This week, the National Farmers Union brought farmer members from across the U.S. to Washington to amplify the need for a 5-year Farm Bill.  Stephanie Hoff caught up with the President of the NFU, Rob Larew, and Wisconsin Farmers Union members. Larew says right now the volatility in the farm economy has him concerned. Larew is pushing for Congress to get a strong, five-year Farm Bill passed to provide some certainty for American farmers. This was the message echoed by Wisconsin Farmers Union. Government Relations Director Michelle Ramirez-White says the timing was perfect because Congress is marking up the Farm Bill during budget reconciliation. Rami Aburomia was among the delegation. He’s an apple grower outside of Madison. He recently joined Wisconsin Farmers Union to advocate for better safety nets for specialty crop growers. This Washington Watch news update is brought to you by the Wisconsin Soybean Association, dedicated to ensuring policies are in place for the future of soybean farmers.

Chilly start to our Thursday but more sunshine on the way.  Stu Muck says the northwoods may still see a little frost even into Friday.

The Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged during their May meeting.  While the U.S. economy as a whole may not be in a recession, some facets of Wisconsin agriculture are already there.  Sam Miller is a Principal with Fox Street Advisors in Appleton.  He believes that grain markets have been in a recession for a while.  He's watching the 10 year bond as an indicator of where the market's going.

While tariffs are what many are focused on, Wisconsin Ag Secretary, Randy Romanski, is working on keeping relationships in place.  He explains that about a year ago the state invested in bringing trade partners from Indonesia to Wisconsin.  Now, they've asked Wisconsin to visit them, and Romanski did!

Jan Prins from EverAg joins Pam Jahnke.  Prins grew up on a family dairy in Washington state.  He says the market was surprised this week with huge sales of cheese to the export market.  Prins explains that right now the U.S. is at a price advantage over the EU as they wait for their milk production trend to improve.