NEW MAPS: Via Minnesota Corn, VERBATIM: “Over the summer, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began their review and update of the Public Waters inventory (PWI) as mandated by the 2024 legislature. The DNR recently released the preliminary map for Aitkin, Benton, Blue Earth, and Clay counties. The DNR has opened up a 60-day review and comment period on the preliminary map and will be holding a public meeting to go over any additions and removal from the PWI.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49EDC9k (SPONSORED: Minnesota Corn Growers Association)
CHALLENGES
FINANCES: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “This past year has been marked by high input costs, trade turmoil and cratering crop prices that have kept farmers’ profit margins low. A recent credit survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis showed that lenders expect farmers to apply for even more loans as next year rolls around. And most of those loans don’t come from big nationwide banks. The vast majority actually come from smaller, local community banks, whose staff often know their clientele personally.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4bk551n
BIRD FLU: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The pork industry is investing in H5N1 research despite nominal cases in pigs. Dr. Lisa Becton with the Swine Health Information Center says SHIC is collaborating with the National Pork Board and Foundation for Food and Agriculture.” BECTON: “It’s a $4 million effort really addressing ten different priorities that encompass things like transmission, looking at vaccine development and cross protection. Looking at multi species, biosecurity, mammary transmission.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4q8Wbsg
AID TO FARMERS
PAYMENTS: Via Fortune, VERBATIM: “Farmers are now learning how much aid they can expect to receive from a $12 billion package that President Donald Trump announced earlier this month. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the figures Wednesday for how much aid per acre farmers can plan on for each row crop. The details arrived after most farmers have already met with their bankers to arrange financing for next year’s crops and placed orders for the seed and fertilizer they will need. But officials have promised that the payments should arrive by the end of February.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4jxmTII
MORE: Via farm management analyst Kent Thiesse, VERBATIM: “At the end of December, USDA announced the payment rates for the various crops that are included in the ‘Farmer Bridge Assistance’ (FBA) program. A total of $12 billion was allocated for the FBA program to provide economic assistance payments to producers of certain crops to offset low prices and poor profit margins for the 2025 crop year, as well as the market price impacts from tariffs on export markets for certain crops in the past year. Of that total, $11 billion of the payments will be paid to producers of traditional farm program Title I crops, which includes corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice. The remaining $1 billion will be held back for economic assistance for specialty crop producers.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49gXO1b
REACTION: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The president of Minnesota Farmers Union says while the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program is welcome, ag producers don’t want to rely on ad hoc payments from the government. “It’s unfortunate. The farmers want their money from trade, they don’t want it from aid.” Gary Wertish tells Brownfield Minnesota’s farmer mediation program helps producers dealing with difficult financial situations.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3YmyVLd
2026
MARKETS: Via AgWeb, VERBATIM: “As producers close the books on 2025, there’s little debate about how the year will be remembered. Commodity prices retreated from harvest highs, input costs refused to follow them lower and margins compressed from both sides. But for market analysts at StoneX Group, the real takeaway from 2025 isn’t the pain. It’s what the year reveals about where agriculture is headed next.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4qDms1y
FERTILIZER: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “A market specialist anticipates a less volatile year for fertilizer prices in 2026. Veronica Nigh is with The Fertilizer Institute.” NIGH: “We can’t do much to anticipate what’s going to be happening geopolitically with regards to Russia, what’s going to be happening in the Middle East. What’s going to be happening with China. So unfortunately that international volatility (is) hard to predict.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4aKXmJC
R&D: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, signed a Secretary’s Memorandum that puts forth a focused effort to establish new priorities for future research and development activities funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to strengthen national security, protect U.S. agriculture, and support American farmers and consumers.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4pnrH4k
WATER: Via AgWeb, VERBATIM: “The ‘everything old is new again’ proverb will be at play in 2026 when it comes to water trends irrigators need to know in the new year. The Packer sat down with Melissa Lilze — who, as of Jan. 1, became senior vice president of Netafim North America, the top position for Netafim in North America, and the first woman to lead Netafim’s North America division — on the top water trends coming in 2026. Several are long-running themes from years past that will continue to dominate in the new year. Others, however, are new and potentially novel.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/45ymvDF
THE BUSINESS OF AG
ETHANOL: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Renewable Fuels Association president Geoff Cooper says a record amount of ethanol has been produced this year.” COOPER: “It has been quite a year for the ethanol industry, and I think I’d start by saying just what a great year it’s been in terms of market fundamentals and what’s happening in the ethanol marketplace.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4bjdhPq
BIOMADE: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Minnetonka-based Cargill has long been a major player in bio-based materials, fermenting plant sugars into plastic and a host of other molecules. Then there’s a new corn-to-chemicals plant under construction in Marshall, Texas-based Solugen’s ‘bioforge.’ BioMADE, a bioindustrial nonprofit with support from Cargill, Amyris and the Department of Defense, chose Maple Grove for its flagship pilot plant equipped with massive fermentation tanks. It should open in 2027.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/45xay19
ARKANSAS: Via KNWA/KFTA, VERBATIM: “Tyson Foods has officially purchased the recently shuttered Cargill plant in Springdale, according to a report. Talk Business & Politics reported on Friday that the poultry giant recently purchased an approximately 350,000-square-foot turkey plant formerly owned by Minnesota-based Cargill for $23 million.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4qebeky
IDEAS: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “As committed to under USDA’s National Farm Security Action Plan U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced a number of coordinated actions to continue to emphasize American agricultural research and innovation by ensuring ideas stay in America or among our allies, not with hostile nations and that we are putting American farmers and ranchers first in every USDA program, period.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4qzrWub
FRESH15: The latest season of Fresh15 includes interviews with new Minnesota House members. So far, five new members have shared their goals, background and fun facts before they take office in a historic session this January.
Rep. Kari Rehrauer
Rep. Wayne Johnson
Rep. Julie Greene
Rep. Keith Allen
Rep. Peter Johnson
Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
AG SUPPORTS
LAB: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “At a soils research lab on the edge of this college town in western Minnesota resides a vision of agriculture’s future. Pennycress, camelina — winter oilseed crops that someday soon could power commercial airlines and transform the waters of the Corn Belt — were first developed in earnest at the North Central Soils Lab. But in the past year, the lab has gone from more than 20 employees to seven after Department of Government Efficiency cuts, hobbling research efforts.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ptMx2i
ADVOCATE: Via Pivot Bio, VERBATIM: “Marilyn Backman isn’t your ordinary farmer. Part entrepreneur and farmer with her family’s seed business, part esteemed advocate for farmers, and certainly neighbor and friend. She is humble and proud to call rural Minnesota her home. And perhaps that’s where the magic of Marilyn’s humble pies took root . . . Backman’s story is featured in a short film . . . which captures her harvest-time routine, her deep relationships with the farmers she serves, and the values that guide her work both in the field and in her community. The film offers a rare glimpse into the everyday generosity that helps sustain rural America.” READ/WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3Yqdvg3
GUIDANCE
FINANCE: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “An ag finance specialist recommends a comprehensive plan as farmers aspire to be profitable in 2026. ‘Blending an agronomic plan with an economic plan.’ John Maman with Nutrien Ag Solutions says on the financial side, interest rates can be an important variable.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3NueR7a
THIS WEEK: Via MAGA, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Apple Growers Association (MAGA) Board of Directors is pleased to announce the 2026 Winter Educational Seminar, which will be held at the La Crescent Area Event Center in La Crescent, MN, on Wednesday, January 7, and Thursday, January 8.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49vYUVI
THIS WEEK: From MDA via X, VERBATIM: “With less than a week to register for #MNOrganic26, don’t miss what’s new this year — a Wellness Space for farmers to recharge and explore mental and physical health resources. Register today & make the Wellness Space part of your conference plan!” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44TlBBB
COVER CROPS: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Farmers who use cover crops typically seek multiple benefits. Maria Tancredi, Minnesota soil health specialist with the Conservation Technology Information Center, says many growers are looking to hold soil in place.” TANCREDI: “We know how much soil erosion can lead us to losing very productive good top soils and all of those nutrients that are stored in the soils after our cash crops are harvested.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/44YRnNA
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
HOLIDAY LEFTOVERS: From MPCA via X, VERBATIM: “Did you know that holiday greenery can contain invasive species? Improper disposal of trees, wreaths, and garlands can introduce invasive insects, weeds, or pathogens that pose a risk to Minnesota ecosystems.” TWEET/LINK: https://fluence-media.co/4qYv0R5
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