Ag News: Summertime E15 Sales and Global Crop Acres Rise

**President Biden announced last week that the EPA is taking steps to allow for summertime E15 sales.

Biden made the announcement during a visit to an ethanol facility in Iowa.

To make E15 available in the summer, EPA is planning to issue a national emergency waiver.

The White House says the EPA is also considering additional action to facilitate the use of E15 year-round.

**The total number of global crop acres rose by 73 million during the last two years.

Agricultural Economic Insights observed that before 2020, the number of acres had trended sideways because of sluggish commodity prices and profitability from 2014 through 19.

After acres began increasing in 2020, another increase was observed and a record 2.43 billion acres got harvested in 2021.

From 2019 to 21, the total number of acres grew by 3.7 percent.

**The bipartisan Amplifying Processing of Livestock in the United States Act, or A-PLUS Act, got introduced into the House recently.

The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association says it’s a long-overdue idea that will help spur more processing capacity in the U.S..

It would allow livestock auction markets to hold an ownership interest in, finance, or participate in the management or operation of a packing facility with a slaughter capacity of fewer than 1,000 animals per day or 250,000 a year.