Several livestock groups are backing USDA’s decision, announced Friday, to reopen the U.S.-Mexico border, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Meat Institute, and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
“Our members need the ability to maintain commerce, but they also need assurance that every reasonable safeguard is in place to reduce the risk of New World screwworm,” Stephen Diebel, TSCRA’s president, said in a statement. “Our priority has always been twofold: protecting the U.S. cattle herd and wildlife, while ensuring cattle raisers can continue to operate and markets can function.”
USDA on Friday announced a phased reopening of southern ports for livestock trade with full inspections to ensure the animals are free of any signs of New World screwworm. The department will reopen the Douglas, Arizona, port on Aug. 24, and will take steps to reopen the Santa Teresa and Columbus ports in New Mexico.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement the reopening is thanks to the work of the federal government along with state, local and industry partners.
“Protecting the United States from NWS and pushing this pest out of Mexico and back to the Darién Gap is a top priority at USDA and has the full attention of the Trump Administration,” Rollins said. The Darién Gap spans the border between Colombia and Panama.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on X that the reopening is great news for Mexican ranchers. She added that trade will resume in August at Agua Prieta and Sonora, followed by two additional points in the state of Chihuahua.
“I have instructed that we accelerate our work and collaboration with the United States even further to have everything ready as soon as possible to restart the movement of cattle,” Sheinbaum said. “This is a new example that dialogue, cooperation, and collaboration with mutual respect between Mexico and the United States yield great results for the benefit of our peoples.”
ICYMI: USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released its semiannual cattle report Friday, which found cattle and calves totaled 94.2 million head on July 1, up from 94 million a year earlier.
More specialty crop safeguards sought for Senate farm bill
Democrats are asking Senate Agriculture Committee leaders to add additional protections for America’s specialty crop growers in a proposed farm bill.
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“While providing states with relief for the SNAP cost-shift remains a top priority, we simultaneously remain committed to ensuring the success of specialty crop growers in our states and throughout the nation,” five members of the panel wrote in a letter last week to Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the panel’s top Democrat.
Democratic committee members Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Adam Schiff of California, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and Raphael Warnock of Georgia say the policies sought to be added to the farm bill would ensure:
Producers get economic aid from USDA “easily and expeditiously.”
Children and low-income families have access to healthy fruits and vegetables.
Growers largely without insurance can more easily access an “affordable and effective safety net.”
“USDA resources dedicated to specialty crops are not stretched thinner than they already are.”
Boozman has said he aims to hold a committee markup of the proposed farm bill before the Senate leaves for a five-week recess in the second week of August.
Senate Republicans unveil bill to scrap CAFE standards
Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho and five other Republicans have introduced legislation to eliminate automobile fuel economy rules.
They say a new law is needed to strengthen President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order that rolled back Biden-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards on the grounds they were “costly and unlawful.”
The American Petroleum Institute backs the bill, the Restoring Affordability in Automobile Manufacturing Act.
Critics, including the liquid fuels industry, say the Biden rules increased the cost of new automobiles and amounted to a mandate for battery-operated vehicles. Opponents of the rollback said the move would boost consumer expenses through overall fuel costs and increase tailpipe emissions.
Along with Crapo, backers of the bill are GOP Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho, Rick Scott of Florida, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Alan Armstrong of Oklahoma.
Biofuel and seeds in focus as earnings season begins
The biofuels industry gets an official look at the impact of EPA’s ethanol and biomass-based blending rules this week as earnings season kicks off.
The joint owners of Diamond Green Diesel, Valero Energy and Darling Ingredients, will both hold conference calls on Thursday to discuss their latest quarterly financial results.
DGD is North America’s largest maker of renewable diesel. Valero also is a major U.S. producer of ethanol.
The second quarter that ended June 30 is the first full three-month period since the Environmental Protection Agency issued final 2026-2027 biofuel-blending requirements in late March. The new renewable volume obligations, or RVOs, are the highest ever.
The ag industry also will be scouring earnings this week from Corteva, a top seed and crop-protection product company. Farmers and analysts will be listening closely for new details of Corteva’s plan to split into two separate, publicly traded companies in the fourth quarter.
The company plans to release earnings on Thursday afternoon and hold a live webcast to discuss the results Friday morning.
Four new states added to cyclospora outbreak list
Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania have become the latest four states to see cases of cyclosporiasis appear in an outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce, bringing the total number of impacted states to nine.
At least 98 people have been hospitalized with the sickness during the current outbreak, though no deaths have been reported. According to a CDC press release, epidemiological data indicates lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico was contaminated with the cyclospora parasite.
Take note: A press release from Taylor Farms on Friday said the company has voluntarily suspended all iceberg lettuce sourcing and production from central Mexico, and "commissioned independent experts to conduct a top-to-bottom review of food safety processes and protocols in our central Mexico facility.” It suspended production of all products at that facility on July 18, according to the release.
House Republicans urge EPA to restore access to chlorpyrifos
Fifteen House Republicans are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to revisit a Biden-era decision to limit use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, pointing to a circuit court decision vacating a 2021 ban on food crop uses.
Currently, chlorpyrifos can only be used on 11 food crops in select states. While the agency proposed a rule in late 2024 to revoke all tolerances except those tied to the 11 crops, it has not finalized the rule and reopened public comment on it earlier this year.
In the letter, the lawmakers said available alternatives to chlorpyrifos are "significantly more expensive" and "less effective against key pests such as soybean aphid, sugarbeet root maggot, wheat stem sawfly, and certain borer species."
"In some cases and certain circumstances, it is the only crop protection tool available to fight pests,” they said of the pesticide. "As input costs across the supply chain continue to rise and the farm economy faces sustained pressure, chlorpyrifos offers a cost-effective option that translates into real savings for growers and, ultimately, for consumers.”
The letter was signed by Reps. Michelle Fischbach, Brad Finstad and Pete Stauber of Minnesota, Mark Alford, Sam Graves and Ann Wagner of Missouri, Adrian Smith and Mike Flood of Nebraska, Austin Scott and Rick Allen of Georgia, Mike Bost and Mary Miller of Illinois, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Dan Newhouse of Washington and David Taylor of Ohio.
Final Word
“I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire very delicious beef tenderloin, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow in his car, and he cut it up and he brought it here for you to eat tonight.” — President Donald Trump, addressing the White House Correspondents’ Association awards dinner Friday, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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