January 16, 2025

A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation.

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On Wednesday, U.S. Senate ag committee leaders received a letter of support for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture nominee Brooke Rollins from more than 420 industry groups, including the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. The letter urges a speedy confirmation process to allow the new Ag Secretary to address the Farm Bill and many other pressing issues in agriculture and food production.

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Less than a week after biofuel groups lamented the lack of details about the Clean Fuels Production (45Z) tax credit, USDA released an interim rule for climate-smart crops being used as biofuel feedstocks that should provide the biofuels industry more clarity on how to move forward.

The interim rule, titled "Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks" -- or "CSA rule" -- outlines how practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon will score out on a county-by-county basis. Rather than requiring a bundling of practices, USDA noted that the interim rule allows for measuring the carbon benefits of individual practices such as no-till planting, cover crops and nitrogen inhibitors. The rule outlines procedures for quantifying and verifying a wider range of farm practices.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, in what he said would be his final press call, explained the release of the rule, which will allow farmers who grow corn, soybeans and sorghum to calculate how different individual practices can lower their carbon-intensity score for crops when selling to biofuel plants.

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German meat exports are under threat following the first case of foot and mouth disease (FMD) there in almost four decades, in another potential blow to the country’s producers.

The disease can affect animals including cattle, sheep and pigs and was found in water buffalo near Berlin, in the first case since 1988. The outbreak has prompted the United Kingdom to suspend imports of beef, pork and some milk products from the country. South Korea and Mexico have also banned imports of pork, the German government said. 

“The flow of meat and goods across Europe has been turned upside down overnight,” Per Fischer Larsen, senior vice president for industry sales at European pork producer Danish Crown, said in a statement, referring to the halt in purchases by Britain, a top non-EU pork buyer. The company, the continent’s biggest pork producer, owns three slaughterhouses in Germany.

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The Modern Ag Alliance, a coalition of agricultural stakeholders that advocates for U.S. farmers’ access to the crop protection tools, has appointed Elizabeth Burns-Thompson as its first executive director. 

Burns-Thompson — who has Juris Doctorate in Agricultural Law from Drake University and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business from Iowa State University — joins the the alliance having long championed farmers’ interests across law, policy, and public affairs advocacy. She most recently led government relations and policy efforts for Landus Ag Cooperative and has previously held roles with the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and Iowa Corn Growers Association.

Her efforts will be vital going into the new administration. While President-elect Donald Trump has the broad support of farmers and rural Americans, one of his key Cabinet nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has a history of speaking out against crop protection products. There is trepidation throughout agriculture about how he would use his role if confirmed to the Department of Health and Human Services to impact pesticide availability and usage.

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Longer, more diverse rotations of crops fertilized with livestock manure have many environmental benefits, but carbon sequestration isn't one of them, according to a new study led by Iowa State University researchers.

The findings, published this month in Nature Sustainability, counter long-standing assumptions and could have implications for various carbon-market initiatives designed to help mitigate climate change, said Wenjuan Huang, assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology.

"In a diversified cropping system, there's more carbon input. So we have figured there would be more carbon stored in the soil. But actually, carbon levels in the soil didn't change over 20 years, though these regenerative management practices are still valuable in other ways," said Huang, one of the study's lead co-authors.

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