The U.S. House Thursday passed the tax bill which includes Section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation-tax measures deemed helpful for agriculture. The House voted 318-109 to pass the measure and was expected to vote on the omnibus spending bill Friday morning. Votes on both measures are also expected on Friday in the Senate. The Senate is expected to combine the $622 billion tax bill along with the $1.1 trillion spending bill.

A key element of the Omnibus spending package for agriculture is the partial repeal of Mandatory COOL, removing the obligation for labeling for pork and beef.  That is moving forward because of the pressure of a WTO ruling against the US COOL rule which has resulted in a billion dollar per year retaliation being readied against the US economy.

With repeal of mandatory country-of-origin meat labeling part of the spending bill making its way through Congress Friday, Canadian officials are pleased, however, that doesn't mean they won't stop retaliation efforts just yet. Agri-Pulse reported Thursday that Canadian trade officials vowed not to stop their efforts until the repeal is signed by the president.

Trade officials from Canada and Mexico were scheduled to meet with the World Trade Organization today to receive final authorization for retaliatory tariffs. WTO could authorize the tariffs effective immediately, before a bill could be signed. Canada's ag minister said earlier this week he was "cautiously optimistic this will lead to a resolution," but added "the bottom line is it must be repealed or we will retaliate."

 

According to the President of the National Association Conservation Districts, Lee McDaniel, there were pluses and minuses for Conservation in the Omnibus Budget deal that is nearing final passage in the Congress.

The negative is a cut in funding for EQIP, while the positive is that several other programs saw increases in the appropriation process.

While the Environmental Quality Incentives Program was cut there were several provisions in the bill worth highlighting:

An increase in Conservation Operations funding to $850,856,000;

An increase in funding for State and Private Forestry to $237,023,000;

An increase in funding for wildland fire management to $816,745,000;

Continuation of current funding for the enrollment of 10 million acres in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP);

Continuation of current funding levels for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 319 grants ($164,915,000);

and an allotment of $271,000,000 for emergency conservation funding programs including the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, the Emergency Conservation Program and the Emergency Forestry Restoration Program.

More from the Thursday NACD news release is available here.

 

 

The President of the American Farmers and Ranchers, Terry Detrick of Ames, is pleased with the end of year work in the US House and Senate, as lawmakers vote on the Omnibus Spending Bill and the Tax Package that will wrap up work in Congress in 2015. In talking with us on Thursday, Detrick says he was pleased that the Congressional leadership honored an earlier promise to the Chairmen of the Senate and House Ag Committees to restore cuts made to Crop Insurance earlier in the fall. Detrick was also pleased to see Section 179 depreciation being made permanent after the last couple of years seeing the tax planning tool enacted by Congress in December for just that year.


Detrick, in looking back at 2015, is happy that Oklahoma is now out of drought that has been a dominant part of the Oklahoma weather scene the last several years. The moisture has positioned the 2016 winter wheat crop to be in really great shape as it goes into winter dormancy- unlike the crop that was struggling at this time in 2014.


The general farm organization President does worry about farm income, with crop prices at low levels- and the thirty percent drop in cattle prices seen here in the final days of 2015 versus earlier in the calendar year.

As for 2016- click here to read and to listen Detrick's outlook for the new year.

AND- be watching Saturday morning as Terry Detrick joins us for our In the Field segment as seen on KWTV News9 during their Saturday morning news block- our In the Field segment runs around 6:40 AM.

 

According to one of the leading feed grain market analysts in the US, Dr. Darrel Good of the University of Illinois, "corn prices declined following the USDA's Crop Production report released on November 10 and continue to trade just above marketing year lows. The rate of corn consumption has increased in recent weeks, but the market is skeptical that consumption will increase enough to alter the prospects for abundant year-ending stocks.


"On January 12, the USDA will release the final estimate of the size of the 2015 corn crop and an estimate of the magnitude of corn stocks that were being held on December 1. Those estimates will reveal the pace of corn consumption during the first quarter of the 2015-16 marketing year as well as the inventory of corn available for consumption during the remainder of the marketing year. Those estimates will allow for an updated projection of the level of stocks likely to be on hand at the end of the marketing year and will set the tone for corn prices into the spring of the year."

There's more from Dr. Good- you can read his complete end of the year market analysis by clicking or tapping  here.
 

The last half of 2015 has been an "emotional whirlwind" for those involved in the beef cattle business. Those are the words of Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel. Dr. Peel offered that description of the second half of the year to yours truly in a special end of year look at the beef cattle market.


The veteran cattle market watcher says that when you consider the fundamentals that "most any analyst you would talk to would say we have overdone this thing- there are some real problems there- we've got some heavy weight feeder cattle and we've got a little issue with some heavy weight fed cattle in the midst of relatively tight supplies- but it has created a little supply problem." He adds "we probably don't need to be down as hard as we are and have markets as defensive as they are" and that the market may be headed for some sidways action as we begin the new year.

Click here for today's Beef Buzz with Dr. Peel- it's the first of three segments on the Beef Buzz with Derrell Peel as we review 2015 and preview 2016.

 

The overall quality of the United States' 2015 corn and sorghum crops was good, with 94 percent of corn samples and 92 percent of sorghum samples rated at quality grade Number 2 or better in the U.S. Grains Council's newly-released 2015-2016 Corn Harvest Quality Report and Sorghum Early Harvest Quality Report.

The U.S. Grains Council said Thursday both reports are already being rolled out to international customers in conferences, seminars and one-on-one consultation meetings held by USGC staff members around the world. The reports help the Council promote U.S. corn and sorghum products to international buyers. This is the first year for the report on sorghum and the fifth year for the report on U.S. corn.

Click here to learn more about the promotional efforts for grain sorghum that the US Grains Council has been doing in Latin America (and a link to review the quality report).

You can click here to check the 2015 Corn Quality report courtesy of the US Grains Council.

At 2 PM central time this afternoon, USDA will be releasing their final Cattle on Feed numbers for 2015- Rich Nelson with Allendale has shared with us his estimates for the feedlot cattle count: