CANADA: Via Minnesota Corn, VERBATIM: “Last week, Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council (MCR&PC) Chair Duane Epland, who farms in Twin Lakes, joined the U.S. Grains Council’s Grain Export Mission to Toronto and Ottawa. He joined farmer-leaders from other states and USGC staff to meet with key end-users, council partners, trading company representatives, and U.S. and local government officials.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/40lA6f3 (SPONSORED: Minnesota Corn Growers Association)
All Fluence Media tip sheets are now available to read and share online at our website, The Daily Agenda:
HEAT: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Iowa State University Extension entomologist Erin Hodgson says Growing Degree Day Units have exploded with heat indexes in the triple digits across several Midwestern states. ‘That’s going to accelerate everything, plant growth but also insect growth. So it’s going to speed up everything, the development of insects is going to happen very rapidly over the next couple weeks.’ She tells Brownfield one of those insects is Japanese beetle.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/46cdbGM
SNAP: Via Politico, VERBATIM: “Senate Republicans believe they can salvage tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts across the country’s largest anti-hunger program to help pay for the GOP megabill by making language tweaks to comply with the Senate’s rules, according to three people familiar with the talks. If the updated text passes muster with the Senate parliamentarian, it would stave off one major problem for GOP leaders as they scramble to find additional savings after several adverse rulings and land final text of the massive bill by Thursday.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/46beshg
MORE: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “The Senate Republican plan would require states for the first time to pay a sizeable share of food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) unless they reduce the error rate for delivering benefits to below 6 percent.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3T9GMcf
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3VZAwp9
PFAS: Via Grist, VERBATIM: “Jeff King has served on the volunteer fire department in Corydon, Kentucky, for over 30 years. He is well aware of the dangers of the job — including one that may be hiding in the supplies he and his crew use to keep others safe. Many of the foams firefighters spray to extinguish blazes contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Known as ‘forever chemicals,’ PFAS are a class of human-made chemicals that repel water and oil; it’s this quality that makes them effective at battling tough-to-put-out fires, like those started with diesel fuel. The chemicals are also tied to a host of human health problems, from reproductive issues to high cholesterol to certain types of cancer. King admits that some of the foams he’s used over his career ‘may or may not be good for us.’ That’s why he visited Dalton, Georgia, last year to meet with representatives from Cross Plains Solutions, a company that developed a PFAS-free firefighting foam made from soybeans.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3T8CSAo
MARKETING: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Farmers sitting on old-crop corn and soybeans might be facing some difficult decisions soon. South Central College farm business management instructor Pam Uhlenkamp says there are still a lot of bushels in bins across southern Minnesota.” UHLENKAMP: “Waiting for some magical price increase. So what are we going to do with that? Are we going to hold it, pay a storage cost on it, pay interest on operating money? Or is it time to really just ditch it and reset, refocus on what the rest of ’25 looks like.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3GeMHde
WORM: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The executive director of the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association says the industry continues to monitor the northward movement of New World screwworm. Kaitlyn Root tells Brownfield the pest has moved within 700 miles of the U.S. – Mexico border.” ROOT: “And although we are in Minnesota and we feel very far from that Texas border, it is still a little bit nerve-racking for all producers in the U.S.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4eh72uY
MNLEG: Via Agweek, VERBATIM: “Agriculture continued to receive bipartisan support in the state legislature, leading Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen to offer an upbeat assessment of the recent legislative session. With a split Legislature —101 DFL’ers and 100 Republicans — the session went about as well as Petersen believed it could, he told an audience that filled the Life Sciences auditorium of the MinnWest Technology Campus in Willmar, where the annual Partners in Ag Innovation conference was conducted Tuesday. The agriculture bill was the first approved, Petersen said, and it addressed priority issues for agriculture.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3HZ2uNN
FORESTS: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced during a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule. This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands. Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4enIHnx
MORE: Via CBS News, VERBATIM: “Environmental groups, who want to keep restrictions on logging and road-building for places such as Alaska's Tongass National Forest, criticized the possibility of rolling back the protections. ‘Any attempt to revoke it is an attack on the air and water we breathe and drink, abundant recreational opportunities which millions of people enjoy each year, havens for wildlife and critical buffers for communities threatened by increasingly severe wildfire seasons,’ Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement on the USDA's plans. Contrary to what Rollins said about reducing wildfire risk, logging exacerbates climate change and makes wildfires more intense, said Center for Western Priorities political director Rachael Hamby.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44k6fF8
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)
MPCA: Via Agweek, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is inviting public comment through July 10 on the environmental assessment worksheet for a proposed anaerobic digestion facility in Forest City Township. Roughly seven miles northeast of Litchfield, the two anaerobic digesters, storage buildings and other infrastructure will be built by Vanguard Organics LLC on a leased area on the Wagner Dairy Farm, according to a news release from the agency. The facility is projected to process up to 115,000 tons of organic waste per year — manure from the dairy farm and food waste from other sources — and convert the wastes into renewable natural gas. Construction is set to begin later this summer and last until spring or summer of 2026.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/45C8N3L
ADS: Via The Minneapolis Egotist, VERBATIM: “Kemps, the beloved Midwest farmer-owned brand of Dairy Farmers of America, has brought back its iconic “It’s The Cows” campaign in a modern reimagining by creative agency Betty. If you grew up in the Midwest, you likely remember the original ‘It’s The Cows’ campaign: a regional classic that ran for more than 25 years and helped define the brand for generations. Now, in Kemps’ first major campaign under a renewed AOR partnership with Betty, the cows are back.” READ/WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3HZzC8k
GRANT: Via MDA, VERBATIM: “A new grant program from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) created to help new farmers with the cost of purchasing needed equipment and infrastructure has awarded 97 grants totaling $856,833 across 45 Minnesota counties in its first year. Demand for the Beginning Farmer Equipment and Infrastructure Grant far outstripped legislative funding for the grant, with 1,100 eligible applicants requesting $18.6 million from the grant program.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44hvdop
USDA: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today announced the latest slate of presidential appointments for key positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).” LIST: https://fluence-media.co/45GYvPY
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
SUGAR: Via Agweek, VERBATIM: “A collaboration with American Crystal Sugar Co. is a sweet deal for Molly Yeh. The logo of Yeh’s newest cookbook, called ‘Sweet Farm,’ is featured on the sugar company’s 4-pound bags. Yeh lives on a farm just outside of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, where she and her husband, Nick Hagen, raise sugarbeets and wheat. Hagen, a fifth-generation Minnesota farmer, and Yeh met at The Juilliard School in New York City and were married in 2015 in their ‘old’ farmstead shop and had their wedding reception in the ‘new’ farmstead shop. They have two young daughters, Bernie and Ira.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4eo7Car
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