The Acreage report released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Friday shows 96.4-million acres planted to corn. That’s an increase of five-percent over last year – the highest corn acreage of the past 75 years – and the fourth year in a row of corn acreage increases in the U.S. Growers were able to get off to a fast start this growing season – with planting nearly complete by May 20th – the quickest planting pace on record. Virtually all of the acreage had emerged by June 3rd. Spring weather also allowed U.S. soybean growers to get off to a quick start. Ninety-four percent of the 76.1-million acres planted to soybeans was planted by June 3rd – 30-percentage points ahead of last year’s pace. Nearly 80-percent of the soybean crop had emerged by that time – 40-points ahead of the 2011 pace. The acreage is the third-largest on record.

Wheat growers have planted 56-million acres – a three-percent increase from 2011. Due to expectations of better net returns compared with last year – more acres were seeded to winter wheat this year. NASS reports a decrease in cotton acreage this year. Growers planted 14-percent less cotton than in 2011 – 12.6-million acres. Acreage of the American Pima variety is down 24-percent to 235-thousand acres. Farmers planted 12.4-million acres of Upland cotton – a decline of 14-percent.

The latest Grain Stocks report shows corn stocks down 14-percent from June 2011 at 3.15-billion bushels. The 2.87-billion bushel disappearance between March and May of this year is the highest on record for corn during this quarter. Soybean stocks totaled 667-million bushels – up eight-percent – but indicated disappearance for the quarter totaled 707-million bushels. All wheat stocks are down 14-percent at 743-million bushels. The 457-million bushel disappearance is down 19-percent from the same period a year earlier.

USDA says old crop barley stocks totaled 60.1-million bushels on June 1. That’s down 33-percent from last year at this time. Old crop oats stocks are down 19-percent from the previous year at 55-million bushels. Grain sorghum stocks stand at 58.5-million bushels – down 27-percent from a year ago.

The Department of Labor has announced a five-million dollar grant competition to pilot test USDA’s guidelines to reduce child labor and forced labor in imported agricultural products. It’s estimated that 60-percent of children who work worldwide do so in the ag sector. According to the Labor Department – USDA’s 2011 Guidelines for Eliminating Child and Forced Labor in Agricultural Supply Chains lay out the elements of effective company programs to reduce the likelihood that child or forced labor is used in agricultural products or commodities imported into the U.S. The project that receives funding as a result of the competition announced Thursday will involve piloting a program for one or more companies to reduce child labor – and forced labor if applicable – in an agricultural supply chain in one country. The project will also involve documenting lessons learned and recommendations for future application of the USDA guidelines.

Prospective applicants must represent a partnership that includes a nongovernmental organization and a company that is active in agricultural supply chains. The applicants must demonstrate expertise in areas like international children’s issues, labor issues and company supply chain compliance programs. Applications much be submitted by five o’clock Eastern time August 20th. The cooperative agreement award will be made by December 31st.

The Supreme Court has upheld most of the President’s controversial health care law. The five to four ruling allows the government to continue implementing the law – which doesn’t take full effect until 2014. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson supported the Court’s decision. He said farmers, ranchers and rural residents face significant barriers to obtaining accessible, affordable health care. According to Johnson – the Affordable Care Act contains significant, necessary reforms that help all Americans afford insurance and the preventive care they need and provides resources to rural health care providers – among other things. American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman agrees that farmers, ranchers and rural residents need affordable and accessible health care – but says his group is concerned that mandating individuals and businesses to buy insurance will impose an expense that creates economic hardship – particularly for self-employed individuals and small businesses.

Stallman says Farm Bureau believes a primary goal of health care reform should be to reduce costs for participants. He says the plan the Supreme Court reviewed would impose a new financial burden on Farm Bureau members. Moving forward – Stallman says Farm Bureau encourages Congress and the President to work together to address remaining concerns that affect millions of small business owners and individuals throughout rural America. Johnson says Farmers Union will work with the administration to ensure the law is implemented as written.

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.)–The Missouri Corn Merchandising Council (MCMC) and Missouri Corn Growers Association (MCGA) have been named a Bronze winner in the 33rd Annual Telly Awards for the short documentary, Underwater and Overlooked: Crisis on the Missouri River.  The 15-minute film detailing the personal losses caused by the 2011 Missouri River flood was recognized in both the online video-documentary and online video-social responsibility categories.

“This honor for Missouri Corn is a fitting tribute to those growers who stepped in front of the camera to share their story,” says Missouri Corn Director of Communications Becky Frankenbach.  “It’s heartbreaking that nearly a year later many farmers are still struggling to repair the damage left behind.  Our work to ensure flood control is a top priority for Missouri River management is far from finished.”

Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards honor outstanding commercials, video and film productions, and web commercials, videos and films.  Winners represent the best work of respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators and corporate video departments in the world.  This year, nearly 11,000 entries were received from all 50 states and numerous countries.

To find out more about the Telly Awards, visit www.tellyawards.com.  The now award-winning Missouri Corn short film Underwater and Overlooked: Crisis on the Missouri River can be viewed atwww.mocorn.org/flood.  

The House Appropriations Committee met Wednesday to mark up the 2013 Interior and Environment spending bill. The measure includes 28-billion dollars for the EPA and Department of the Interior. That’s a cut of nearly 1.2-billion from current funding and about 1.7-billion less than the Obama Administration requested. The bill would cut EPA spending by 1.4-billion dollars. The 17-percent reduction is aimed at blocking environmental regulations. There are some policy riders that apply to agriculture. Among those – one would prevent the EPA from expanding its authority to regulate navigable waters under the Clean Water Act. Another would restrict the agency from setting air emissions standards for carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane – among other pollutants – that come from livestock operations.

According to Appropriations Committee Chair Hal Rogers of Kentucky – the EPA has overreached its regulatory authority – strangling the U.S. economy and costing jobs. But Ranking Member Norman Dicks of Washington said EPA programs and regulations are not to blame for the recession. He said handcuffing environmental regulations will not get us out of it.

The Committee did not finish its work on the spending bill. They are expected to finish mark up and adopt the fiscal 2013 measure today (Thursday). The additional work is not expected to change the planned EPA spending cuts.

As wildfires rage in the West – the U.S. Forest Service, Interior Department and FEMA have announced that additional resources have been deployed to support state and local partners. The National Interagency Fire Center has raised the national preparedness level to level four – which triggers increased planning for additional resources and greater oversight of resource allocations in order to achieve the most effective deployment. The severity of current fire activity is highlighted by the fact that more than 84-hundred personnel, 578 fire engines and 79 helicopters are operating on wildfires around the U.S. There are currently large wildfires burning in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The Waldo Canyon fire in the hillsides west of Colorado Springs stretches three directions and has consumed more than 15-thousand acres of forested land since Saturday.