Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are calling on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to use his Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority for trade promotion purposes and purchases of commodities for international food aid.
The request by the committee’s chairwoman, Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and senior Republican, John Boozman of Arkansas, are struggling to come up with ways to pay for a range of issues in the next farm bill.
Meanwhile, funding authority for some programs in the 2018 farm bill is set to expire Sept. 30, including the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development program, both of which are designed to help U.S. commodity programs market overseas.
In response, a USDA spokesperson issued a statement saying that it "will look carefully at our authorities under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and the remaining availability of funds this fiscal year to determine if we have the funds and the ability to be responsive while fulfilling other statutory requirements of the CCC.”
The trade and food aid issues raised by Stabenow and Boozman "are concerns we share at USDA. As international commodities markets are increasingly impacted by disruptions like COVID-19, a changing climate, and global food insecurity in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, USDA’s market development and promotion, and aid programs are more important than ever."
“As Congress works toward reauthorizing critical programs in the farm bill, we continue to hear from organizations representing the vast majority of U.S. agriculture about the need to strengthen trade opportunities, increase revenue streams, and help producers grow and thrive in a global economy,” Stabenow and Boozman say in a letter to Vilsack dated Aug. 28 and released Wednesday.
“Farm Bill trade promotion programs help address these needs and build new markets. We believe that resources available under the CCC can support similar efforts to open access to markets and promote American-grown products abroad.”
Stabenow and Boozman urged Vilsack to “explore using CCC resources to advance food assistance initiatives,” saying “Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine continues to disrupt supply chains and perpetuate humanitarian crises in the region and around the world.”
Stabenow told reporters Wednesday the request for CCC funding is intended to address these issues without dipping into farm bill funding. Commodity groups have called for doubling funding in the next farm bill for MAP and FMD.
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"It's about all of the needs that we want to address (and) the limited baseline that we've been given by CBO," she said, referring to the Congressional Budget Office estimates of available funding. "This is about giving us the flexibility to be able to meet what we believe are very high needs."
In a statement to Agri-Pulse, a USDA spokesman said the department shared the senators' concerns and would "look carefully at our authorities under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and the remaining availability of funds this fiscal year to determine if we have the funds and the ability to be responsive while fulfilling other statutory requirements of the CCC.”
Two key international food aid programs, including Food for Peace and the McGovern-Dole international school feeding program, are funded through the annual appropriations process rather than the farm bill. However, the Food for Progress program will lose funding authority Sept. 30, and USDA will lose authority to replenish the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In addition to MAP and FMD, other farm bill programs that expire Sept. 30, according to CRS, include the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, Specialty Crop Block Grants, the Local Agriculture Market Program, National Organic Certification Cost-Share assistance, the Biobased Market, and Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels.
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This article was updated with a statement from USDA.
