Editors' Notebook

One of the struggles any media outlet faces is the balance between supplying information readers need with supplying the information readers will actually stop and read.

All of us skim headlines, particularly during busy planting seasons. To help with that, we some time ago started our "Best of DTN" electronic newsletter to weekly call out the stories we thought you shouldn't miss.

By the way, that newsletter can arrive in your email box every Saturday morning for free if you've signed up for it. Here's where to sign up that if you haven't.

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As the DTN/PF staff debated items for our "Best of DTN" email newsletter this week, choosing the Top 10 DTN pieces you should read was more difficult than normal.

Here are a couple of things that didn't make the newsletter cut, but I'd argue are worthy of you checking out during some weekend reading time.

China and Brazil renew infrastructure talks:

DTN/PF South America Correspondent Alastair Stewart has a strong reputation of sniffing out the beginnings of trends in Brazil and elsewhere on his beat, and this week he blogs (see the South America Calling blog) about China's renewed interest in funding Brazilian railroad and other infrastructure projects. Chinese officials want to help get soybeans shipped to China faster and more reliably to feed their ever-growing poultry and swine industries. Probably not the thing you're most worried about as the corn spikes and the wheat heads fill, but something to track as it has huge implications for future grain and oilseeds trade with a fairly key U.S. trade partner.

RFS rulings:

There were rumors of an EPA announcement on the Refined Fuels Standard coming late Friday, which could have at least a short-term effect on grain markets whenever it hits. While at this writing it doesn't look like anything will happen ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend, we hear it is eventually coming. Our analyst team will be watching.

COOL drags on:

As we've reported in depth, the battle over country of origin labeling for beef, pork and poultry continues to sizzle and darken like a thick beer brat absentmindedly left out on the grill. Both our Chris Clayton (Ag Policy Blog) and our well-placed Washington Insider have been commenting this week that there seems heat to keep the sizzle going, but not enough action from the sausage makers in Congress to move the contentious issue out of the fire. It's one to keep tabs on, as Mexico and Canada are poised for retaliation now that the WTO has officially stated COOL discriminates against live animals imported from those countries.

Renewed pressure on farm bill:

Speaking of our Washington Insider, Friday's column mentions Montana State econ professor Vincent Smith, who keeps the fire stoked under the cost of current farm bill programs. The issues Insider quotes from Smith's recent writings aren't new: Too much of the subsidy pie going to too few farmers; taxpayers propping up insurance premiums, especially for farmers who routinely collect on crop insurance; subsidies that pay even in good crop years. Even our Insider notes these are well-worn complaints that Congress eventually allows in order to maintain the health of a key part of the U.S. economy and the foundation of rural economies -- where not a small amount of legislators call home. The difference this time, some are arguing, is that the costs of the latest farm bill are already expected to blow way past the numbers used when it was being negotiated. That too, isn't really a surprise to anyone who was really paying attention to how the latest act came together. But the implications, with continued focus on the U.S. debt, could allow some of those old familiar complaints to gain traction with the nonfarm public.

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