Farm Bill Requests and Dicamba Restricted in 2018
**The House and Senate Ag committees are sorting through dozens of requests for increased Farm Bill funding, and lawmakers have no new sources of money to fill the demands.
According to Agri-Pulse, the demands include billions in new spending requested from dairy, cotton and other crops, as well as hundreds of millions for conservation programs and ag research.
Groups also are asking Congress to continue and even increase funding for many of the 37 expiring programs in the 2014 farm bill.
**The EPA has made dicamba herbicides for over-the-top use Restricted Use Pesticides for 2018.
Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge tells Brownfield the EPA accepted its recommendation for its XtendiMax product and that they’re excited about the new requirements for training, recordkeeping, and limiting sales to certified applicators and those operating under their supervision to address some of the off-target movements.
**The USDA reports corn and soybean export sales for the week ending October 5th were above most pre-report estimates, while wheat sales were below trade expectations.
According to Brownfield, physical shipments of soybeans were more than what’s needed to keep 2017/18 totals ahead of the 2016/17 pace.
Wheat came out at 175,000 tons, down 65% from the week ending September 28th and 55% lower than the 4-week average. Japan purchased 88,000 tons and the Philippines 52,000 tons, but others canceled on 99,300 tons. Wheat sales are 521.2 million bushels, compared to 547.8 million last year.