Growth Energy calls a court ruling against the Environmental Protection agency a win for consumers. Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down what Growth Energy calls a flawed methodology by the EPA to reduce the 2016 total Renewable Volume Obligations, or RVO’s, under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The court decision was in response to a joint petition filed in January 2016 to hear a challenge to the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standards for 2014, 2015 and 2016. Growth Energy along with Americans for Clean Energy, the American Coalition for Ethanol, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the National Corn Growers Association, National Sorghum Producers and the Renewable Fuels Association filed the petition. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says the court ruling restores Congressional intent and will ensure that renewable fuels continue to play a growing and important role in America’s fuel mix.” The most recent RVO proposal from the Trump Administration’s EPA reversed course and set the ethanol RVO’s at the targets intended by Congress.

While in Mexico Friday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he has no indication that Mexico will buy corn and soybeans from Argentina and Brazil, or other countries. Perdue met with counterparts in Mexico to discuss trade, and told reporters following the discussion that it was understandable Mexico would make inquiries to other nations, but he sees no signs of them going through with the purchases, according to the Hagstrom Report. Perdue’s comments were counter to testimony the U.S. Grains Council gave to the House Agriculture Committee last week regarding the upcoming North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations. USGC said there are indications Mexico is seriously looking for alternative suppliers for not just corn but other grain products. The Council says Mexico could purchase from Argentina or Brazil beginning in August or September. Overall, Mexico and Canada represent nearly one-third of the total U.S. ag exports.

U.S. poultry producers say the modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement could bring trade improvements. The National Chicken Council and the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council together called NAFTA a “bonanza for American Agriculture.” However, the groups say some trade issues could be improved under the renegotiation effort. The National Chicken Council says Canada and the United States had reached preliminary agreement on increasing the quotas for U.S. chicken into Canada, which could be included in NAFTA. The U.S. industry also believes that there should be similar increases in the market access for U.S. turkey and turkey products. The poultry industry also stands by sanitary and phytosanitary rules that were negotiated as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and urged the U.S., Mexico and Canada to adopt the improved rules as part of the NAFTA renegotiation. Along with Brazil, the United States is one of the two leading poultry exporting nations in the world. Mexico is the largest export market for the U.S. poultry industry, and Canada is the second largest export market.

The National Farmers Union released a statement Friday announcing “relief” by the failed Senate vote on a so-called skinny repeal of parts of the Affordable Care Act. NFU says the bill would have risked access to health care for 16 million people and marketplace stability. Farmers Union President Roger Johnson says rural residents, including farmers and ranchers, need and desire a solution to rising premiums and an unstable marketplace. However, of the skinny repeal, he says the bill would have made matters worse for rural residents. Johnson says the organization now looks forward to working towards a bipartisan solution that improves access to affordable, high-quality health care for family farmers, ranchers and rural Americans.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says the increased tariff on beef imports to Japan underscores the “urgent need” for a bilateral trade agreement between Japan and the United States. Japan announced it would increase the tariff on frozen beef imports from 38.5 percent to 50 percent until April 2018. NCBA President Craig Uden says the tariffs “unfairly distort the market and punish both producers and consumers. Japan was the top export market for U.S. beef, valued at $1.5 billion in 2016. According to data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation, first quarter U.S. beef sales to Japan increased 42 percent over 2016. In addition to the United States, the 50 percent safeguard tariff also applies to imports from Canada, New Zealand, and other countries that do not have a free trade agreement with Japan.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Friday voiced concerns that Japan’s tariff increase on U.S. frozen beef could increase the U.S. overall trade deficit with Japan. He says the potential deficit increase would harm the U.S. bilateral trade relationship with Japan on agricultural products. Japan announced that the increase in frozen beef imports from the U.S. in the first quarter of the Japanese fiscal year triggered a safeguard, resulting in an automatic increase to Japan’s tariff. The tariffs will begin August first, and last through March 31st, 2018. Perdue says he has asked representatives of Japan’s government to “to make every effort” to address his concerns and the harm that could result to consumers from the U.S. and Japan.

The latest Drought Monitor shows soils continuing to dry out and crops suffering as drought and abnormal dryness expands and intensifies across the Plains, Midwest, northern Rockies, and Virginia. Montana saw the most severe level of drought, called exceptional drought, grow by 10 points in a week. 12 percent of the state is in exceptional drought and 24 percent is under extreme conditions. In neighboring North Dakota, eight percent of the state is in exceptional drought. Another 30 percent of the state is in extreme drought. In the Corn Belt, drought conditions have shown up in Iowa. The state’s moderate drought grew to 34 percent. All states east of the Mississippi River are drought free for now, but patches of abnormal dryness mean it could change as early as next week. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says drought conditions are intensifying across the central United States. The Corn Belt has seen double-digit percentage increases. Drought coverage is growing around the nation, with the current drought monitor showing over 32 percent of the country in some form of drought.