Row Crops Today — June 5, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
⛽ Senate weighs nationwide year-round E15 expansion ahead of August recess
🌧️ Iowa flood watch warns of 2–4 inches of rain as storms start Thursday
📋 USDA doubles SDRP payment factor to 70%, extends deadline to August 12
📊 Drought Monitor shows 27% of corn, 28% of soybean acres in drought
🌾 USDA forecasts sorghum exports at 213 million bushels, more than double last year
Top Story
⛽ Senate weighs nationwide year-round E15 expansion ahead of August recess. — LINK
The U.S. Senate is weighing the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, legislation that would expand year-round sales of E15 gasoline nationwide and stands as the single largest potential corn-demand catalyst currently moving through Congress. Passage would open an estimated 2–3 billion additional bushels of annual corn demand to ethanol blenders, with the bill's backers targeting the window before the August recess. Opposition has centered on concerns from refiners over compliance exemptions and from small-engine and older-vehicle manufacturers over fuel compatibility. Ethanol industry leaders say bipartisan Senate support exists and that any moving legislative vehicle could carry the measure across the finish line. "We're looking at any opportunity to get this done," said Geoff Cooper, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, speaking at the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis. E15 currently accounts for a small share of U.S. gasoline sales but has been authorized through a patchwork of EPA emergency waivers and state-level approvals in recent summers; permanent nationwide year-round access has been the ethanol industry's top federal priority for more than a decade.
More This Week
🌧️ Iowa flood watch warns of 2–4 inches of rain as storms begin Thursday. — LINK
The National Weather Service has placed much of western, central, and northern Iowa under a flood watch through Friday morning, with 2 to 4 inches of rain possible and a Level 2 "Slight Risk" for excessive rainfall covering the Des Moines metro, Marshalltown, and Cedar Rapids.
"Storms could produce between 2 and 4 inches of rain and trigger flash flooding by Friday morning," according to the National Weather Service in Des Moines.
A second storm system is forecast to develop late Friday afternoon and continue into the evening, with flash flooding, large hail, and damaging wind gusts possible across the same corridor; the contrast with intensifying D3–D4 drought in the Nebraska Panhandle and western Oklahoma underscores an uneven early-season moisture picture across the Corn Belt and Plains.
📋 USDA doubles SDRP payment factor to 70%, extends deadline to August 12. — LINK
USDA is raising the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program payment factor from 35% to 70% for 2023 and 2024 disaster losses and extending the Stage 1 and Stage 2 application deadline from April 30 to August 12, 2026, with $6.7 billion in SDRP payments already disbursed.
"By extending the program deadline and making available this additional payment, we are continuing to put farmers first during this difficult farm economy," said Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Total supplemental disaster assistance under the American Relief Act, 2025 has reached $17.9 billion, including $9.3 billion through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program and nearly $1.9 billion through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program.
📊 Drought Monitor shows slight rise in corn and soybean acres in drought. — LINK
The latest USDA Drought Monitor shows 27% of U.S. corn acres and 28% of soybean acres are now in D1 or worse drought conditions as of June 4, a week-over-week increase from the prior reading.
The Nebraska Panhandle and western Oklahoma are seeing intensifying D3 (extreme) and D4 (exceptional) drought conditions in the latest update.
The drought expansion runs parallel to active flood-watch conditions across central and northern Iowa this week, leaving the Corn Belt and Plains in sharply divergent moisture regimes during early crop development.
🌾 USDA forecasts sorghum exports at 213 million bushels, more than double last year. — LINK
USDA's May 2026 quarterly Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade projects sorghum export volume near 213 million bushels for the fiscal year, more than double last year's roughly 89 million bushels, with demand led by China and Mexico.
"Sorghum export volume is forecast near 213 million bushels, more than double last year's roughly 89 million bushels. That increase provides a stronger outlet for growers in the Plains and Southwest," the USDA outlook states.
Ethanol export value in the same outlook is projected at $5.1 billion, up from $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2025; USDA's forecasts cover activity through September 30.
Basis Watch
South Dakota Southeast old-crop corn firmed 5 cents on Thursday, June 4, leading a quiet round of corn basis improvement across the northern Plains. Nebraska Central old-crop corn strengthened 4 cents, while South Dakota East Central and Northeast each improved 2 to 3 cents. Kentucky Pennyrile new-crop corn firmed 3 cents on the December contract. Iowa locations in the North Central and Southwest each ticked up 2 cents.
Soybeans showed larger moves. South Dakota Northeast old-crop soybean basis improved 10 cents, and Ohio Central firmed 10 cents on the top of its range. Iowa Northeast strengthened 9 cents and Iowa Southeast 7 cents. The 30-cent jump in North Dakota Northwest old-crop soybeans dwarfed every other location reported.
Source: USDA AMS
$17.9 billion in total disaster aid has been issued to U.S. farmers under the American Relief Act of 2025, including $6.7 billion in direct SDRP payments.
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