NWF Announces National Winners for 2019 National Wheat Yield Contest
On November 12, 2019, the National Wheat Foundation announced the national winners for its 2019 National Wheat Yield Contest. Rick Pearson from Buhl, ID and Tom Duyck from Forest Grove, Oregon were this year’s Irrigated and Dryland Bin Buster winners. In its fifth year, the contest recognizes winners in two primary competition categories: winter wheat and spring wheat, and two subcategories: dryland and irrigated. The Foundation received a record-breaking 397 entries from growers all across the country. DTN/Progressive Farmer, the official publication of the Contest, covered the announcement with exclusive interviews from some of the national winners. The Contest’s State Winners will be announced next week.
A special thank you to the 2019 National Yield Contest Sponsors: AgriMaxx, Ardent Mills, BASF, Corteva Agriscience, Croplan/Winfield, Indigo Ag, Grain Craft, John Deere, LCS, Mennel Milling, Miller Milling, Syngenta, and WestBred.
Opening of Brazilian Wheat TRQ
On November 14, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Brazil’s implementation of an annual duty-free tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 750,000 metric tons (MT) of wheat imports. Through the implementation, an obligation is made between the U.S. and Brazil that will benefit the trade economies of each nation by providing stable and predictable access for U.S. wheat exporters. Prior to implementation of this TRQ, U.S. wheat typically entered Brazil at an applied 10 percent duty, in comparison to wheat from Brazil’s MERCOSUR customs union trade partners, particularly Argentina, which enters duty-free. NAWG supports U.S. Wheat Associates’ release welcoming the news.
USDA Updates Conservation Stewardship Program
This week USDA released the new interim final rule for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) based on the changes made to the program in the 2018 Farm Bill. The rule became effective when it was printed in the Federal Register on Tuesday and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is taking comments until January 13, 2020. The NAWG Environment and Research Committee discussed CSP during the NAWG Board Meeting last week and will be reviewing the rule and preparing comments to submit to NRCS. Substantial changes were made to CSP in the Farm Bill including eliminating the acreage enrollment cap to make the program administration function more like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and adding new payments for cover crop rotations, advanced grazing management and comprehensive conservation planning. Participation in EQIP tends to focus on specific conservation practice implementation, where CSP participation focuses on conservation enhancements applied across an operation. Based on Farm Bill changes, NRCS is allowing existing CSP contracts expiring on or before December 31, 2019 to be renewed.
November 2019 WASDE Report
On November 8, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) Report. This joint report created by the Office of the Chief Economist, Agricultural Marketing Service, Economic Research Service, Farm Service Agency, and the Foreign Agricultural Service provides explanations, projections, and data for producers to examine so they can be more informed for the next growing season. In the report, values for different products are explained from a global perspective. U.S. producers are encouraged to look at the report in order to better understand how they can incorporate this information into their strategy for the next growing season.
NWF Opens Scholarship Opportunity for Ag Students – Deadline December 1, 2019
The National Wheat Foundation is officially accepting applications for the Jerry Minore Scholarship. The scholarship opportunity is made available to both high school and college students pursuing a career in agriculture for the 2019-2020 academic year, the deadline for the application is December 1, 2019. This year the Foundation will be issuing two scholarships for $2,500 each.
Source: National Association of Wheat Growers