Headline Stack
📋 House Rules Committee sets April 22 amendment deadline for H.R. 7567, floor vote week of April 27
🌾 CBOT wheat posts biggest weekly gain since February, up 5% on drought and Iran fertilizer crunch
🫘 Soybean export sales hit marketing-year low, down 16% with zero China purchases
🌧️ Iowa corn planting at 1% complete as wet weather keeps equipment out of fields
💰 USDA's Rollins confirms ARC/PLC reference price updates take effect this year under H.R. 1
Top Story
📋 The House Rules Committee has set an April 22 amendment deadline and a week-of-April-27 floor vote for H.R. 7567. — LINK
The House Committee on Rules announced it may meet the week of April 27 to provide for floor consideration of H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, with members required to submit amendments by 12:00 PM on Wednesday, April 22. Amendments must be drafted to the text of Rules Committee Print 119-22. It is the most concrete farm bill timeline Congress has produced since 2023, putting commodity title provisions, ARC and PLC safety-net programs, and reference prices on the floor within two weeks. "The Committee on Rules may meet the week of April 27th to provide for floor consideration of H.R. 7567," wrote Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Rules, in the April 16 announcement. Separately, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed that federal reference prices — unchanged for more than a decade — are already being updated this year under H.R. 1 while the broader farm bill moves forward.
More This Week
🌾 Wheat rallies 5% on drought and Iran-linked fertilizer squeeze — LINK
CBOT wheat was on track for a roughly 5% weekly gain — its biggest since February — with hard red winter contracts near their highest level since June 2024 as 68% of U.S. winter wheat acreage remains in drought.
Hard red winter has led the move as "a proxy for U.S. drought concerns," said Mike Verdin, senior markets consultant at CRM AgriCommodities.
The Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed into the seventh week of the Iran conflict, prolonging the global fertilizer crunch; Australia's 2026/27 wheat planted acreage is projected to fall to a seven-year low.
🫘 Soybean export sales hit marketing-year low with zero China buys — LINK
U.S. soybean export sales for the week ending April 9 totaled 247,900 tons (9.109 million bushels), down 16% from the prior week and 39% from the four-week average, with Egypt the top buyer at 58,100 tons and no new sales to China.
"There could be a boost for U.S. soybean demand in the near future, as President Trump and President Xi are expected to meet face-to-face in China to talk trade in mid-May," Brownfield Ag News reported.
Marketing-year-to-date soybean exports stand at 1.402 billion bushels; USDA's next supply and demand estimates are scheduled for May 10.
🌧️ Wet weather keeps Iowa corn planting at 1% complete — LINK
Iowa corn planting reached 1% complete for the week ending April 12, one point behind the 2% planted at the same date last year, with topsoil moisture rated 70% adequate and 16% surplus before heavy storms arrived later in the week.
"We're in this time of year where we do expect rain. We need it, and yet, we've got to balance it with, hey, it's going to be time to go to field," said Mike Naig, Iowa Agriculture Secretary.
Preliminary USDA projections point to higher Iowa soybean acreage and a slight corn decrease, though Naig cautioned the early forecasts are "a moving target" and should be taken "with a grain of salt."
💰 Rollins: ARC/PLC reference prices being updated this year under H.R. 1 — LINK
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed that federal reference prices underpinning the ARC and PLC farm safety-net programs — unchanged for more than a decade — are being raised this year under H.R. 1 for corn, soybean, and wheat producers.
The adjustment lifts the statutory support floor that triggers Price Loss Coverage payments, with the change taking effect as House Rules Committee sets floor consideration of the broader Farm Bill (H.R. 7567) for the week of April 27.
Reference prices have been a central flashpoint in farm bill negotiations since 2023, with commodity groups arguing the previous floors no longer reflect modern production costs.
68% of U.S. winter wheat acreage is under drought conditions, helping drive Chicago wheat futures to their biggest weekly gain since February 2026.