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President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Congress to approve more than $11 billion in additional aid to farmers facing high fuel and fertilizer prices as a result of the Iran war, news reports said Wednesday afternoon.
Reuters reported that the funding request, signed by White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, calls for $10 billion of new aid to be allocated to row and specialty crop producers for crops planted this year. The $1.1 billion remainder would go to Florida farmers affected by winter storms in late 2025 and early 2026. If approved, the administration would be forecast to send about $55.4 billion in direct payments to farmers this year, Reuters said, citing USDA data.
Acreage guesses: It’s all eyes on USDA’s June 30 planted acreage update, along with quarterly grain stocks. A Bloomberg survey finds analysts expect USDA to knock back corn acres from their March 31 Prospective Plantings estimate, but not to the degree that had been floated around in the trade early this spring as fertilizer costs spiked as a result of the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
- The survey found analysts, on average, look for planted corn acres to come in at 95.1 million, down 200,000 acres from the March estimate of 95.3 million.
- Soybean acres are seen at 85.2 million acres, up 500,000 from the March estimate of 84.7 million.
- All wheat acres are seen at 43.8 million, unchanged from March, with spring wheat at 9.5 million and durum at 2 million, also unchanged.
- Cotton acres are seen at 9.6 million acres, unchanged from the March figure.
- Sorghum acres are pegged at 6.2 million, up from 6.1 million in March.
AI data-center backlash: A wave of capital investment is pouring in to build American AI infrastructure, but it faces growing resistance from local residents. An estimated $3 trillion will be spent globally on AI data centers between 2026 and 2030, the Economist reported, with a major portion earmarked for the United States. To accommodate the immense power required to train frontier AI models, tech giants and developers are shifting focus away from traditional coastal hubs toward the “Silicon Heartland"—including Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin—along with southern states.
This rapid expansion is projected to increase America’s AI computing capacity from just under 12 gigawatts (GW) to five times that amount by the end of the decade, the report said. However, local pushback has intensified over the visual impact, generator noise, and strain on the power grid. In the first three months of 2026 alone, local opposition led to the cancellation of at least 20 projects worth $42 billion, the Economist said. While Energy Secretary Chris Wright maintains that building these facilities is vital for America to lead China in AI development, public resistance continues to challenge the industry’s ambitious timeline.
Trump to host farmers at White House dinner: The White House said President Donald Trump on Thursday will host a White House Rose Garden dinner honoring farmers, ranchers, cattlemen and growers from across the country. The dinner is on the first night of the Great American State Fair..Cabinet members slated to attend include USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, Agri-Pulse reported, citing a White House official. Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, will also be in attendance.
Europe’s heat wave continues: Excessive heat in France continued to bake France and Western Europe on Wednesday, according to World Weather Inc. The forecasters noted one unconfirmed afternoon temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit was noted at Brain-sur-Allonnes in interior northwestern France and 113 at Gasques located in the interior southwest of France. Extreme temperatures to 100 were also noted in the London, with 90s occurring in much of southern England and Wales. Temperatures in Germany were rising through the 90s and approaching 100, with excessive heat expected in the next few days. World Weather noted human and animal health conditions have been extremely poor this week and relief will be slow to come, but should arrive from west to east across western Europe Friday into the weekend. Precipitation is expected to be limited over the next 10 days.
- Poultry death toll: The extreme heat in France has killed hundreds of thousands of poultry, overwhelming carcass collection efforts, Reuters reported. Yann Nedelec, head of French poultry industry group ANVOL, estimated at least several hundred thousand poultry had died at both indoor and outdoor farms, though it was too early to give a precise figure, the report said. The Chambers of Agriculture of Brittany and Pays de la Loire warned there had been “massive” poultry deaths. Together, the two regions account for nearly 60% of France’s poultry flock. France is the European Union’s third-largest poultry producer behind Poland and Spain.
El Niño may favor Brazilian sugarcane: Copersucar CEO Tomas Manzano said the El Niño weather phenomenon may favor Brazil’s sugarcane crop in the 2026/27 season, as it could bring above-average rainfall through August, Reuters reported. Despite a larger harvest, the El Niño will not support crushing volume or shipment, with the phenomenon potentially affecting operations, Manzano added. Copersucar, the world’s largest sugar trader, reported earlier on Tuesday that it raised sugar sales in the 2025/26 season by around 9% year-on-year to 17 million metric tons, while ethanol sales reached 21 billion liters, up 10% from the 2024/25 season.