Issue #8 | May 4, 2026 | Rural Exports Last week we walked through the India interim framework — what opened (DDGs, sorghum, tree nuts, wine and spirits, soybean oil, apples), what stayed protected (dairy, meat, the major grains), and why the producers who start the readiness conversation now will fill the first quotas. This week the operating environment caught up to the framework. The Farm Bill cleared the House for the first time since 2018. Cattle hit cash highs nobody's

Winter Storm Fern is covering 40 states right now—2,300 miles from Arizona to Maine. Over 800,000 people without power (surging across the South). 27,700 flights disrupted through the weekend. Interstate 35 shut down from Dallas to Oklahoma. I-70 impassable across Kansas with jackknifed semis. I-80—the main east-west freight artery—has been closed for 36+ hours. Storm peaking Sunday–Monday with continuing impacts through the week.