Federal News
Assessing the Pulse of the Next Farm Bill Debate
Farm Doc Daily | Posted on August 1, 2017Thirteen agricultural economists put together short papers describing issues that will surface during the writing of the next farm bill. For each issue, the author describes the "policy setting" and details "farm bill issues" that likely will arise during negotiations. Each issue then has a "what to watch for" summary. These papers, along with an overview, are presented in this article.
Agriculture Secretary Perdue to Kick Off “Back to Our Roots” RV Tour
USDA | Posted on August 1, 2017U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced that he will embark on a five-state RV tour, titled the “Back to Our Roots” Tour, to gather input on the 2018 Farm Bill and increasing rural prosperity. Along the way, Perdue will meet with farmers, ranchers, foresters, producers, students, governors, Members of Congress, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees, and other stakeholders. This is the first of two RV tours the secretary will undertake this summer. In making the announcement, Secretary Perdue issued the following statement: “The ‘Back to our Roots’ Farm Bill and rural prosperity RV listening tour will allow us to hear directly from people in agriculture across the country, as well as our consumers – they are the ones on the front lines of American agriculture and they know best what the current issues are,” Perdue said. “USDA will be intimately involved as Congress deliberates and formulates the 2018 Farm Bill. We are committed to making the resources and the research available so that Congress can make good facts-based, data-driven decisions. It’s important to look at past practices to see what has worked and what has not worked, so that we create a farm bill for the future that will be embraced by American agriculture in 2018.”This first RV Tour will feature stops in five states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. For social media purposes, Secretary Perdue’s Twitter account (@SecretarySonny) will be using the hashtag #BackToOurRoots.
Statement of Secretary Perdue Regarding Japan's Planned Increase of Tariff on U.S. Frozen Beef
USDA | Posted on July 29, 2017The government of Japan has announced that rising imports of frozen beef in the first quarter of the Japanese fiscal year (April-June) have triggered a safeguard, resulting in an automatic increase to Japan's tariff rate under the WTO on imports of frozen beef from the United States. The increase, from 38.5 percent to 50 percent, will begin August 1, 2017 and last through March 31, 2018. The tariff would affect only exporters from countries, including the United States, which do not have free trade agreements with Japan currently in force.
Secretary Perdue to announce new mentorship initiative in Iowa August 5, Register Now!
Farm Services Agency | Posted on July 28, 2017On August 5, 2017, Secretary Perdue plans to announce an initiative that will increase access to business mentorships by farmers, ranchers and small business entrepreneurs. Please join us for this announcement and a panel discussion on supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers! New farmers need people in their corner who can help them navigate the challenges of starting and growing a business. Advisors from a wide range of backgrounds can support new farmers through agricultural mentorship. While a generation of farmers prepares to transition off the land, the next generation is exploring ways to get started and grow their operations. USDA is working with partners like you to ensure that farmers and ranchers have access to the support and tools they need to succeed, and this new mentorship initiative that Secretary Perdue will announce on August 5 is an important tool in the toolbox. I hope that you can join us for this event in person or on USDA’s Facebook page, where we will be broadcasting live! Please also share this announcement with your membership and producers in Iowa. Logistics:Where: Iowa Ag Summit held at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. When: Saturday, August 5, 2017. Events: 11:00am Secretary Perdue’s keynote address and announcement. 3:00pm Panel discussion “Supporting the Next Generation of Farmers and Ranchers” Attendance at the Iowa Ag Summit is free but registration is required at https://iowaagsummit.com/, and late registrations will be accepted.
EPA is asking a climate denier think tank for help recruiting its ‘red team’
Think Progress | Posted on July 27, 2017The Environmental Protection Agency has asked the Heartland Institute, a D.C.-based rightwing think tank that denies the human causes of climate change, to help identify scientists to join the agency’s so-called red team-blue team effort to “debate” the science of climate change. The move is part of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s efforts to undercut established climate science within the agency. In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, Pruitt suggested the possibility of creating a red team to provide “a robust discussion” on climate science and determine whether humans “are contributing to [warming].” The Heartland Institute offers a model of what the EPA red team might look like. Their contrarian Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change — often referred to as a red team — publishes regular volumes of a report called “Climate Change Reconsidered.” Heartland communications director Jim Lakely told the Washington Examiner the red team exercises to critique climate science are necessary “to critically examine what has become alarmist dogma rather than a sober evaluation of climate science for many years.” But, as many scientists and experts have noted, the peer review process for scientific publications already requires and facilitates rigorous examination.
ICE raids, rhetoric make America view farmworkers 'as criminals again
Times Union | Posted on July 26, 2017Crackdowns by federal immigration agents have made communities more hostile towards minority farm workers, according to a new report. Farm owners, meanwhile, fear they'll soon be unable to fill labor-intensive farming jobs that Americans no longer want. The report, from two Cornell University agriculture and labor experts, draws on surveys with New York dairy farmers beginning in late February, and largely mirrors concerns voiced by farm owners, economists, and agriculture and workers' rights groups about the detrimental effects the Trump administration's immigration policies would have on rural communities.Farmers "do not really know what to expect from the Trump administration, as well as from Congress regarding enforcement," the report reads. "This level of unpredictability is causing a sense of fear and nervousness for farm employers, workers and the community at large."
US needs FMD vaccine bank to protect food
Watt Ag Net | Posted on July 26, 2017Citing economic, food and national security concerns, a coalition of more than 100 agricultural organizations and allied industries groups urged Congress to include in the next Farm Bill language establishing and funding a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank. FMD is an infectious viral disease that affects cloven-hooved animals, including cattle, pigs and sheep; it is not a food safety or human health threat. Although the disease was last detected in the United States in 1929, it is endemic in many parts of the world.In a letter sent today to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House agriculture committees, the coalition pointed out that “an outbreak of FMD will have a devastating effect on all of agriculture – not just livestock producers – and will have long-lasting ramifications for the viability of U.S. agriculture, the maintenance of food security and affordability … and overall national security.”
Funding for federal agricultural research facilities falls far short of needs
Ag Policy | Posted on July 26, 2017In discussing the agricultural budget, it is easy to focus in on commodity support, nutrition, and environmental programs and ignore the cost of maintaining the agricultural research facilities that are at the heart of the work of the USDA. When farmers go to their local extension agent with a problem, the agent’s answer is probably dependent on work that has been conducted with money and in facilities supported by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Land Grant Universities, which receive a portion of their funding from the Federal Government.Currently, the ARS owns and operates facilities that are valued at nearly $3.7 billion and carries out research on everything from citrus greening disease (a problem for Florida citrus growers) to highly pathogenic avian influenza (a disease that resulted in the destruction of over 50 million birds in 211 commercial and 21 backyard flocks from the fall of 2014 through mid-June 2015).From field to table, ARS scientists find solutions to technical problems that affect agricultural producers and American consumers every day. In conjunction with the Land Grant System, the ARS conducts research that benefits the public. Much of this research does not have the profit potential that would attract investment by commercial firms. They need a payback period that is much shorter than the type of basic research conducted by ARS provides.The ARS focuses on areas of research most crucial to US agriculture where federal research is inherently suited to make innovative contributions.
Italy demands origin labels for pasta and rice
Reuters | Posted on July 26, 2017All packets of pasta and rice sold in Italy will have to include labels of origin showing where the produce was grown, the government ruled on Thursday, in a move it said was aimed at protecting local farmers. The agriculture and industry ministers signed a decree ordering the new labeling policy, saying it would run in an experimental fashion for two years, and criticizing the European Union for not introducing the measure across the 28-nation bloc.
The U.S. Can Now Ship Rice to China for the First Time
Bloomberg | Posted on July 26, 2017The U.S. can now ship rice to China for the first time ever, signaling a win for President Donald Trump in his efforts to reshape the trade relationship just after talks between the nations broke down Wednesday. Officials from the nations finalized a protocol to allow for the first-ever American shipments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday in a statement. China is the world’s biggest rice consumer, importer and producer.The rice deal comes just a month after China reopened its market to U.S. beef imports for the first time in more than a decade and is the latest in a flurry of trade negotiations between the nations. China is also approving more biotech products and increasing U.S. natural gas imports.