CropLife Retail Week: Trade Policies, Digital Wallets, and Smart Tech

Eric Sfiligoj and Lara Sowinski delve new trade regulations impacting U.S. ag exports, the rise of digital wallets in farming, and the debut of Smart Tech.

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*Below is a partial and edited transcript:

Eric Sfiligoj: Hello. Welcome to another edition of CropLife retail Week. I’m Eric Sfiligoj, editor. CropLife here and here again with Lara Sowinski. Lara, how are we today?

Lara Sowinski: We are fine. You. All of us. All of us. Okay.

ES: Yes, I was going to say, I know, I know, this is of course, Spring wind, is as we are recording this with the calendar has just moved into the month of May.

So, you know, April showers, May flowers. I know there’s plenty of flowers going on in our neck of the woods. Not sure what flowers in El Paso or the cactus in bloom or. But. Well, it’s funny you mentioned that I actually, scattered some wild flower seeds, and then I also put some sunflower seeds in the ground.

LS: A couple three weeks ago, and I have, have something happening back there. Something happened, you see, that’s scary enough that you’ll need to set up your, Yeah, you got to set up your phone. A little time lapse. Like watching. I know somebody has a camera where you can watch the corn grow in, I think Iowa, Indiana.

I forget which state, but, you’ll have to set up your camera, and then you can watch the wildflowers come up, and you can watch the little the little, armadillo come over and dig it up or whatever, so. And eat it. Yeah. Or it’s always fun. Yeah, it’s always fun this time of year. Never boring, that’s for sure.

ES: I know, I know my dog lucky. It’s like it’s that time of year when opening up the house and it was like, you know, the squirrels and the robins real active. And she just wants to go out and chase them. So it, it is a constant bark, bark, bark door open door come. Coming back. You know, her coming back in old, dirty and like.

LS: Oh, man. So any. That’s good to be a dog. Oh, I’ll remember you said that.

ES: So hey, getting on to some of the news of the week relating to agriculture and of course, our favorite topic. I ran across an item on this. I know you’re you’re always big on what’s going on in transportation and logistics when it comes to moving products around the country and the globe.

LS: And this was an item I ran across. I was talking about, a notice from the office of U.S. Trade Representative, that was talking about the fact that they have something called section 301, which apparently will be going into effect on October 14th of this year, and that’s going to, impose a $50 per net ton, fee on Chinese vessel operators and Chinese vessel owners.

And that’s going to cover any, most vessels that carry U.S agricultural exports. This fee is going to be raised to $140 per net ton by 2028. And the reason our friends in agriculture are a little concerned about this is, is they point out in this article, last year the U.S exported $191 billion worth of agricultural goods and related products, and 70% of that amount was shipped by a oceangoing vessel.

So that could be potentially, really bad news for our friends who rely on, on vessels, to be moving their, exports across the world. So, yeah, I think this, is kind of part of this larger, what we call non-tariff barriers. You know, when we’re looking at international trade, you know, tariffs are one way to, you know, impose tariffs, duties on, goods.

Things like quotas or anti-dumping, countervailing duties, things like that, that are non-tariff but are still barriers to trade, if you will. I think, you know, these kind of just, you know, I’d have to look into the story a little bit more. But I just think this, contention, particularly right now with China, I hope, at the very least for the ag tell or excuse me, the ag exports.

Some of that gets, resolved. I mean, I, you know, I just no matter what the story is, I always feel like the farmers ultimately are the end of the line, getting the short stick. And I just, I think this is another example. So. Yeah. Good. Good news item that may not rise to the top, we’ll say on a day to day thing, but it’s very, very impactful.

Right. And again I know that the part of the part of the reason I ran across this item, I guess we’re now in the comment period, of this item between now and supposed to go into effect later this year in October. So one would hope the comments will be strongly worded enough that, maybe there will be some reconsideration or maybe delays on some of, some of these proposed fees.

ES: But again, as always, we will have to see as we go forward through the summer time. So yeah, yeah. Now that’s a good news item. And I, another opportunity, if you don’t mind. You know, how we’re I just see it more and more, you know, when we’re active in our industry associations, our trade associations that advocate on our behalf, these are the types of things, you know, they’re always monitoring what’s coming up in terms of proposed rulemaking, etc.

LS: And that’s and those comments absolutely do influence the outcome of final rules. So, yeah, another reason why, you know, become active at the local level or state level, federal, you know, the folks for us that are on the hill. Yeah, CPDA Others. Yeah. Amen. I couldn’t agree more. So. Well, hey, let’s let’s continue the good news then in the in that we, did run across an item in this regards.

ES: Of course. We’ve talked for many, many years on the videos here about what’s been going on with glyphosate and how it’s been, you know, subject to several thousands lawsuits, regarding damage awards against it or claims of, of causing illness because of people using it. But we found out on, April 24th, I guess Governor Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota and the North Dakota Legislative Assembly actually enacted a bill called HB 1318, and they’re the first state to do this that basically says that the, U.S. EPA warning label or safety label on a crop protection product like life of site is good enough warning, and that state and local warning requirements would no longer be necessary in this instance. So, this was very good news. According to the press release we got from those folks. Brian Neighbor, the president of the Crop science, North American and Australia, New Zealand region, said that by signing HB 1318, Governor Armstrong is supporting North Dakota’s farmers, Americans, consumers, and the decades of innovation that underpin the state’s proud agricultural history and vibrant economy.

So again, this is this is very, very good news. And I know other states, I know Missouri, is looking at a similar bill. I think Iowa is as well. So again, there’s there is definitely, you know, there’s a move underway for, the, the state legislatures to basically say, hey, look, products, if you’re following the federal registration, the federal regulations on your labels, that’s good enough.

And that these, lawsuits that are citing state or local regs, that that that argument would no longer apply. So that would be good. Yeah. You know, that’s a really big news item to say the least. And certainly caught my eye. I think I, I expect that there will be other states that will follow suit and, look at, you know, that there would be a groundswell of, you know, kind of support for what?

LS: Yeah, let’s follow it. It’s already, you know, come down from the top, if you will. And the label is the laws I’ve heard. Yeah, but but unfortunately I have talked to some of the state, representatives in our industry and they said that, you know, I guess not surprisingly, the, the groups that have lobbied against this type of legislation being passed, of course, are the are the law firms that are actually standing to benefit from filing all these lawsuits.

ES: So I guess they’re lobbying very hard against these type of legislations being enacted. So, yeah, I again, again, support your sociation state associations. Those folks can definitely help get our industries good news out there. And fight on our behalf to try to keep these, you know, to try to push through the legislation that will help our industry.

Yeah. I noticed in the press release that you’re referring to, that Modern Ag Alliance was also quote, quoted as well, and it was good to see them in there as well. And again, another group to even consider if you’re on that side of the bill. Absolutely. So hey, Lara, and I’ve been talking. So I will kick this off to you because I know you’ve got a couple of things to share, including a, trip coming up here in the next week or so, for sure.

LS: Yeah. Actually, lots of news this past week. I’ll stay in North Dakota with you guys. It’s a beautiful state. Yeah. So, Bushel, based in Fargo. Mentioned this last week that, they are now, working with the area agricultural retailers Association. The area is now accepting payments through bushel for its membership dues, so gives agri retailers a secure, convenient way to manage these types of payments, which is great.

And before we left for commodity, I don’t know if you saw it. I actually, stopped in at the Bushel booth when the, when we were there in Denver, but, on February 27th, bushel, we, released an announcement that, it was expanding its platform with enhanced financial tools for farmers and agribusinesses, specifically starting the Spring bushel farm.

Will include a digital wallet, providing an, all in one platform, to manage farm operations and finances. This integration simplifies both financial and operational management for farmers. Key features of Bushel Farm, including field level rainfall data, activity tracking, profit and loss reporting, and more will continue to be available. So these updates to Bushels payments management solutions present a strategic opportunity for agribusinesses, including grain elevators and agri retailers, to generate returns on operational float.

So, you know, when I discovered and learned about bushel a couple three years ago, you know, for me is like, wow, this is great. Somebody in the fintech space that is, making some nice inroads in to the, you know, sector and providing some solutions that could safely and securely, replace, you know, paper checks, cash, you know, all that stuff.

So they’ve really been doing a lot. And, in fact, bushel was recently awarded the AD Tech Finance Platform of the year and the fifth annual Tech Breakthrough Awards. So really, hats off to bushel. They’re making a lot of progress, like the partnership there with IRA. And then this week as well, again, under the fintech news heading Reverse edged announced, the a first close of a new fund financing round of 25.

Million financing round, to build the first full service fintech platform for agriculture. According to the press release, the new funding will enable Growers Edge to scale its financial solutions and expand its reach, with more at retailers and lenders, while driving greater adoption of climate smart products and practices across the US. One of the companies, value Act capital, which was part of this funding round.

Jeff, Jeff Reuben, founder of Value App Capital, said where was just tackling one of the most critical barriers to agricultural innovation, financial risk. So yeah, lots of, activity in fintech, right now, which is a wonderful segue. As we mentioned last week in July, we are launching a very important content, not that we haven’t included plenty, plenty of agtech coverage.

Is this course of our regular CropLife articles and coverage, but we are hyper focusing on smart tech, and that’s the name of our new content initiative, which will formally launch in July. And the way we’re looking at this, our take on is, first of all, being very candid about kind of what’s working and what’s not, but most importantly, on the what’s working front, really, these, these two technologies that are out there now that are really showing promise that have kind of passed the proof of concept stage.

What is honestly going to make sense? I mean, we can’t say it enough. I mean, there’s no way that any farmer or retailer can afford to spend on anything that’s not going to absolutely perform and perform fast, for that matter. So, we’re really going to focus in on those things and, devote a lot of coverage not only in crop life and crop life, iron print magazines, but certainly on all of our digital platforms as well.

And fintech is one of those, sectors that we’ll be focusing, a lot of good coverage on will have, we have, contributing editor. I’ll wait to announce that person’s name. But we, we have, lots of good things that are happening under the smart tech umbrella, again, a content initiative that we’re, going all in on that will come out in July.

So keep your eyes on that. And yes, I am, pulling out that suitcase again, dusting it off. I’m traveling to Florida for, CPDA, adjuvants and inerts conference. May 5th through the 7, and we have an essay panel, an all star panel. I have, Leah Doozy from Compliance Services International. Dr. Stanley Culpeper, University of Georgia, and Bill Chisholm, retired EPA and chair over the lead which society and we’re going to talk about essay kind of where we’re at now and as we all know, just, this past week, the final insect strategy was released.

So now, EPA has released the herbicide strategy came out August 2024. Rodenticide. It came out in November of 2024. Insect final insects drought strategy is out. And 2026 will see the last of those four pillars, which will be the fungicide. The final fungicide strategy will be out in 26. So plenty to talk about, including how drift reduction adjuvants are, kind of playing a starring role here in terms of an approved, mitigation tool for, for spray drift.

So yeah, pretty exciting times. Lots going on.

ES: Yeah, I was going to say hopefully, I was, I know you’re hosting or moderating a panel while you’re going to be at the CPDA day meeting, but hopefully you’ll be able to get some video of some folks, maybe a little video snippet here or there. I know Stanley Culpeper is a great speaker.

I’ve heard him talk before. So you get in there. If you get a one minute sound bite from him, that would be fantastic. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed on that. Yep. Also, to go have my little tripod ready and okay. Sounds good. See what I can get. Sounds good. All right, well, hey, Miss Laura, then, we will wait to hear on that.