Happy New Year

By Michael Dolch, Director of Public Affairs, Iowa Soybean Association

Ugh, finally. I don’t know about you, but 2019 felt an awful lot like 2018. So much so that sadly, I could have copied January’s column from one year ago almost verbatim and felt comfortable sending to print.

For instance, 365 days ago I wrote, “Last year was challenging, to say the very least. Soybean prices plummeted, basis widened, trade ceased, rain and snow fell.”

Déjà vu, right? One year removed and nearly the same could be said about this past year. Trade disputes, historical weather events, planting and harvesting delays, and policy uncertainties disrupted commodity markets and left rural economies reeling and farmers throwing their hands up in disbelief.

Fortunately, just as challenges remain constant, so do opportunities. After all, most opportunities are at first disguised as challenges.

As we greet 2020, there's reason for cautious optimism. Recently, the Administration announced a limited “Phase One” trade deal with China that could put negotiations back on track and help reopen a crucial export market.

Hopefully, by the time you sit down to read this column, the U.S.-Mexico- Canada (USMCA) trade agreement has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. It is primed for Senate consideration, if not already green-lighted and on the president’s desk for signature. While penning these very words, Iowa Soybean Association Advocate members around the state are engaging the administration and key members of Congress in support of several critical issues, such as:

• immediate USMCA passage,

• a final RFS rule that would both expand biomass-based diesel and account for actual small refinery exemptions (SRE) granted, and

• inclusion of the biodiesel tax incentive in a year-end spending deal. Pushing these issues favorably across the finish line would inject confidence into a market longing for support.

Later this month, mere weeks after Iowa’s legislature convenes for the 2020 session and just before the caucus chaos takes the state by storm, ISA Advocate members and delegates will join the board of directors for a first-of-its-kind ISA Advocate Day and policy conference. It will feature a dynamic lineup of speakers and elected officials will grow your playbook and take your advocacy to the next level, all while plugging you into key issues and ISA’s policy development process. Bringing the year’s policy dialogue to a point, legislative priorities will be finalized and shared with Iowa’s policymakers.

As always, I cannot stress enough the importance of engaging those who represent you at the state and federal level. We mustn’t become complacent and sit idle or we run the risk of getting legislated or regulated out of business. Being an election year with presidential candidates crisscrossing the state, it’s all the more important to engage early and often, adding your voice to the growing list of ISA Advocates.

On behalf of the soy family, I wish you and yours a happy and healthy 2020.

MDolch@iasoybeans.com

OFFICIAL NOTICE: IOWA SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

Jan. 28, 2020, 1:30 pm at the Embassy Suites, Des Moines