A Not-So-Pretty Harvest & 2018 National Farmer’s Day | Better Fuel A Not-So-Pretty Harvest & 2018 National Farmer's Day - MNFuels

A Not-So-Pretty Harvest & 2018 National Farmer’s Day

A Not-So-Pretty Harvest & 2018 National Farmer’s Day

October 12th, 2018 Corn plants sequester carbon

What a mess. Row crop harvest is underway in Minnesota and it isn’t exactly the best of times. As crop years go, 2018 is unlikely to rank among the favorites of Minnesota farmers. At this writing, another large swath of three to four inches of rain and even some snow is forecast as many are still working to get their soybeans and corn out of the fields.

Some hardships are highly personal and occur in an instant. Such was the case with the farms and communities struck in September by a flurry of 20-plus tornadoes. Fortunately, no fatalities were reported (Thank you to the National Weather Service and news outlets for their work!). Tragically, the same cannot be said of farm equipment and grain bin accidents that still take lives each year.

Other hardships are more financially widespread. This year, farmers are contending with low crop prices directly attributable to ongoing international trade conflicts and disruptions within the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) credits trading program. On the RFS side, the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ‘confidentially’ waived biofuel requirements for nearly 50 oil companies, ‘erasing’ demand for more than two billion gallons and tanking the value of credits. And then there’s the potentially criminal market manipulations by one old and well-known biofuels foe.

As political decisions and policies harm, so may they help. On October 9, President Trump announced EPA will finally initiate a rule-making process, which could eventually allow 88 octane E15 gasoline to be sold year-round. The decision comes after a decade of renewable fuel advocates battling the American Petroleum Institute and others to remove hurdles to greater access to the U.S. fuel market.

Even we non-farmers can appreciate that it’s never good when the northern harvest stretches into November and combines are racing against snow. Yet, if asked, most farmers would likely tell you they’d prefer the challenges Mother Nature deals them over the often-underhanded, manmade variety. At the very least, Mother Nature tends to play by a set of rules. Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate.

National Farmers Day is October 12. This year, let’s remember our farmers and know many are facing worries brought about by both man and nature. Yes, many farmers are coping with a bad deal in 2018. Time will tell whether the overall statewide crop is good or bad. Agriculture is a game of percentages, and, thankfully, the vast majority of farmers will return to do it all again next year.