WACO, Neb. (AP) — Monsanto is investing more than $100 million to expand four of its seed processing plants in Nebraska, Iowa and Indiana.

USDA data shows U.S. raw sugar prices dropped another nine-percent in October. The October 2012 average price is nearly 40-percent lower than the previous year. With sugar surpluses building and sustained low prices on the horizon – the American Sugar Alliance says industrial sugar users have lost a key talking point in their campaign to dismantle U.S. sugar production. ASA Chairman Ryan Weston says the big candy lobby has complained of high sugar prices on Capitol Hill for months despite their own increasing profits. He says lawmakers should be less receptive to their efforts now that they have big profits, cheap sugar and a rosy outlook for the future.

ASA notes raw sugar prices dipped as low as 21.5-cents per pound during October. Cheap sugar is predicted for the foreseeable future due to the 2.2-million tons of surplus overhanging the market, a strong domestic crop and the subsidized foreign sugar that flows in under a myriad of trade deals.

Weston says the price reality for sugar proves how well the current sugar policy has worked for consumers. He says the policy comes at no cost to the taxpayer, helps counter subsidies by foreign competitors and ensures consistent homegrown supplies at consistent prices. But Weston notes food makers aren’t passing along any of the lower sugar prices to consumers. Instead – he says they have continued price increases at the grocery checkout line. Weston says this lack of pass-through should further call into question the talking points used by opponents of sugar policy.

President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have received a request for a presidential declaration of emergency. The request came from the American Waterways Operators, National Waterways Conference, Waterways Council, Inc. and 15 other national organizations who are seeking immediate assistance in averting an economic catastrophe in the heartland of the United States. The problem is the worsening situation on the Mississippi River. Near historic low water levels have restricted barge traffic on the river since the summer. The letter notes that the crisis was created by this year’s drought conditions – but says it will come to a head now that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun to implement plans to reduce the release of water to the Mississippi River from dams on the upper Missouri River. The groups are not only asking the President to declare an emergency – but also to direct the Corps to remove rock pinnacles that are impairing the flow of commerce by mid-December and to release as much water as necessary from the Missouri River reservoirs to preserve a nine-foot channel on the Mississippi River to sustain commercial navigation.

In their letter to the President and the FEMA Administrator – the groups warn that the economic impacts of Mississippi River closure would be dire. Among other products – they note seven-million tons of agricultural products worth 2.3-billion dollars would be at risk.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers Association and The Fertilizer Institute all signed the letter. The governors of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri – as well as 15 U.S. Senators and 62 members of the U.S. House – have also written the Administration to call attention to the severity of the situation and urge action to keep the river open to navigation.

For the cattle industry – National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Collin Woodall says the denial of the Renewable Fuel Standard waiver by the EPA is an indicator of things to come. He expects cattle producers will soon see guidance on the Clean Water Act and the dust rule – along with other potentially burdensome regulations. Woodall also expects other important priorities for cattlemen and women will be more difficult to achieve – as the gridlock seen the past two years in the House and Senate will likely continue. According to Woodall – that means there won’t be an opportunity to address big ticket items like the estate tax or Endangered Species Act reform for the next several years. He believes those are completely off the table.

That won’t stop NCBA from making the estate tax a priority. The so-called Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of the year. If the estate tax rates aren’t extended before that time – farmers and ranchers will be taxed on assets over one-million dollars. The top tax rate will revert back to 55-percent. Woodall says NCBA hopes for at least a four-year extension of the current five-million dollar per individual exemption and top tax rate of 35-percent. He says maintaining these levels for the next four years is needed to provide a little certainty – noting it’s hard to make plans on a two-year basis.

NCBA will also tackle a wide range of other issues. Woodall encourages cattlemen and women to engage with their elected officials on the issues that impact their operations at every opportunity to help make in-roads.

Officials have said this week that private talks between the President and top Congressional leaders to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff are accelerating. House Speaker John Boehner has plans for top Republicans to meet with Erskine Bowles – a chief of staff in the Bill Clinton Administration. According to GOP aides – Bowles offered a debt-reduction plan last fall that lined up with Republican principles. The plan called for an overhaul of the tax code and significant spending cuts – including major Medicare changes. Boehner says people in both parties agree a balanced approach is needed to deal with the deficit and debt – and to help the economy create jobs. The Speaker expresses a need to avert the fiscal cliff without tax hikes that target small businesses and cost jobs.

Some Republicans – including Senate Ag Committee member Saxby Chambliss – have recently voiced support for a deal that includes additional tax revenue. But there remains a wide gap between the President and Republicans on taxes and changes to federal retirement programs. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney did say this week that the President believes and understands that in order to achieve a deal – a compromise – everybody has to make some tough choices.

Students studying for a future in the beef industry have a shot at 10 scholarships of 15-hundred dollars – but the deadline for applications is fast approaching. Submissions for the CME National Cattlemen’s Foundation Scholarship must be postmarked or received via email or fax by December 14th. The applicants must demonstrate a commitment to a career in the beef industry through classes, internships or life experiences. John Lacey – National Cattlemen’s Foundation Board of Trustees Chairman – says the future of the beef industry is represented in the students who are studying to be a part of it. He says these scholarships support the work of students dedicating their education to keeping the industry viable.

Graduating high school seniors or full-time undergraduate students enrolled at two-year or four-year institutions for the 2013-14 school year are eligible for these scholarships. The applicants must be members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The scholarship application is available for download at www dot NationalCattlemensFoundation dot org (www.nationalcattlemensfoundation.org).

“In fields where partial stover removal is an option, a sustainable stover harvest program provides value to the grower without negatively impacting the health and productivity of the soil,” says Andy Heggenstaller, DuPont Pioneer agronomy research manager for cellulosic ethanol. “There are three primary factors we examine with growers considering stover harvest, including field productivity level, crop management practices and erosion potential.”

Individual field evaluation is necessary as stover removal is not an option for every field. In some highly productive systems, residue may even be excessive as a result of increased yields, improved stalk quality and reduced tillage practices. Highly productive, relatively flat, continuous corn fields are best suited for stover removal and tend to see the greatest agronomic benefits. In these fields, corn stover production generally exceeds the minimum amount needed to maintain soil health and productivity, making sustainable stover harvest a viable option.

In high yielding areas of the Corn Belt, many growers are chopping stalks, increasing tillage or using a combination of these two methods to further stalk decomposition. In areas where residue management is a critical factor in production decisions, partial stover harvest could expand rotation and farming options. For example, reducing excess residue could allow increased flexibility in managing corn following corn, particularly in the northern Corn Belt where residue decomposition tends to be slower. Stover removal also may eliminate tillage operations and other practices used primarily for residue management, resulting in substantial production cost savings.

Agronomic advantages of partial stover removal include accelerated spring soil warming and drying, improved stand establishment, reduced nitrogen immobilization, reduced disease pressure, expanded rotation options and reduced tillage. Studies also have shown yield advantages for corn when excess stover is removed. The remaining residue in a sustainable stover harvest program ensures soil erosion prevention, soil organic carbon maintenance and soil fertility management.

“Concern with removal of organic matter and nutrients with the stover harvest tends to be the primary limiting factor on the minds of growers,” reports Heggenstaller.

As fields are evaluated for stover harvest, the estimated productivity level guides the amount of residue left on the field. Typically, corn grain and stover are produced in a roughly one-to-one ratio. If a field yields 150 bushels per acre, which equals 3.6 tons of grain at 0 percent moisture, it should produce approximately 3.6 tons of stover. In general, every field under continuous corn with no-till or conservation tillage needs about 2.3 tons of residue per acre to keep organic matter constant. As corn yields grow, stover increases, resulting in greater potential for stover removal in highly productive fields.

Soil erosion is another major consideration. A sustainable stover harvest program must leave enough residue on the soil to mitigate water and wind erosion. The amount of residue needed to manage erosion varies greatly depending on field characteristics and management practices, but it is often significantly less than the total produced. Tools such as RUSLE2 (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, version 2) and WEPS (Wind Erosion Prediction System) are available to develop a soil conservation plan.

From a soil fertility standpoint, the impact of a stover harvest is complex. A partial stover harvest will increase the removal of plant nutrients; however, short- and long-term effects will vary for different nutrients. Nutrient removal tables provide estimates of pounds of nutrients per ton of dry stover. The tables are useful as a general guide, but they tend to overestimate the amount of nutrients actually removed by a stover harvest. In general, growers should monitor fertility and account for nutrient removal in fertility programs, particularly with phosphorus and potassium.

“When considering stover harvest, growers should be thinking where they want to go with crop production, not where they are today,” says Heggenstaller. “As grain yields and residue levels increase, it becomes more sustainable and economical to harvest a portion of stover and use it to produce other products than to till it into the soil.”

Reuters has polled 17 analysts ahead of the Quarterly Grain Stocks report due out Friday. The analysts expect USDA’s report will show stocks as of September 1 – also the ending stocks for the 2011-12 marketing year – at 1.113-billion bushels. That would mark the lowest supply of corn on that date in eight years. USDA pegged 2011-12 ending stocks at 1.181 in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates released earlier this month.

Jefferies Bache analyst Shawn McCambridge provided the highest estimate to Reuters at 1.261-billion bushels. With the quick maturity and fast harvest – McCambridge believes more than a billion bushels went to market before the end of the crop year. He says that is going to complicate things. The lowest estimate Reuters saw from analysts was 887-million. That would fall below the 958-million bushel figure of 2003-04. The estimate comes from Roy Huckabay of the Linn Group – who said he was not accounting for any of the early harvested corn.

The Reuters poll showed U.S. wheat stocks on September 1 at 2.278-billion bushels – up from 2.147-billion a year ago – and soybean stocks at 131-million – down from 215-million a year ago.