Republicans continue to search for ways to expand the farm safety net. A senior member of the Senate Ag Committee, John Hoeven, R-N.D., addresses the issue during this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers. We asked him if Republicans have come up with a proposal for increasing reference prices, and if so, how they would pay for it.
Hoeven responded by suggesting the money come from other titles of the bill. “There’s plenty of room to do this, but folks are going to have to share, right? It’s got to work for everybody,” he said. “There’s got to be more farm in the farm bill.”
Keep in mind: Moving funds from other titles, including conservation or nutrition, is a non-starter for Democrats.
Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
House turmoil continues
The House remains stuck in limbo, with Republicans unable to agree on either a permanent or temporary speaker. The idea of making Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the interim speaker while Republicans continue the search for a replacement for Kevin McCarthy ran into fierce opposition at a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday, lawmakers say.
The interim speaker idea could still get traction at some point. But a resolution empowering McHenry would presumably limit the types of legislation the House could consider under a temporary speaker. In that case, House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., tells Agri-Pulse he would try to see if the House could consider a farm bill.
“We need some type of win for both parties to start the healing process for both parties,” Thompson said.
New FDA food czar hopeful on reorganization
One month into the job, the FDA’s newly appointed deputy commissioner of foods, Jim Jones, is optimistic food safety efforts will improve with changes starting from the top down at the agency.
Jones, who was part of the commission that authored the Reagan-Udall Foundation report, told reporters Thursday he believes the reorganization efforts underway will correct many of the issues the report raised.
Once FDA is through the reorganization, Jones believes FDA will be more effective, efficient and faster at both spotting potential food contamination and “moving to intervene more quickly in a more targeted way.”
“This reorganization is not just a bureaucratic exercise, it's an effort to enhance our ability to prevent foodborne illness.” Jones said.
Record Miss. River lows near Memphis
The Mississippi River is seeing its lowest-ever water levels near Memphis, as barges continue to face navigation difficulties, according to the USDA’s latest Grain Transportation Report.
While recent rains have not been enough to offset low water levels in the river, USDA expects to see improvements in late October and early November. But navigation conditions will likely not improve until after late December, the report says.
But, but, but: Shippers moved 496,000 tons of grain through Mississippi River locks last week, and the St. Louis spot freight rate fell to $23.06 per ton, 68% below last year.
EPA: Food waste plays big role in landfill emissions
Food waste is responsible for around 58% of the methane emissions from U.S. landfills each year, according to new estimates from EPA.
Landfills saw a steady increase in disposed food waste between 1990 and 2015, resulting in a 295% increase in emissions from landfilled food waste. At the same time, total methane emissions from the landfills actually decreased 43%.
Keep in mind: While gas can be collected from landfilled products, more can be recovered from materials like textiles, paper products and wood than from food products. That’s because food usually breaks down faster.
USDA preps for Southeast Asia trade mission
Alexis Taylor, USDA’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, is leading a trade mission to Southeast Asia Oct. 30-Nov. 3 together with American farm groups, ag companies and state ag department leaders. The itinerary includes Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Representatives of groups such as the American Egg Board, California Walnut Commission, Idaho Potato Commission, U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Soybean Export Council will be on the mission. Danone North America, U.S. Wine Exports Co., Organic Valley and Santini Foods, Inc., also will also be represented.
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USDA raises export forecast for soft red winter wheat
USDA now expects U.S. exports of soft red winter wheat to reach a 10-year high of 145 million bushels in the 2023-24 marketing year. That’s the highest volume since the 2013-14 marketing year. The increase was spurred by major recent purchases by Chinese buyers, according to the Grain Transportation Report.
“If these projections are realized, this year it would mark the first time, since official records began in the early 1970s, that SRW wheat exports equaled (hard red winter) wheat exports,” the report says.
China was the largest buyer for U.S. wheat in the latest weekly trade report released Thursday by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. China contracted to buy 181,500 metric tons of U.S. wheat from Oct. 6-12, making it the largest purchaser of the 632,800 tons sold during the week.
She said it. “Knowing you can win a campaign doesn’t always mean you should run a campaign. I know this will be a surprise to many because traditionally we don’t see those who have power let it go.” - The Senate’s newest member, Laphonza Butler of California, announcing Thursday that she won’t run for the seat next year. The Democrat was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Jacqui Fatka, Noah Wicks and Bill Tomson contributed to this report.
