Your Pro Farmer newsletter (March 2, 2024) is now available

The Biden administration missed its self-imposed March 1 deadline to determine which feedstocks will qualify for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits. Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow said she would rather forego a new farm bill than strike a deal with Republicans on repurposing climate-smart ag funding and updates to the Thrifty Food Plan to increase reference prices for Title I farmer safety net programs. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack again suggested using creative uses of funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation to help pay for some programs to overcome funding the impasse in farm bill negotiations. Our News page 4 feature this week covers the many key topics for agriculture Vilsack covered during testimony before the Senate Ag Committee. Congress passed another stopgap spending measure, averting a partial government shutdown. Lawmakers now have until March 8 for 20% of agencies, including USDA, and March 22 for the rest, to reach a fiscal year 2024 budget deal. USDA’s Cattle on Feed and Cold Storage Reports contained some bullish news – both on the supply and demand sides of the cattle/beef market. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.