A letter spearheaded by the American Farm Bureau Federation asks lawmakers to reject any funding cuts in the next farm bill. More than 500 groups joined the letter that claims additional funding cuts would “hinder development and passage of the 2018 farm bill.” The last farm bill contributed $23 billion in savings to deficit reduction over 10 years at the time of passage. That was the first time when spending for a farm bill was voluntarily reduced before Congress even began considering the measure. The groups say cuts made under the 2014 farm bill helped the nation’s deficit reduction effort, but add that additional cuts to the 2018 farm bill would present “perils on many fronts.” The letter strongly urged congressional leaders “to reject calls for additional cuts” during a time when the agricultural and rural economies are showing stress. The letter points out that U.S. farm income has declined 46 percent from three years ago.

Last week’s Day Without Immigrants protests caused some slowdowns at meatpacking operations in the United States, but Tyson Foods and Cargill said all plants were operational last Thursday. A Cargill spokesperson told meat industry publication Meatingplace the impact was “minimal,” and a Tyson Foods spokesperson said absentee levels at some locations were “higher than normal,” but noted all plants were operating. North American Meat Institute President Barry Carpenter said some operations were slowed or modified because of the protests across the nation. Carpenter said: “We respect the rights of our employees to express themselves,” noting that the meat industry has long supported comprehensive immigration reform. Media reports listed several types of business closures, largely in urban areas, and including grocery stores and restaurants from fast food to fine dining.

Farmers have filed a class action lawsuit against Monsanto over dicamba herbicide drift issues. The lawsuit focuses on the off-label use of dicamba that led to drift damage in ten states last year. DTN says the new case, a class action suit filed in the U.S. District Court in Missouri, has two farmers from Missouri as lead plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed by the same Missouri-based legal firm that also sued Monsanto over dicamba drift in November 2016 on behalf of a Missouri fruit and row-crop operation. Attorneys representing the farmers say they expect “hundreds of farmers” will eventually join the class action lawsuit. The lawsuit is open to farmers who experienced damage from illegal dicamba drift in 2016 from Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Illegal, off-label, over the top use of a Monsanto dicamba product led to drift damage to crops that were not tolerant to dicamba. The new lawsuit contends that Monsanto is responsible for the off-label dicamba use and damage.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold its first farm bill field hearing this week in Kansas. The hearing, planned for Thursday at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, will feature testimony from a variety of agricultural producers, according to committee sources. Titled “Hearing from the Heartland: Perspectives on the 2018 Farm Bill from Kansas,” committee members will get an update on “what is working and what is not working in farm country,” according to Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, A Kansas Republican. The field hearing will follow the House Agriculture Committee’s pre-farm bill hearing last week. The Senate Agriculture Committee will live stream the hearing online www.ag.senate.gov. A time for the hearing had not been confirmed as of Friday afternoon.

An Ag Web Dot Com article says gains in other commodities have convinced at least one analyst that $11 soybeans are possible, even with an average 2017 crop. John Payne of Daniels Trading says other markets like copper, cotton, and oats to a certain extent, have risen. “Corn has come up a little, as has the stock market,” Payne said. He says farmers who have the capital to do so, might want to hold off on deciding final crop mixes for 2017 “until the market shows its hand,” Payne said. “Soybeans are going to give you an opportunity at some point.” At the same time, Payne says there is a significant downside possible for prices if bean yields hit near 53 bushels per acre. Corn does remain a strong contender based on data showing that farmers historically like to plant the crop. Payne expects corn acreage to be 91-92 million acres this year. “I understand the arguments against it,” says Payne, “prices certainly don’t reflect it. Given the yield that farmers had last year, if they’re up for rotation, I highly doubt they’re going to switch out.”

A group of plaintiffs recently filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency challenging how the Renewable Fuels Standard has recently been implemented. Attorneys for the EPA filed a court brief this week saying it followed the law. A DTN report says oral arguments are scheduled for April 24 in the D.C. Court of Appeals. The 165-page brief goes through the reasons why the EPA denied a petition to change the point of obligation under the RFS, how it set the biofuel requirements for 2017-2018, and a number of other issues raised by agriculture, biofuels, and petroleum groups. The EPA rejected a petition from petroleum interests to change the point of obligation under the RFS from refiners and petroleum importers to blenders. Petroleum interests say it would spread the cost of compliance throughout the industry, but the EPA said it would take the number of companies that need to be in compliance from hundreds to thousands. The EPA has also taken heat for missing multiple statutory deadlines and for how it went about setting biofuels volumes for the next year.

The European Union is getting set to talk trade with China in April or May. European officials told Reuters the goal is to promote free trade and international cooperation in the face of what may be a more protectionist Washington D.C. A European trade official says the summit is meant to send a “message to the U.S. that China has friends in Europe.” The EU is hoping to get China’s vocal support for international institutions like the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. President Donald Trump has criticized the U.N. in the past, while Russia completely bypassed the U.N. in securing a cease-fire in Syria. China and the European Union hold a summit every year and while a specific date hasn’t been chosen yet, Beijing requested it to take place as soon as possible. The EU believes China wants to use the summit to re-emphasize its defense of open trade and global ties that China put forth at the World Economic Forum in January.