A delegation of Iowa Soybean farmers just returned from the nation’s capital, where they got the latest on the farm bill, just making its way into a house-senate conference committee. Soybean Association executive vice-president Doug Lindgren says congressional staff finally got cost estimates they needed for the various elements in the bill.Lindgren says staffers have enough information now to get some work done over the spring recess. Lindgren says crop farmers are in the second year of a pilot program to record and track their farm management the way livestock producers do.Producers track, identify and measure things like fertilizer and productivity and then adjust how they’ll manage it for the next year. Lindgren was asked about the outlook for soybean farmers this season. South America for the first time has produced more soybeans than the U-S, pushing prices down and moving in on this country’s share of sales. Lindgren says Minnesota just passed a bill mandating that there be two-percent biodiesel mixed into all diesel fuel sold in the state, he says that’s something Iowa needs to look at.Lindgren farms in northwest Iowa, where he says the outlook for the start of this year’s growing season is good, so far.
