Politico speculates again that current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack could be in position to become Hillary Clinton’s Chief of Staff, should Clinton beat Donald Trump in the presidential election. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta is Clinton’s top pick for the post, but has made it clear he does not want the same job he held during the Bill Clinton administration. More than half a dozen insiders have told Politico that Vilsack, a decades-long Clinton ally, is being widely discussed for the position. However, Vilsack finds himself in the same spot he was in during the Vice President search for Clinton—a top-tier contender, but facing stiff competition. Beyond Podesta and Vilsack, Joe Biden chief of staff Ron Klain and Clinton policy adviser Jake Sullivan are also being considered. As for whom a Clinton administration might pick for Vilsack’s current seat, Politico says the top contenders to lead USDA include California’s agriculture secretary Karen Ross, former Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, former USDA deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. The Clinton Transition team told the Hagstrom Report last week she may even choose a Republican Agriculture Secretary, should she become President.

The National Biodiesel Board is urging Congress to extend the biodiesel tax incentive before it expires on December 31st. In a letter to House and Senate tax committee leaders last week, NBB says failure to support the extension could lead biodiesel producers to “cut jobs and production,” at a time when they are “poised to expand and hire.” Policy stability will help the industry sustain growth, according to NBB leaders. The letter to lawmakers says the growth of the U.S. biodiesel industry in recent years is paying tremendous dividends in reducing emissions, strengthening energy security and creating jobs and economic activity in every state. NBB says the biodiesel industry supports nearly 48,000 jobs and $1.9 billion in wages across the country.

The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank says farm lending at commercial banks fell in the third quarter of 2016 but remained elevated as lenders continued to assess the downturn in the U.S. agricultural economy. In a new report, the bank said the need for short-term financing in the farm sector remained high as profit margins remained weak. The volume of farm loans originated in the third quarter decreased about 19 percent from a year ago but remained elevated by historical standards. Consistent with recent trends, the Fed report said loans for operating expenses continued to drive the demand for new loans. So far in 2016, loans used to finance operating expenses total about 70 percent of all non-real estate farm loans and nearly 60 percent of total loan volume.

Two agriculture industry mergers expected to be completed by the end of the year now look delayed into the early part of 2017. Dow Chemical and DuPont’s merger may be delayed until February, as European antitrust officials take more time to consider potential competition issues in pesticides and crop seeds, according to Bloomberg. The European Commission this month delayed its decision deadline until February 6th as it sought additional information about the transaction. Meanwhile, the Syngenta-ChemChina deal will likely take more time for regulatory approval after the two failed to submit paperwork by a deadline Friday. For that deal, The Wall Street Journal says European regulators have set an initial deadline for the merger probe for October 28th to decide whether to clear the deal unconditionally, or open an in-depth investigation, which would last several more months and likely lead the EU to demand concessions. One analyst expects the deal to be completed within the second half of next year.

Syngenta has moved forward with an appeal claiming the class action lawsuit over its Agrisure Viptera corn brand is built on “fundamental errors. Syngenta was allowed to appeal a federal judge’s ruling allowing the ligation to proceed. The class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of thousands of U.S. corn farmers seeking up to $5 billion from Syngenta. The group claims Syngenta’s Viptera trait found in an export cargo in China prior to China’s approval led to income losses. Syngenta noted that the alleged losses also came as U.S. corn farmers were harvesting the largest corn crop in 50 years, which sent prices 30 percent lower, according to AgWeb. In a statement, Syngenta says the company believes the class certification is inappropriate, given the many ways farmers grow and sell corn in different markets across the United States. Syngenta claims the lawsuits lacks merit and that the Agrisure Viptera trait was commercialized in full compliance with regulatory and legal requirements.

A Kansas Farm Bureau representative and agriculture law professor says proposed changes to the estate tax would likely be struck down if finalized and litigation followed. Roger McEowen (Mc-Allen) predicts that if the Internal Revenue Service finalized a proposal that would crack down on a tactic for family operated companies to reduce asset values to skirt the estate tax, plaintiffs suing the agency are likely to prevail. Politico reports that the IRS proposal, in general, would end most of the so-called valuation discounts, which can be applied to intra-family transfers of interest when there are restrictions attached, such as on liquidation and voting rights. The American Farm Bureau Federation and its state organizations, including Kansas, plan to request the IRS scrap the entire proposal. McEowen says the issue has been a source of litigation against the IRS, and courts have routinely held that the valuation discount is reasonable.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams says the best time for the U.S. central bank to raise rates again likely will be at its policy gathering in December. Williams still expects one rate increase this year, and says it could happen at either of the two remaining rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meetings in 2016. However, he says it could be better to wait a bit longer to boost what is now a 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent overnight target rate range, according to Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today. That is because Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will have a press conference at the December meeting, but not at the gathering scheduled for November. Williams says: “We can always take policy actions at any meeting, but I think there are some advantages, in my own mind, around a press conference.”