SUMMER 2025: Via Minnesota Corn, VERBATIM: “It’s been another busy summer for Minnesota Corn’s 52 affiliated county corn grower associations. Read more below from our district field managers on what the county organizations have been up to this summer.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gBosDM (SPONSORED: Minnesota Corn Growers Association)
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SOYBEANS: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “Last year, the U.S. exported more than 52 million metric tons of soybeans per the USDA. Most of that crop headed to China, the biggest buyer. So far, China hasn’t placed a single order of U.S. soybeans for the upcoming market year. And the absence has sent farmers across the Upper Midwest scrambling for what to do with the crops. China has gradually pivoted away from U.S. soybean purchases since 2018, the last time China was embroiled in a trade war with the U.S.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4mzE2kL
MORE: Via KMSP-TV, VERBATIM: “In the short term, most Minnesota soybean farmers will harvest their crops and either sell them at a loss or pay to store them, or a little of both. But they can only last so long with income at or near zero. And it’s not just soybeans. China has also curtailed its imports of American corn, wheat and sorghum.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/46wvzZv
ETHANOL: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association sees tremendous potential for U.S. ethanol in the trade framework with the United Kingdom. Geoff Cooper says the UK has become a top export market.” COOPER: “But this trade deal framework that the Trump administration has ironed out with the UK would significantly expand the potential market in the UK for ethanol.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4nTzoiJ
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3VZAwp9
CROP TOUR: Via Northern Soy Marketing, VERBATIM: “The NSM Crop Tour is the perfect opportunity for international purchasers to see first-hand the practices and conditions that set U.S. Soy apart. This year, the tour is set for Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2025, welcoming participants from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. ‘We see it as a service to our international customers, so they can come over here and see the pride we take in our crop and help them have a better understanding of the advantages of buying U.S. soybeans,’ NSM Chair Glen Groth said. The tour will kick off in Minnesota, where participants will spend a morning at the University of Minnesota’s soybean research plots and lab before heading to Groth’s farm near Houston, Minn. While they’re at his farm, Groth plans to highlight sustainability practices and, if everything lines up just right, they may even get to ride in the combine and grain cart during harvest.” READ:
AG ECONOMY: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The Ranking Member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee is concerned about the ag economy. ‘Well, there’s no doubt farmers are hurting. Input costs are up, prices are down.’ Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig says with a large crop on the horizon, market access is critical.” CRAIG: “Business is absolutely gone, it’s moved from the United States to Brazil, especially in China. So look, the administration caused this problem with their trade wars and their economic policies, and it’s incumbent upon them to step up and fix the problems.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3IEr0V0
MORE: Also via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Republican members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee recently met to discuss potential ‘bridge’ payments to help farmers through the slumping ag economy. Iowa’s Chuck Grassley tells Brownfield the private meeting took place Thursday.” GRASSLEY: “Where we came to the conclusion as we told each other what we thought was a critical situation, similar to the 1980’s with dropping land prices, increased interest rates and low farm prices, that something has to be done.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3VyymMN
TRADE WAR: Via Marshall Independent, VERBATIM: “The trade war with China is a growing concern for Minnesota agriculture, a group of southwest Minnesota residents said Monday. Joel Schreurs, a Tyler area farmer and Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council member, said the issue of tariffs was one thing he wanted to talk about with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar as she visited his farm Monday.” QUOTE: “If it drags out, this trade war, farmers are going to have to be compensated,” said Schreurs.
Schreurs said he didn’t want subsidies. But if farmers were facing major financial losses, “Something has to give.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3W4Fhxl
LAND O’LAKES: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Leah Anderson admits she can seem like a fish on land as a Land O’Lakes executive: She didn’t grow up on a farm or graduate with an agriculture-related degree. But today: ‘There’s no place I’d rather be.’ ‘You can be born into it, or you can choose being part of agriculture. And in my case, I chose it,’ she said. As president of WinField United, the Land O’Lakes crop inputs and insights business, Anderson is ushering in a tech boom for ag retailers and the farmers they serve. The Woodbury High School and University of Minnesota alum has led WinField since the start of 2024.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/46RWsbD
BIRD FLU: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “The transition from summer to fall is renewing calls for highly pathogenic avian influenza prevention and detection. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says recent cases in Nebraska and Minnesota serve as reminders migration is beginning. ‘We still have a challenge obviously with those wild bird introductions. So as those birds are migrating in the spring and the fall, we certainly are on high alert. I know our producers are.’ He tells Brownfield the poultry industry has made tremendous strides since the 2015 avian flu outbreak.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4nkvzD2
WILDFIRES: Three projects in Minnesota are among 58 sharing $200 in funding from the USDA as part of its Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program. VERBATIM: “In total, the program is investing $1 billion over five years to assist at-risk communities, including tribal communities, nonprofit organizations, state forestry agencies and Alaska Native Corporations with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks on lands not managed by federal agencies.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4nsusBC MORE: https://fluence-media.co/3W49Kf1
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)
USDA: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., was sworn in as the National Advisor for Nutrition, Health, and Housing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3KBVRlI
MORE: Via Politico, VERBATIM: “Carson will step into the new role as USDA takes a more active role in the MAHA movement. The department has authorized state-level initiatives to bar participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from using their benefits to buy junk food. It will also be responsible for updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans due this year, a crucial way for federal officials to influence consumers’ perceptions of what a healthy diet looks like.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/428KUhA
CROP UPDATE: Via Brownfield, VERBATIM: “Crop development is slightly behind as harvest begins across Minnesota. USDA’s latest weekly crop update says corn is 88 percent dented and 43 percent mature, both several percentage points behind the usual pace. Soybeans dropping leaves, at 46 percent, lags behind the five-year average of 62 percent. The corn for grain harvest is one percent complete as of Sunday, with soybeans three percent harvested.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4mCt0LE
SNAP: Via USDA, VERBATIM: “Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is proposing changes to strengthen the stocking requirements for retailers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These changes would protect the program, participants, and taxpayers by mitigating fraud, waste, and abuse and ensuring additional healthy food options for recipient families.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4nL3iVY
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
FARM AID: Via news release from Tractor Beverage, VERBATIM: “Tractor Beverage Company, the farmer-founded and employee-owned maker of certified organic craft beverages, proudly celebrated its second year as a sponsor of Farm Aid during the festival’s 40th anniversary weekend in Minneapolis . . . The weekend began with Tractor’s Farm Bill to Table Breakfast at the University of Minnesota’s Huntington Bank Stadium, a roundtable conversation that brought together farmers and advocates to explore how the Farm Bill shapes the future of food. Leaders from the Cornucopia Institute and the Organic Trade Association joined faculty and students from the University of Minnesota Student Organic Farm, as well as Minnesota regenerative farmer Luke Peterson.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/46GHbta
150 YEARS: Via The Worthington Globe, VERBATIM: “To Craig and Karen Rollag, the soil has always been good for the soul. ‘We will never, ever, sell the dirt,’ said Craig, a fourth generation Rollag farmer who still works the home place that was first homesteaded by his ancestors in 1874. Said Karen: ‘To our kids, their heritage here means a lot.’ The farm located just east of Minnesota 23 near Beaver Creek was recently honored as a Sesquicentennial Heritage Farm in Minnesota. The farm’s noted Scandinavian legacy began just a few years after the Civil War when Ole and Grace (Gro) Rollag emigrated from the hills and fjords of their Norwegian homeland to the vast American prairie.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3IC2FPM
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