A new report from Cobank says the ethanol industry could soon face declining slim-to-negative profit margins. The report is titled “Ethanol’s Growth Path: Output and Export Uncertainties Both Rising.” It outlines how an ethanol market fueled by corn prices at multi-year lows, together with reinvestment into expanding production capacity, will push supplies past demand growth. A Cobank senior economist says forecasts indicate that total ethanol production capacity will have increased 850 to 900 million gallons by 2020 when compared to 2017. Ethanol producers will be facing a downturn in the next few years without a substantial increase in domestic demand or a boost in exports to clear out extra supplies. Demand for the product has been solid recently as low fuel prices encourage people to get out and drive more. Pump usage is going up as E-10 is the dominant blend but more and more people are using the higher E-15 blend while fueling their cars. The report says the longer term picture for ethanol is less optimistic. Weaker exports and lower prices for dried distiller’s grains have hurt profit margins in 2017.

While the first round of talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement aren’t done yet, the next two rounds are already on the schedule. Politico’s Morning Ag Report says negotiators will head to Mexico City for the next round of talks September 1-5 and to a yet undetermined location in Canada September 23-27. Only 11 days go by between the first and second round of talks. The quick turnaround likely is a result of an aggressive pace that all three countries’ negotiators have expressed an interest in. Officials have publicly expressed a hoped-for deadline of wrapping negotiations later this year or early next year. A source told Politico that officials have been much more firm in private about wanting the talks done by December. To help accomplish that desired goal, officials have requested that all texts be presented by the end of September, which should give all three countries sufficient time to review each other’s proposals and move more quickly to a final agreement.

The National Pork Producers Council applauds the Trump administration for negotiating U.S. pork access to the Argentine market. Argentina was one of several countries with non-science based barriers to U.S. pork imports. With Thursday’s announcement, trade-dependent U.S. pork now has unfettered access to this large pork-consuming nation. NPPC President Ken Maschoff says U.S. pork producers are among the most competitive in the world and have long sought the opportunity to provide high-quality pork to the Argentine people. “We thank Secretaries Perdue and Ross, and their teams at the USDA and the Department of Commerce, as well as U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer and his team, for their diligent work to win Argentine market access,” Maschoff says. NPPC also thanked Vice President Mike Pence for his recent trip to Argentina for helping to move a trade agreement with Argentina across the finish line. The U.S. has been the world’s largest exporter of pork over the last 10 years and depends on continuing to expand exports for growth. NPPC is urging the administration to continue to work for market access in other countries that have non-science based trade barriers, including India and Thailand.

Missouri regulators have again blocked the Grain Belt Express, a proposed transmission line for wind energy between Kansas and Indiana. Missouri’s Public Service Commission says the project would be in the best interest of the state, but said a recent court decision means each individual county the transmission line would run through must approve the proposal first. The 780-mile transmission line would originate in Kansas, carrying electricity generated by wind turbines through Missouri and Illinois, before stopping in Indiana. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the transmission project would cross eight Missouri counties. Clean Line Energy, the company behind the project, says the decision by the Missouri Public Service Commission “sends a bad signal to the marketplace” of renewable energy. It’s estimated the transmission line would bring 1,500 construction jobs to Missouri, and that 68 cities in the state had agreements to buy power from the project.

The Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee is echoing his House of Representatives counterpart, saying the goal is to get the farm bill to the finish line by the end of this year. In his home state this week, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas told farmers and ranchers that the farm bill process is in “good shape,” according to the High Plains Journal. The current farm bill will expire at the end of September next year. The House and Senate committees on agriculture are both in the process of holding field hearings around the nation to take input on the next farm bill. House Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Conaway of Texas previously said the goal is to have the farm bill finished this year and up for a vote in the House early next year.

At the start of the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement this week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told reports the deal had benefited many Americans, but it had also failed countless others. Lighthizer noted that Canada and Mexico are the largest export markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers, but claims at least 700,000 Americans have lost their jobs due to changing trade flows under the agreement, according to meat industry publication Meatingplace. Lighthizer says: “We cannot ignore the huge trade deficits, the lost manufacturing jobs, the businesses that have closed or moved because of incentives — intended or not — in the current agreement.” Although Americans send billions of dollars in corn, soybeans, and poultry across the borders, trade deficits in other sectors totaled nearly $57 billion in the last year, according to Lighthizer. In the auto sector alone, the United States had a $68 billion deficit with Mexico.

Senate Agriculture Chair Pat Roberts of Kansas, along with Senate Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri will hold a roundtable discussion Friday on agriculture security. Senators McCaskill and Roberts will discuss the role of the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies in protecting farmers and ranchers, and the nation’s food supply. The discussion Friday in Kansas City, Missouri is hosted by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City. Participants include Missouri and Kansas stakeholders, and officials at national agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture and the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility. Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and McCaskill, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, recently passed the “Securing our Food and Agriculture Act,” which President Trump signed into law in July.