Trump offers mixed messages on negotiations with Iran
President Donald Trump says he doesn’t care if negotiations with Iran over the U.S.-Israeli war on the country are over.
“I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” Trump said in a phone interview with CNBC’s Eamon Javers on Monday. The negotiations, he said, “started to get very boring.”
However, Trump also said yesterday that “talks are continuing, at a rapid pace” with Iran, which had threatened to hit targets in northern Israel unless Israel halted military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Trump added that he had negotiated a ceasefire between the two combatants, but neither side confirmed that assertion, according to published reports.
According to the Hormuz Strait Monitor, only four ships had “transited” the strait in the last 24 hours, as of late afternoon Monday. That’s about 4% of the normal number of 60.
Ag groups urge Commerce to revoke countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer
Sixty-five national and state commodity groups on Monday asked the Commerce Department to remove countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer imports.
In a letter, the groups pointed to a Texas A&M University analysis that suggests a countervailing duty on Moroccan phosphate raised input costs by around $6.9 billion for corn, soybean, wheat, rice, sorghum and cotton farmers from the 2021 to 2025 growing seasons. They said heightened fertilizer costs have come alongside a 31% drop in net farm income since 2022 and an increase in farm bankruptcies.
“For farmers facing a fourth straight year of losses, an added fertilizer cost imposed by our own government is the difference between sustaining family farms for generations to come — or seeing legacies come to an end,” the letter says.
The groups include the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Cotton Council, National Sorghum Producers, U.S. Rice Producers Association and USA Rice.
Buckle up: Political jolts ahead with key primaries today
Sweeping primaries in Iowa, California and elsewhere today offer a preview of what’s ahead in the ultra-high-stakes U.S. elections in November.
In Iowa, Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra’s bid for governor is the latest test of Trump’s influence over GOP voters. Trump gave the House Ag Committee member a last-minute endorsement on Friday; it’s not clear that will be enough.
While Feenstra has been widely favored to be the Republican nominee in Iowa’s open gubernatorial race, a recent poll shows a potential upset.
Why it matters: For two decades – from 1992 through 2012 – Iowa went Democratic in six of seven presidential elections. That changed 10 years ago, when Trump won the Hawkeye State by nearly 10%, a 15-point swing from 2012, according to 270 to Win. Trump won Iowa — the top U.S. producer of corn, biodiesel, ethanol and pigs — in 2020 and again in 2024, defeating Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by 13%.
What about California? The No. 1 U.S. agriculture producer’s so-called jungle primary, where the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party, also is a major one to watch tonight. An open governor’s race and more than a dozen competitive U.S. House races are on tap.
Republican Rep. David Valadao faces a barnburner in the 22nd Congressional District to keep his U.S. House seat representing parts of California’s ag-rich Central Valley.
Valadao, a House Ag Committee member, has a track record of winning difficult races. Yet, “while the Central Valley has been rough territory for Democrats over the past decade, backlash to Trump among Hispanic voters has made Democrats more bullish on ousting Valadao,” say analysts for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Republican and Democratic gubernatorial primary candidates are locked in a tight race that could see Democrats shut out of the general election.
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Primaries also take place today in South Dakota, Montana, New Jersey and New Mexico.
Bottom Line: Along with redistricting and Trump’s low approval ratings, the GOP fight to keep control of the House and Senate, and Democrats’ attempt to regain political footing after devastating losses in 2024, today’s preliminary elections are sure to deliver big blows, regardless of wind direction.
USDA nominee Glen Smith awaits Senate Ag vote
The sole nominee left unconfirmed for a position at the Agriculture Department will get a vote in the Senate Ag Committee “as soon as scheduling allows,” according to a committee spokesperson.
After several delays, Glen Smith, Trump’s pick to be undersecretary for rural development at USDA, has yet to get a confirmation vote by the panel.
Senate Ag Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., “appreciates Mr. Smith’s willingness to serve … and he intends to support his nomination,” a committee spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Agri-Pulse.
Smith, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, headed the Farm Credit Administration during Trump’s first term, as well as in the first part of the Biden administration.
Groups call for full funding for WIC, fruit and vegetable benefit
More than 300 groups are calling on Congress to fully fund the Women, Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program and restore the full fruit and vegetable benefit.
The agriculture spending bill reported out of the House Appropriations Committee falls $200 million short of the $8.2 billion provided to WIC in fiscal 2026, the groups say. It also cuts by 10% the fruit and vegetable benefit, now $26 a month per month for children and $47-$52 a month for pregnant and postpartum participants.
In addition to the Food Research & Action Center, other groups who signed on to a letter to Hill lawmakers include the Center for Rural Affairs, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and local farmers markets.
Schiff floats proposals for Senate farm bill to aid specialty crop producers
Sen. Adam Schiff has introduced a package of six bills, mostly addressing specialty crops, that he hopes to include in the Senate’s version of the farm bill, which is expected in the coming weeks.
The California Democrat’s Economic Relief for Specialty Crops Act would provide $5 billion in economic assistance for producers. USDA just came out with a $1.625 billion package funded from the Commodity Credit Corp. to aid specialty growers, but Schiff’s press release calls the amount “deeply disappointing and inadequate.”
Other bills would expand insurance access for specialty crops, boost funding for automation, and establish a disaster program tailored to specialty crops. Another would “provide technical assistance for infrastructure in foreign markets for U.S. commodities, mandate a report on the competitiveness of U.S. specialty crops, and increase funding for the Market Access Program,” the press release says.
Final word
“WIC has been a bedrock of our nation’s health for more than 50 years, and we cannot afford to weaken the program’s reach or its benefits, especially as families continue to face rising costs for food, housing, and other basic needs.” — Food Research & Action Center President Crystal FitzSimons, commenting on proposed WIC cuts.
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