As a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement approaches, groups have been using this year’s Commodity Classic to highlight the deal’s benefits for U.S. farmers and North American competitiveness writ large. 

The Agricultural Coalition for USMCA hosted a breakfast event on the sidelines of the conference on Thursday. During a panel discussion, international trade lawyer Mateo Diego- Fernández Andrade argued that preserving a trilateral deal allows for integrated supply chains that boost North American exports. 

U.S. grain is used to raise Mexican calves, which are brought to the U.S. to fatten and then exported to other continents as beef, he said. The deal in its current form, he argued, “ensures that the region remains a dominant economic force.” 

Earlier in the week, Farmers for Free Trade hosted an event in a courtyard at the Kimpton Santo Hotel, where leaders signed the USMCA’s precursor, the North American Free Trade Agreement. 

The event was the first in a series of roundtable discussions the group is hosting in the run-up to the review starting in July, with further events slated for Iowa, Wisconsin and other farm states. 

Border’s staying closed to Mexican cattle

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins is making clear she isn’t close to being ready to start reopening the border to Mexican cattle. Speaking at a news conference at Commodity Classic on Thursday, she said the ban on Mexican livestock wouldn’t be lifted “anytime soon.”

When the New World screwworm outbreak does recede, USDA will look first at reopening a port of entry in Arizona, and then New Mexico, she said.

By the way: American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall asked Rollins in a letter  this week to keep the border closed. Duvall pointed to reports that Mexico is dealing with over 600 active cases of the pest. He also noted the northernmost active case is only 70 miles south of the U.S. border. 

Take note: Rollins said the “signs are very encouraging” that China will go beyond its initial commitment of purchasing 12 million tons of soybeans. “The president had a call with Xi Jinping a week ago and brought up soybeans again,” she noted.

Read about Rollins’ speech at Commodity Classic at Agri-Pulse.com.

RVO downer from former USDA economist

Former USDA chief economist Seth Meyer has a gloomy take on the pending final 2026-27 biofuel-blending rules from EPA.  

Meyer, speaking Thursday at Commodity Classic in San Antonio, said the EPA’s proposal last year calling for the highest-ever target for biomass-based diesel and other policy wins for the crop-based renewable fuel industry was “peak aggressiveness” by policy writers.  

“Everything I’ve heard since then has been a reduction,” said Meyer, who now leads the Food & Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri.  

Ag economists discuss ‘wild cards’ for 2026 

Ag economists at Commodity Classic weighed in on the biggest “wild cards” for 2026.  

American Soybean Association chief economist Scott Gerlt cited broad uncertainty over regulations like the EPA’s blending rules and regenerative ag regulations as part of the 45Z biofuel tax credit.  

Another big unknown is how this year’s midterm elections might affect policy, Gerlt said. “That could have ramifications on ag,” he said.  

National Corn Growers Association chief economist Krista Swanson noted the perpetual unknown of farming: the weather.   

Trade also raises major questions

Swanson, Gerlt and Meyer also all agreed on trade as a major wild card. 

“There's been a lot of trade frameworks and deals that have been done, but on some of those we’re still not sure what the market implications could be for corn or ethanol or DDGs … or even the livestock opportunities,” Swanson said. “So, seeing what materializes and if those develop into a major new market. But there's uncertainty that can go either way on that front.”  

For Meyer, the big questions on trade are: “Do any of these deals follow through? Do they bear fruit? Is there something there that provides you a little long-run, underlying growth? Maybe there's some opportunity there.”  

Base update coming this summer

The administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency says the department should have new base acres implemented this summer. Speaking at Commodity Classic, Bill Beam said, “It’s going to be a big help to some producers that have come from parts of the country that didn’t normally grow our commodity crops.”

Beam owns a former dairy farm in Pennsylvania that only has three of 125 acres eligible for commodity programs. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act allowed USDA to add up to 30 million new base acres.

The chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Aubrey Bettencourt, said her agency will be shortly conducting field trials of a new “integrated field tool,” a digital platform designed to quickly assist farmers in obtaining whole farm plans and identifying your resource concerns.

She said NRCS also would be updating conservation practice standards.

Judge orders more spill along Snake River dams, frustrating shippers

A federal judge has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to increase spill at dams along the Snake River in Eastern Washington, the latest action in a long legal feud over declining salmon populations on the river. 

In his preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon in Portland, Oregon, expressed disappointment with USACE plans to reduce the amount of water that spills through the dams compared to previous years. Instead, he ordered the agency to implement spill levels comparable to 2024 and 2025, as well as maintaining 2025 water levels in reservoirs. 

Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, criticized the decision.

“We believe the court order to increase spill and lower reservoir elevations is simply manipulating the river system in a way that will appease environmental activists, but in the long term, threaten the overall viability of the Columbia-Snake River System,” she said in a statement.

Big picture: Simon's decision is just the latest in a longstanding dispute that has pitted tribes, environmentalists and fishermen concerned about salmon declines against farmers, shippers and energy companies dependent on the navigation and transportation benefits the dams provide.

Final word

"We'll see how his markup goes.” – Senate Ag Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., when asked about his committee’s plan to consider its own farm bill. Boozman said the timing would depend in part on how the House  Ag Committee proceeds next week on its version of the legislation.

Read our report here.

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