Employee activism and outside pressure have pushed big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google into promising to slash their carbon emissions. But there’s another thing these tech giants aren’t cutting: Their growing business ties to the oil and gas industry. (Associated Press)

U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary Scott Hutchins announced today that the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has invested $11 million in research that will support specialty crop farmers. (USDA)

Looking ahead at the harvest forecast, the key word is “contrast,” according to DTN Chief Agriculture Meteorologist Bryce Anderson. “This is going to be a real notable feature during this week,” he said. “We saw heavy rain in north central and part of western Illinois during the past five days and that’s going to disrupt things for a number of days.” Anderson predicts thing to settle a bit with harvest delays lessening through the month. (FarmWeekNow)

The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is reverberating in the market for biofuel credits as his fight against Democrats is likely to take precedence over the “giant package” for ethanol and farmers he promised in late August. Trump and top administration officials had spent weeks trying to develop a plan for advancing biofuel and appeasing agricultural interests, without alienating oil companies. Even before the impeachment inquiry, there were signs that Trump was increasingly frustrated in trying to find a middle ground between oil and agriculture. (Bloomberg)

Deere & Co on Tuesday announced indefinite layoffs for 163 U.S. manufacturing workers at plants in Illinois and Iowa that make agricultural, forestry and construction equipment, citing decreased customer demand. The layoffs come weeks after the company said it would reduce production by 20% at its facilities in Illinois and Iowa in the second of half of the year to keep inventory in line with retail demand. (Reuters)

The good news is that the condition of the corn and soybean crops is improving, albeit modestly. The bad news is that farmers are still facing an uphill climb to make up for the extreme delays in planting this spring. On the positive side, 47% of the Illinois corn crop is reported by the USDA to be in excellent or good condition, up from 45% a week ago. The bad news is that the percentage of the crop said to be in poor or very poor condition has also risen, from 18% last week to 20% this week. On the