The House Agriculture Committee announced a subcommittee hearing next week on the proposed relocation of two Department of Agriculture agencies. The committee plans the hearing, “Examining the Impacts of Relocating USDA Research Agencies on Agriculture Research,” for Wednesday, June 5. Members of the Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research subcommittee will examine the proposed move of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

USDA is expected to soon announce the final site proposals for the two agencies, after narrowing the list down to three. USDA says the list includes the Kansa City metro, Research Triangle Park near Raleigh, North Carolina, and multiple potential locations in Indiana.

The plan faces pushback from some lawmakers and USDA employees, as employees of the Economic Research Service voted this month to unionize, joining the American Federation of Government Employees. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture plans a similar vote in June. USDA says the move would cut costs, improve employee wellbeing and cost of living, and bring the agencies closer to stakeholders.

An analysis from a German bank calls China a more stable trading partner than the United States. Commerzbank, a self-described international commercial bank with branches and offices in almost 50 countries, announced the report this week. In its study, 61 percent of respondents expect a gloomier economic outlook for the next couple of years.

The report cites political and economic troubles, assessing China as a more stable trade partner than the United States or Great Britain. The survey polled roughly 2,000 German-based companies, of which just over half were exporters. More than two-thirds of the companies surveyed have a physical presence in the United States.

The report comes as the U.S. is embattled in multiple trade negotiations, including the final steps of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, the start of talks with Japan, and the trade war with China. Talks remain stalled with China after nearly reaching an agreement, and the trade war between the U.S. and China continues to escalate as a result.

The Environmental Protection Agency is reportedly ready to scrap RIN market reforms as it readies a rule to allow year-round E15 sales. Bloomberg News reports the shift comes as the agency races to meet a May 31 rulemaking deadline. The official summer driving season starts Saturday, leaving little time to announce the rule.

The RIN market modifications are part of the same rule allowing year-round E15. However, for the rule to benefit drivers this year, it’s thought that the rule must be finalized before the summer driving season. The market reforms would have implemented trading restrictions on RIN credits.

While the EPA may be backing off the aggressive RIN market reforms, agency officials will apparently continue to evaluate other market changes requested by President Trump. Year-round E15 sales is a welcome move by the U.S. biofuel industry and corn farmers because it has the potential to increase demand for U.S. ethanol.

The Midwest, on the tail end of a two-week inundation of rainfall, remains flooded and saturated, stalling planting progress that’s already well behind average. The Department of Agriculture’s Crop Progress report, released Tuesday, reports that as of May 26, the 18 top producing states reached 58 percent completion of corn plantings, compared to the five-year average of 90 percent.

Indiana, Ohio and South Dakota have planted less than 30 percent of their respective corn crops. Meanwhile, just 29 percent of the nation’s soybean crop is planted, compared to 74 percent last year, and the five-year average of 66 percent. Many states have planted less than 20 percent of their intended soybean acres, including Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and South Dakota.

Just 32 percent of the nation’s corn crop has emerged, along with just 11 percent of soybeans. Forecasters from the website Weather2020 suggest more wet conditions will continue through June, when the jet stream normally lifts and weakens weather systems across the corn belt, further hampering planting.

Japan and the U.S. are accelerating trade talks in hopes to reach a quick agreement. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated the U.S. and Japan will speed up trade talks as Tokyo faces increased pressure to reach a deal in the next six months to avoid auto tariffs.

However, Politico reports talks between the two likely won’t advance quickly until after Tokyo’s election in July. Trump, ending a summit and visit to Japan, says agriculture products are “heavily in play” in the talks, particularly U.S. beef. Farmers in the U.S. are eager to see an agreement since Japan and other nations entered the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, after the U.S. left the then-called Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017.

Trump suggested an announcement on parts of an agreement could come sometime in August. Trade experts expect a deal to take longer, however, as the talks, focusing on automobiles and agriculture, will take more time than predicted by the U.S. and Japan.

President Donald Trump says the summertime ban on higher ethanol blends is a “ridiculous rule.” However, SP Global Dot Com says during a press conference last Thursday, he didn’t give any new timeline for giving consumers year-round access to E-15.

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will issue a final rule allowing summertime E-15 sales by June 1, the official start of the U.S. summer driving season. Last October, the president promised his administration would approve year-round E-15 access, but the policy got bogged down, thanks to the government shutdown and the debate between biofuel producers and oil refiners.

The EPA did propose a year-round E-15 rule in March, a process that typically takes several months to finish. Market experts say that gas station owners are likely waiting until the final rule is official before they add any new pumping equipment. The Renewable Fuels Association says hundreds of fuel stations would add equipment to pump E-15 in the months after the EPA adopts the final rule, and that number will grow to thousands in the years after the decision is reached.

Senate Republicans and Democrats finally came together on an agreement regarding a $19.1 billion disaster aid package. An Agri-Pulse report says the aid was expanded to include payments to producers who can’t plant a crop this year. It also will include farmers whose stored commodities were damaged by flooding. Producers who lost crops to hurricanes and wildfires last year will also qualify for payments.

The combination of disaster payments and crop insurance benefits or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program would be limited to 90 percent of a farmer’s loss. Disaster payments to farmers who don’t buy crop insurance will be limited to 70 percent of their loss. The disaster aid package also includes a provision making industrial hemp eligible for whole-farm insurance policies starting next year. The Senate approved the bill 85-8 on Thursday, just before the Memorial Day recess.

Passing the bill had been delayed months because of a battle between President Trump and Democrats over disaster funding for Puerto Rico. The battle also involved funding the president wanted for the southern border. Those funds were left out of the final bill. Most of the House had already left for the holiday weekend before the Senate passed the bill.