Call it a dry run, and a very successful one: House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., got to warm up for the coming farm bill debate this week by working to bury some key amendments to the fiscal 2024 Agriculture spending bill.
The amendment votes were largely symbolic, but they nevertheless involved noteworthy issues. The House rejected 49-377, a GOP amendment aimed at barring USDA from operating checkoff programs. Only 28 Republicans voted for the amendment that Thompson took the lead in opposing. Supporters of the amendment are angling to use the farm bill to win new restrictions on checkoffs.
Thompson also successfully defeated an amendment that would have barred USDA from mandating electronic IDs for cattle and bison. That GOP proposal failed, 97-336.
Keep in mind: The stakes for Thompson will be much higher when it comes to the farm bill, because any amendments that get adopted on the House floor can complicate negotiations with the Senate.
Prop 12 has international impact, too
Agri-Pulse’s Spencer Chase continues his reporting from this week’s USDA trade mission in Chile.
California’s Proposition 12 animal housing law is not only causing many American pork producers to rethink their approach to sow facilities, but the impact is also spreading beyond U.S. borders.
A representative from Chile Carne, which represents meat exporters in the country, told a contingent with USDA’s trade mission to Chile the country’s hog production is shifting to Prop 12-compliant practices to maintain access to the California market. Roughly half the country’s pork production is exported, and North Carolina pork producer Jan Archer said the representative told them the Chilean packing sector can’t segregate product.
“Fifty percent of their product is exported, and they don’t know which 50% it’s going to be, so everything has to be Prop 12-compliant,” Archer said.
Taylor puts GI onus on Chile
USDA Trade Undersecretary Alexis Taylor says the Chilean government needs to sort out the issues stemming from competing trade agreements that deal with the use of geographic indicators on dairy products.
The U.S. and Chile have had a free-trade deal for 20 years, but a new deal struck between Chile and the European Union placed restrictions on the use of many cheese terms also used by U.S. dairy processors. Taylor said that in meetings with leaders in Chile’s ag, environment, and trade ministries, she underscored the desire of American exporters to maintain – or even grow – sales to Chilean consumers.
“Today, we’re seeing the potential to lose market access that Chile granted us 20 years ago,” Taylor told Chilean reporters Wednesday in Santiago. “We want to re-prioritize this market, but that really hinges solely on the government of Chile prioritizing that market access for us.”
She said USDA has previously prioritized requests from the Chilean government, citing a regionalization request during a recent highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak. But going forward with such requests, including a systems approach for Chilean grapes, would be a lower priority until the GI issue is resolved, she said.
FDA’s new foods chief starts role
Jim Jones, FDA’s new deputy commissioner of human foods, officially started at the agency this week, and he’s set to address FDA staff this morning about his plans for the months ahead.
In a letter sent to agency staff, Jones says he came to the agency to “lead a transformation into a single program that embraces coordination, prevention and response activities.” Jones says he believes “strongly in the vision” outlined by FDA Commissioner Robert Califf to move the agency forward in the wake of the infant formula crisis that exposed significant flaws at FDA.
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The new Human Foods Program will bring together FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, its Office of Food Policy and Response and the Office of Regulatory Affairs. “Together, CFSAN, OFPR and ORA will bring the best we have to bear, creating a program that surpasses what each has been able to accomplish separately,” Jones says.
Senators weigh path forward on foreign land ownership
Senate Ag Committee leaders are weighing the best path forward as they navigate a plethora of different bills in search of a way to ease members’ concerns about foreign farmland ownership and the federal government’s tracking of it.
Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., reassured committee members at a hearing Wednesday that all of the bills that have been proposed this legislative session come together “in some way.” But she also said lawmakers need to ensure any legislation is “focused and targeted in the right way on national security.”
Ranking member John Boozman, R-Ark., agreed, noting he believes there’s “a lot of consensus” on the issue both in the House and the Senate.
Pesticide sales on eBay violate FIFRA, government says in lawsuit
The federal government is suing online retailer eBay for illegally selling unregistered, misbranded and restricted-use pesticides, including products subject to a stop-sale order issued to the company in 2020.
Since 2016, the company has distributed or sold at least 23,000 such products, the Justice Department and EPA say.
Among those products: Miraculous Insecticide Chalk, an unregistered product that contains insecticides that “can cause serious harm tho those exposed via multiple routes,” the agencies said. Another one was Sniper, which is no longer registered in the U.S. and contains dichlorvos, or DDVP.
He said it. "Currently 3.1% of American agricultural land is foreign-owned. Contrary to popular belief, foreign governments don't typically own this land." – Michigan State University economist David Ortega at Senate Ag hearing.
Spencer Chase, Steve Davies, Noah Wicks, Jacqui Fatka and Bill Tomson contributed to this report.
