with Fred Bergsten, president emeritus of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He said there’s only one way to get to an agreement with China. “You kick some butt, in my best economic analytical quantitative regression analysis,” Kudlow says.

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin is demanding that President Trump release more details of the deal he announced with Mexico to increase U.S. ag exports. Over the weekend, Trump said on Twitter that “Mexico has agreed to immediately begin buying large quantities of agricultural product from our great Patriot farmers.”

However, the administration hasn’t given out any details of this claim and there isn’t a lot of evidence to back it up. The Mexican Foreign Minister denies there is an agricultural element to the agreement with the U.S, saying Mexico didn’t “immediately begin to do anything different” regarding American agricultural products. Agricultural trade staff members said earlier in the week that they had no details on the supposed agreement with Mexico.

Baldwin says in the letter, “Farmers need full details of the agreement in order to make the many decision they need to that affect their livelihood and business. I’m asking that you release details of this agreement or announce that one never actually existed.”

American Farm Bureau analysis says farmers in five Midwestern states claimed just about half of the more than $8.5 billion in trade help from the USDA as compensation for losses due to trade disputes. The analysis shows that Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Indiana received just about half of the Market Facilitation Program payments that have been made up to May 13.

Retaliatory tariffs have been especially hard on soybeans, so soybean farmers received a large share of payment help. The average payment rate was $1.65 per bushel, so soybean producers have received $7 billion as of May 13. Cotton payments were calculated at six cents per pound, with producers receiving payments totaling $471 million. Dairy received just two percent of payments sent out as of May 13, coming in at $180 million in assistance.

Corn producers also received only two percent of payments so far. The payment rate for corn farmers was one cent per bushel, with farmers receiving about $132 million. The American Farm Bureau says those direct payments are “no replacement for lost markets.” However, they do help farmers meet some immediate financial needs.

Growth Energy Wednesday filed a motion in a U.S. federal appeals court to intervene in a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule allowing year-round E15 sales. The final rule is being challenged by the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers who filed the lawsuit on Monday. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor called the challenge “no surprise,” noting the industry saw similar challenges when E15 was first approved in 2011.

Skor says the oil industry “wants to inject uncertainty into the marketplace.”AFMP contends, “the plain language of the Clean Air Act does not authorize an RVP waiver expansion beyond E10.” Year-round E15 sales were authorized through a Reid vapor pressure waiver.

Under the Clean Air Act, legal challenges to EPA’s E15 rulemaking may be brought as a “petition for review” within 60 days of publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. Interested parties such as Growth Energy may also file a motion to intervene in the petition for review to protect their interests.

Senator Chuck Grassley this week announced a planned hearing regarding the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Grassley, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, says the committee will hear testimony from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The committee will hold the hearing, “The President’s 2019 Trade Policy Agenda and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” next Tuesday morning.

Grassley told reporters earlier this week, following meetings with House of Representatives leadership, that he expects demands from Democrats in the House can be worked out. The House must consider the agreement before the Senate can vote on ratification. Meanwhile, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is meeting with Lighthizer this week, focusing on ratifying USMCA.

President Trump also sided with a group of more than 950 agribusinesses and organizations, calling on lawmakers to quickly pass the agreement once formally submitted to Congress. Trump, on Twitter, says “our patriot farmers and rural America have spoken,” saying “now Congress must do its job” by passing the USMCA agreement.