But Vilsack says changing report release times is not as simple as it sounds.

“A decision as to timing and information being accessible can potentially make the difference of millions of dollars, one way or the other, to those who are trading,” Vilsack says, “and now we have essentially two competing entities that have different hours that don’t necessarily align.”

Those competing entities are the CME Group and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which recently expanded its trading in grain futures. 

The Kansas City Board of Trade and MGEX, formerly the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, have followed suit and expanded their trading hours as well.

Vilsack made his comments during a conference call with reporters this week.

AUDIO: Tom Vilsack (1:58 MP3)

“Many of Iowa’s roads and bridges are in need of significant structural improvements, and we continue to fall further behind every year.  Clearly, this problem will not go away without additional funding; that’s why Farm Bureau members have identified a fuel tax increase as the most equitable, feasible funding method,” says Hill.

Hill discussed that topic and other state legislative issues in a recent interview with Brownfield’s Ken Anderson.

AUDIO: Craig Hill (4:57 MP3)

The new trading hours are from 5 p.m. to 2 p.m. Central time, Sunday through Friday.  They went into effect this past Sunday.

ASA president Steve Wellman of Syracuse, Nebraska tells Brownfield there is still confusion about how the expanded trading hours will coexist with the release of USDA reports on grains and oilseeds.

“Having the major USDA reports released during trade hours, I think, does open up possibly having inaccurate price discovery happening during trading,” says Wellman.

Another concern, Wellman says, is that there is already unequal access to USDA information based on differing Internet capacity across the country and around the world.   He says differing abilities to place orders in reaction to reports released during trading hours will create, what he calls, “inequitable opportunities for market participants”.

AUDIO: Steve Wellman (3:51 MP3)

AUDIO: Craig Hill (4:57 MP3)

One of those groups—Iowa Farm Bureau—says it will continue to push for an increase in the state’s fuel tax to help fund needed improvements in roads and bridges. 

Earlier in the year, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad told Brownfield that he wanted to tighten up the transportation department’s budget before he would support the fuel tax increase.  Now that those savings have been found—and with gas prices on the decline—Branstad says the timing for the fuel tax increase might be better in the next legislative session.

AUDIO: Terry Branstad (2:19 MP3)