But we actually saw some movement on the E15 front this week.

Absolutely, we saw some movement and it came in some literally.

last second deal making in the California Assembly.

What they did was they took a look at how to change the rules and restrictions around the equipment that is used at filling stations to deliver E15 To consumers, if you remember, this is something that the fire marshal has been blocking in California for quite some time because of the vapor capture issues.

Well, if the same equipment that can handle E10 can now handle E15, that's a big step forward.

And I talked with Robert White, VP of Industry Relations and Market Development for the Renewable Fuels Association about it last week.

Believe me.

I mean, if you're 40 cents cheaper than the guy across the street, guess what? Both of you are selling E15 soon.

By the time you go past 48 end rows and go 35 paces

beyond that, you have no idea what's out there when you're standing at the edge of that field.

You can stand there, look at that field, and have an idea in your head of what it's going to be.

And by the time you've crossed 48 rows plus 35 paces, you've seen four or five different crops by the time you get there.

And that is pretty typical to see that kind of variability within a field.

When you don't see that kind of variability, that's when you know you've got a good one, a really good one.

And 2024, 2025, we felt like we saw a lot of consistency from field to field, within the field.

What would you tell young people about agriculture or the business you got into of ag journalism?

You know where do these small refinery exemptions stand right now? And do you think this could derail this strong soybean demand situation that we've been experiencing?

derail the whole growth in demand? No.

Can it have a negative impact on it? Yes.

But we're still going to have the growth in place.

Now, what we're talking about is the small refinery exemptions for 2025 compliance.

There were expectations that EPA would issue SREs for about 990 million RENs, almost a billion RENs.

But the speculation now is that that tally could climb to 1.8 billion RENs.

This, what this, just this rumor of this, and hopefully not the finality of it from the administration means, we're gonna have plants that are gonna have to reconsider whether it's economical to

What were those?

What stood out to me the most when it comes to the appearance of this crop was when I was in western Iowa.

And it's not just when you're driving by the crop.

it looks good.

When you pull up to the field, it looks good.

You walk out into the field, plant health is still good.

You hook the rope, you start counting years, everything still looks good.

We're

yeah Marty

went ahead and figured up the averages for us out here and on now we pulled eight samples uh we split her out with with Nathan again and we pulled eight samples and a 176.75 for the for the corn yield and you would you think okay well that doesn't sound great for Nebraska think of the area that we went through a year ago we're just under Well, actually, we're just over here.

Yeah, where we were a year ago in the same area.

So the corn crop is not without its problems, but the Nebraska corn crop typically has some problems.

And we're finding those problems again.

We're identifying them.

And we just have to understand that the crop is going to be what it is.

As you look at kind of the way that USDA adjusted their August report, pulled down production a little bit for corn specifically, and you start to see what's out there, how does Nebraska fit into their picture and into that puzzle, do you think, now that you've spent some time

You just look at North Dakota crop conditions and those to continue to decline.

Yeah, Wednesday night into Thursday morning, South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, Iowa again, picked up some more rains.

But North Dakota, the rains have been very spotty.

Now, I had a conversation with Dr. Lee Breeze from Central Ag Consulting.

in Jamestown, North Dakota last week.

And I wanted to talk very specifically about what was going on up in North Dakota.

Number one, generally speaking, the crop got planted on time.

So they're going prioritizing those fields, the ones that they think are are not gonna be salvageable and they are starting to chop some of that corn where there are some cattle around.

Do you think the Western side of Iowa is gonna pull down the Eastern side or not?

Yeah.

Yes, I think it is going to be an offset.

Back on August 1, I was basically thinking, hey, look out, this Iowa crop, it is a buster.

And it is a buster.

I don't think there's much question about that.

We've got to wait and see what the numbers tell us.

Those look like a heavy lift, don't they? Yeah.

And then you have the ag economy barometer from Purdue and CME group that came out this week that showing that input prices and what farmers are paying are really putting a damper on farmer sentiment and moods among farmers right now.

The overall sentiment from the ag economy barometer was down again in June.

And I guess that's no surprise.

And as you just said, input costs are the number one challenge that farmers feel like they are.

Man, it was interesting time.

I talked with Dr. Joanna Coluzzi from the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture about the results of the ag economy barometer survey.

The same morning that the National Corn Growers Association released the cost comparison study with U.S. costs versus Brazilian costs.

The farmers, they still pay the royalties of the seeds, but they don't need to buy new seeds.

And he realized at that point that people in that big metropolitan area needed to know more about farming.

It is Monday morning, June 29th, and this is AgriTalk.

Where Chip Flory and I bring you News Daily.

Michelle and I know the responsibilities that we carry to carry on the efforts of the original host, Ken Root, and the longtime host, Mike Adams.

And you know what? Agritalk has had to adjust to what listeners want over the years, but the mission of Agritalk to deliver the information that those listeners need, that hasn't changed.

So what happens now? Do they rectify it and bring it in during conference? Does it go as a standalone bill or what's the status?

Well, I think they're still trying to figure out exactly what is going to happen next with it.

I think the most important thing is that Senate leadership, John Thune from South Dakota, is in favor of year-round availability of E15.

We also got the extra push from President Trump again saying, listen, go ahead and get this done.

It's something that we should get done as soon as possible.

But if it is taken up in the Senate, it's not going to be the same bill that was taken up in the House, okay? There were some issues with the House bill.

Jim Wiesmeyer, Wiesmeyer's perspective on Agritalk, on the free-for-all, just called the E15 bill that the House passed, called it a bad bill.

And so for the nation's farmers, this was a huge improvement from what we had before.

But c- the, the corn exports for the first part of the marketing year, that, that is the story.

Oh, I...

And I think it's probably gonna be the story in the second half of the marketing year, and, and, uh, a really big story for the 2026/27 crop corn.

It, um, as, as wide of a range as there is on acreage expectations, yield expectations, the supply side of the balance sheet, you go to the demand side of the balance sheet on corn and soybeans, and there's probably a wider divergence between the analysts out there, and it all comes down to those that understand that, uh, China's purchases of US corn and soybeans are more than market driven.

There are geopolitical issues involved here.

Uh, th- if, if, if you don't believe that China's gonna be buying beans and corn and wheat, um, y- your demand side of the balance sheet is, is probably, is, is probably, uh, a little light on the demand side because they're going to buy.

I, they, I, I, I just don't see any way that they're not going to.

Uh, what, what's going on in the wheat market?

But c- the, the corn exports for the first part of the marketing year, that, that is the story.

Oh, I...

And I think it's probably gonna be the story in the second half of the marketing year.

And, and, uh, a really big story for the 2026-27 crop corn.

It, um...

As, as wide of a range as there is on acreage expectations, yield expectations, the supply side of the balance sheet, you go to the demand side of the balance sheet on corn and soybeans and there's probably a wider divergence between the analysts out there.

And it all comes down to those that understand that, uh, China's purchases of US corn and soybeans are more than market driven.

Uh, w- what's going on in the wheat market?

But c- the, the corn exports for the first part of the marketing year, that, that is the story.

Oh, I...

And I think it's probably gonna be the story in the second half of the marketing year.

And, and, uh, a really big story for the 2026-27 crop corn.

It, um...

As, as wide of a range as there is on acreage expectations, yield expectations, the supply side of the balance sheet, you go to the demand side of the balance sheet on corn and soybeans, and there's probably a wider divergence between the analysts out there.

And it all comes down to those that understand that, uh, China's purchases of US corn and soybeans are more than market driven.

Uh, what, what's going on in the wheat market?

Why?

Well, it's controversial because the anti animal AG groups are very well organized and very well funded.

And they are making this a big, big deal in farm states where there are some key races happening out there.

And even where there aren't key races happening.

But these ads are also saying that it's putting small, that the Save Our Bacon Act will put small family farms out of business.

So we had a conversation with some farmers about this.

And one of them, I asked Rob Brennaman, president of the National Pork Producers Council, what he thinks about the efforts to prevent the fix to California's Prop 12.

If we don't get a fix to Prop 12 today, there's no certainty on how everybody raises pigs.

Do you agree with that?

Absolutely, I agree with that.

The amount of crush capacity that we have added, the big fear was that we were going to make this mountain of soybean meal that we would not be able to, um, eat our way out of.

Well, the export demand has been excellent.

The aquaculture markets in Asia in particular have been taking up a lot of that soybean meal, so it's really good.

And domestic demand, domestic demand is very good, and it's gotta be.

Crush capacity here in the US is up about 20% over the past three years.

So we view those as, as an important cherry on top, but the, the, what does the heavy lifting is the RFS, and that's why getting those strong volumes out for '26 and '27 were so important, and we're already working on '28 and '29, laying the groundwork for another strong rule for the industry.

What are you hearing?

Well, here we go again, right, Tyne? Uh, this is, uh, some- an effort that has been tried before.

And now, I had Representative Zach Nunn from Iowa on the show on Thursday, and he said that yeah, they feel good about the opportunity to get the farm bill on the House floor for a full debate, and he anticipates that it's going to contain the E15 year-round nationwide permanent availability of E15.

So we went to Geoff Cooper, he was on the same show.

Geoff Cooper, of course, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, to have him explain exactly what is in this, uh, amendment for E15.

And I started by asking him, I said, "Geoff, is this a new plan or is this an old plan?" Well, he basically said it's an old plan with one exception.

It's got an escape route for the small refineries.

... for an exemption.