This week the Senate passed a motion (90-8) to proceed to action on the Farm Bill with debate beginning next week. In anticipation that the full U.S. Senate would begin debating the federal Farm Bill adopted by the Senate Agriculture Committee, Cooperative Network sent a letter to Minnesota and Wisconsin's U.S. Senators to urge their support of the agriculture committee's bill, including its crop insurance provisions without changes. Cooperative Network is opposed to proposals shopped by some interest groups that would make insurance contingent upon meeting certain cropping standards, size biased restrictions, and the potential erosion of federal financial commitment to the crop insurance program. Under the Senate Agriculture Committee's bill, commodity direct and cyclical payments will be phased out in favor of a robust crop insurance program. The committee's bill also includes several provisions favorable to Upper Midwest agriculture.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a waiver that will open the way for use of E15 (fuel that contains up to 15 percent ethanol) on model year (MY) 2007 and newer cars and light trucks. The waiver is the result of testing that EPA has conducted to ensure that E15 would not damage emissions control equipment on newer cars. A waiver for the use of E15 in MY 2001 to 2006 vehicles is pending and will be made after EPA further evaluates additional test results; a final decision is slated to be made by the end of the year. EPA is not considering waivers for MY 2000 or older cars and light trucks, motorcycles or non-road engines. Due to the tiered nature of the waivers, EPA also announced its intention to issue proposal for fuel pump labels that will make it easier for consumers to identify the correct fuel for their vehicles.

The request for the waiver was submitted by Growth Energy and over 50 ethanol producers in the spring of 2009. Info courtesy of NCFC.