Business

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced last week that he would send cities, counties, transit systems, and special-purpose taxing districts $762.5 million in local sales tax allocations for March, 0.5 percent less than in March 2020. These allocations are based on sales made in January by businesses that report sales tax returns monthly.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2018 decision to reauthorize dicamba formulations was unduly influenced by political interference and ignored critical scientific evidence on the herbicide’s risks, Emily Unglesbee reports for DTN/ The Progressive Farmer. That’s according to internal EPA email obtained by DTN and verified by the agency. Dicamba is notorious for drifting to nearby fields and killing crops and trees that aren’t genetically engineered to resist it.

AUSTIN–Crude oil and natural gas production reported to the Texas Railroad Commission in December 2020 came from 168,775 oil wells and 86,267 gas wells. The RRC reports that from January 2020 to December 2020, total Texas reported production was 1.461 billion barrels of crude oil and 10.197 trillion cubic feet of total gas.

TEMPLE—The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Texas is now accepting applications through April 9, for Fiscal Year 2021 funding for the Conservation Stewardship Program. NRCS plans to invest more than $8 million for new enrollments this year for Texas.

Winter Storm Uri, which blasted through the entire state of Texas, caused at least $600 million in agricultural losses, according to preliminary data from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service (https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/) agricultural economists.

TEMPLE—The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Texas has extended its application deadline for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) from March 1 to March 10, due to recent weather-related power outages across Texas. While NRCS accepts easement applications on a continuous basis, applications for the next funding consideration must be submitted by March 10.

Estate planning seminar is offered to High Plains agriculture producers An estate-planning seminar presented by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agriculture law specialist Tiffany Dowell Lashmet will be held on Tuesday, March 2. The in-person event will be from 6-8 pm in The Event Center at 622 E.

AMARILLO, Texas—Plains Land Bank has good news for its stockholders. It will distribute a record $8.8 million in cash patronage to its stockholders in April. The rural lending cooperative declared the patronage distribution based on its strong financial results in 2020.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will present a two-session online program focused on assisting female landowners Feb. 23 and Feb.

Dramatic increases in grain and oilseed prices in the last three to four months are affecting cattle feeding operations. July corn futures are currently priced at $5.20/bu compared to weekly cash prices above $4.00/bu in mid-October 2020 and $5.44/bu by mid-January 2021. While the supply of feeder cattle is mostly determined for 2021 according to Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist and those cattle will go through the feedlot as usual, a different production system can be employed in response to rising corn prices. The cattle industry responds to corn market signals to use less corn my placing cattle at heavier weights and using other forage feeds to add additional weight to cattle prior to feedlot placement. Lighter weight feeder cattle prices may decline relative to heavier cattle.