Large operating loans made by large agricultural banks led to a significant increase in farm lending in the third quarter of 2018, according to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. The total volume of non-real estate farm loans was more than 30 percent higher than a year ago. A sharp increase in the volume of loans exceeding $1 million was a primary contributor to the increase in non-real estate farm lending. In the third quarter, the volume of loans larger than $1 million nearly doubled and accounted for almost 40 percent of total non-real estate lending during the reporting period. In particular, a majority of the increase was supported by loans used to fund current operating expenses. The increase in the size of loans also sharply increased the share of agricultural lending at large banks while interest rates on farm loans continued to trend upward.

The Department of Agriculture says more than 130 cities have expressed interest in hosting USDA agencies that would move from Washington as part of a controversial reorganization plan. USDA says 136 entities in 35 states are interested in becoming the new homes of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. In August, Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that most ERS and NIFA personnel would be moving to outside the Washington area by the end of 2019 and invited interested parties to submit proposals. Perdue called the interest “overwhelming,” adding that it is “gratifying” states are stepping forward to prove “not all wisdom resides in Washington, D.C.” The entities expressing interest include educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, state development agencies, county development agencies, municipalities, and for-profit entities. Find the complete list of interested parties on the USDA website, USDA.gov.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will help President Donald Trump reach his goal of reducing agency budgets by five percent next year. Perdue has promised to cut his budget five percent, as last week Trump asked every Cabinet agency except the Pentagon to make a five percent cut. During the meeting, Trump told the leaders to “get rid of the fat, get rid of the waste.” A Department of Agriculture spokesman said, “USDA stands with the president and his goal of being fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars and will absolutely meet his target,” according to the Hagstrom Report. Perdue said following the meeting that USDA would participate in the Trump plan and that he thinks USDA will “be able to meet greater than the five percent target.” The five percent announcement followed reports that the government’s budget deficit has reached a six-year high.

China, the world’s largest pork producer, has culled 200,000 pigs from its herds due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever. A Reuters report says Chinese health officials made the announcement last week. That number represents a small part of the 700 million pigs that China slaughters every year for food consumption. However, due to restrictions on transporting animals that are designed to help curb the spread of the disease have created tight pork supplies in parts of the country. Forty-one disease outbreaks have affected 27 different cities across the country. The Chinese Animal Health and Epidemiology Center say the disease, which is deadly to pigs but not to humans, is very hard to detect and prevent. China has culled pigs on each of the farms hit by outbreaks, as well as all the animals on other farms within a three-mile range of each outbreak. Most of the swine fever outbreaks have happened in northeast China. That’s an area which typically sends its hogs to slaughter in the south, closer to consumption centers.

Vice President Mike Pence made several campaign stops last week, including locations in Kansas and Iowa. Going into the trip, a spokesman confirmed that the vice president would bring up the yet-to-be-finished farm bill during his speeches. The White House message is similar to that of the House Republicans: The unemployment rate is low and a lot of jobs are open. Because of that, Republicans want Democrats to get on board with more work requirements for millions of food-stamp recipients. The House farm bill would greatly expand the pool of able-bodied workers, all of whom would be required to work an average of 20 hours per week. Politico says that’s an idea “dead on arrival” in the Senate. However, the White House also wants to ensure that Democrats don’t get what it calls a “free pass” for voting no on the farm bill. In the meantime, USDA already has a proposal in place to tighten work requirements on able-bodied adults under review at the Office of Management and Budget. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue doesn’t want to get ahead of Congress on the issue, which means it’s uncertain as to when his agency will release the rule.

Andrew Wheeler, Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, says his agency can expand E15 sales to year-round without Congressional approval. Wheeler also said last week that the oil industry needs to drop its lawsuit threat against the move. Last week, President Trump said he was directing the EPA to lift the ban on summertime sales of E15, a move designed to help farmers struggling with low commodity prices. An Agriculture Dot Com article says the oil industry calls the move a violation of the nation’s biofuel law and threatened a lawsuit to block the move. “We do have the authority to move forward on E15,” Wheeler says. “I’d hope the oil industry would join us in helping make U.S. biofuel policy function better for the American public, rather than take it to court.” The oil industry opposes lifting the ban on year-round ethanol because the move would cut into its share of the fuel market. The EPA is already moving ahead on the idea. A filing with the Office of Management and Budget says the agency will release a draft on E15 by February of 2019 and will conclude deliberations by May. The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents oil refiners, says the industry will challenge the final proposal in court.