The farm bill has been teed up for a House vote as soon as Wednesday morning, with a stand-alone E15 bill in tow.

The House Rules Committee opted to advance the measure to allow year-round sales of higher ethanol blends, or E15, a separate piece of legislation rather than a farm bill amendment.

Corn and biofuel groups are flooding the zone to rally support for the bill.

“Year-round E15 would save drivers money at the pump, create markets for farmers, and decrease the cost of the farm program by increasing the value of American crops,” Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor said in a statement to Agri-Pulse. “We support any approach that finally delivers this simple change and urge the entire House to support year-round E15.”

USDA and Ex-Im to deepen cooperation on boosting ag exports

USDA and the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. will unveil a memorandum of understanding to bolster efforts to support U.S. ag exporters and identify export opportunities.

USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg and Export-Import Bank Chair John Jovanovic will sign the MOU today, a USDA official tells Agri-Pulse. It will create a joint working group to coordinate financing programs, establishing a “one-stop shop” for exporters to identify available financing tools.

Ex-Im officials will join USDA-led TRUMP trade missions as part of the effort and USDA will gather feedback from stakeholders on export tools.

In remarks at Ex-Im’s annual conference, Lindberg will also announce the launch of USDA’s Financial Assurance to Revitalize Markets (FARM) initiative. The initiative is an umbrella for USDA’s efforts to improve access to emerging markets and provide more certainty for exporters and lenders.

Take note: USDA provides credit guarantees to U.S. exporters through its GSM-102 program. Ex-Im also supports ag exporters by providing loan guarantees, export credit insurance and term financing.

It is not the first time the two organizations have sought closer alignment on ag trade. In Trump’s first term, Lindberg predecessor Ted McKinney and bank chair Kimberly Reed inked a similar MOU.

U.S. ‘trade over aid’ push doubles down on ‘pro-business,’ ‘free market’ policies

The Trump administration has unveiled its “trade over aid” declaration, part of its latest effort to overhaul international aid and promote economic development. The declaration pushes back against “non-market economic models” and promotes free market policies, a soft regulatory touch and low taxation.

Devex first reported earlier this month that the U.S. had been circulating a declaration of principles at the United Nations and urging other countries to join.

“The most effective economic development assistance are mutually beneficial and profitable trade partnerships between the private sectors of countries,” the declaration reads. “Free market reforms attract foreign trade. Foreign capital and other business will flow to countries that are consistent in promoting a pro-business environment.”

U.S. Representative to the UN Mike Waltz said this week that 35 countries are backing the declaration, including Israel, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

CBP says almost 2 million import entries are in tariff refund queue

After launching a process to allow importers to file for tariff refunds earlier this month, almost 2 million entries have been approved and processed into the refund queue.

In a court filing Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Brandon Lord gave an update on the administration’s tariff refund process, which it formally launched April 20.

As of April 26, the system set up for processing refund applications had received applications from more than 75,000 importers that had paid emergency tariffs. Around 47,000 importers passed the validation process, covering more than 11 million import entries. Meanwhile, around 2 million import entries were rejected.

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So far, the system has held up, Lord notes. Only one 18-minute shutdown occurred April 20 when the system launched, which Lord says was to give officials time to “reconfigure resources.”

The process is “moving a lot faster than most people expected,” Pete Mento, director of global trade advisory services at Baker Tilly, said in a post to LinkedIn.

“CBP has made one thing very clear in the first week: this process is active, it’s selective, and it’s not built to be forgiving,” he added. “If the data is right, refunds are moving. If it’s not, it isn’t getting through.”

FPAC reorganization to be announced “fairly soon,” undersecretary says

USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation Mission Area will announce a reorganization “fairly soon,” FPAC Undersecretary Richard Fordyce told a group of farm broadcasters Tuesday.

Speaking to members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, Fordyce said the reorganization would not impact county or state offices.

“The reorg is just for folks that work at headquarters,” he said.

Take note: Fordyce also said the agency is looking to ensure Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service offices are adequately staffed. He said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins “realizes that this is a priority for us and is certainly supportive of us being able to do what we need to do in those places across the country."

“She understands that those positions are mission-critical for the department and certainly for farmers,” Fordyce said of Rollins.

Final USDA nominee gets Senate Ag vote

The nomination of Glen Smith to be undersecretary of agriculture for rural development will get a long-awaited vote by the Senate Ag Committee Monday. Senators will gather in the President’s Room off the Senate floor Wednesday evening for the vote. 

The committee postponed a vote set for Monday, April 20, because Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley would not be able to attend, according to a committee aide.

Senate Ag Committee plans fertilizer hearing for May

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., says the panel is planning a hearing on U.S. fertilizer production and supply chains for next month. 

The hearing will approach the issue “both from a legislative standpoint and into the future, what we can do” to make supply “safe, secure, reliable.” 

Celebration of Scott to be held May 1 at Georgia State Capitol

A celebration of the life of the late Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., will be held on May 1 at the Georgia State Capitol. His funeral will be held in Atlanta the following day.

Scott, who died last week at age 80, was the first Black chairman of a congressional Agriculture Committee. He led the House Ag panel from 2021-23.

Final word

“The White House and our administration is currently reviewing that. We're having very high-level meetings to discuss it. As with any team, there are varying views on the effectiveness, on what that could or should do, but [we] will be moving out a decision very quickly on that. … Even though there are varying views, there is, I think, real momentum toward movement.” – Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in response to a question from Agri-Pulse on discussions within the administration around lifting countervailing duties on Moroccan and Russian phosphate fertilizer. 

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