The House is scheduled to take up a bipartisan bill today that’s aimed at fostering collaboration between USDA and the Energy Department on issues critical to agriculture.
The DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act would direct the departments to work together on such issues as biofuel development, advanced crop science, biological pest control and colocation of renewable power projects and agriculture.
The measure is cosponsored by Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and the panel’s top Democrat, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren. The bill’s being considered under a fast-track process that requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
For more on what’s happening on Capitol Hill, see our Washington Week Ahead.
Enlist herbicides can be used in species habitat with mitigation
Use of Enlist herbicides will not jeopardize the continued existence of 22 different endangered species, but applicators in some counties in endangered species habitat will have to adopt specific mitigation measures to protect federally protected plants or animals.
That’s the conclusion of the Fish and Wildlife Service, which has released a final biological opinion on Enlist One and Enlist Duo. EPA said in a press release it did not have to “off-label” certain counties as it had in January 2022, when it prohibited use in 134 counties because of species concerns.
After Corteva submitted a label amendment to address spray drift and runoff, EPA allowed use in those counties.
Also: EPA released a draft biological evaluation on the effects of 11 rodenticides on endangered species.
The document is the first step in the interagency consultation process required under the Endangered Species Act. The agency has preliminarily determined the rodenticides should not be applied directly to water, but they can be applied in areas next to the species’ range or critical habitat because drift is not anticipated.
IID board approves Colorado River water conservation agreement
The board of directors for the Imperial Irrigation District, California’s largest user of Colorado River water, unanimously voted on Friday to approve an agreement to conserve up to 100,000 acre-feet of water in 2023.
The agreement triggers the release of $70 million in Interior Department funding for projects meant to help prevent toxic dust from being kicked up from the bed of the drying Salton Sea by Southern California winds, one of the water district’s stipulations during negotiations over cuts.
The agreement is one piece of a broader agreement between Arizona, California and Nevada to conserve 3 million acre feet of water through 2026.
Bipartisan House members oppose USDA rule to allow Paraguay beef imports
House members urged Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to halt the implementation of a rule allowing beef imports to resume from Paraguay, which is currently affected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral disease affecting cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other cloven-hooved animals.
Reps. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., chairman and ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry, and 19 of their colleagues sent a letter asking Vilsack to wait on implementing the rule until a more reliable risk assessment is completed.
“USDA relied on outdated site visits, irrelevant inspections and inadequate data to overcome these prohibitions,” the members say in the letter.
Ethan Lane, vice president of government affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, says all trade partners should follow the equivalent level of safety as the U.S. to protect the reputation of U.S. beef.
“Paraguay’s long history of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks and the lack of recent site visits, makes importing beef from Paraguay too risky,” he says.
LaMalfa-Spanberger bill would extend audit timeline for Farm Credit institutions
A new bipartisan bill would allow the Farm Credit Administration to conduct full safety audits and soundness examinations of “low-risk” farm credit institutions every 24 months.
Currently, the FCA must conduct audits of all farm credit institutions at least once every 18 months. The bill would allow FCA to use its own discretion to determine which ones are “low risk” and only need an audit once every two years.
“Redundant, bureaucratic paperwork wastes staff and constituent time, increases costs and makes helping people take longer,” says Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif, one of the lead sponsors of the bill.
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Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., another lead sponsor, says the bill will “prevent interruptions and delays in their services” that farm credit institutions offer to their farmer customers.
More than $1B in ag investments pledged at COP 28
The United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were among countries that collectively committed more than $890 million in climate change investments for smallholder farmers at an event at COP 28 on Saturday.
CGIAR, the international publicly funded agricultural research network, said it had secured the pledges “to accelerate progress against the ongoing global food and climate crises. With this funding, CGIAR will expand its work supporting smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries to shape more resilient, sustainable, and equitable food systems, reduce emissions from farming, and boost access to nutritious, healthy diets.”
The group also noted that on Friday, the United Arab Emirates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had committed $200 million to speed innovations for such farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Events are being webcast from the UN climate change conference as it continues through Dec. 12.
He said it: “We have to take power out of Washington, D.C., and send it to other parts of the country. I’m going to order all of our cabinet secretaries to reduce their agency’s footprint in Washington, D.C., by at least 50%.” – Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, as quoted by the Des Moines Register and Associated Press after DeSantis visited all 99 counties in Iowa and vowed to move part of USDA to the state.
Phillip Brasher, Steve Davies, Jacqui Fatka, Noah Wicks and Sara Wyant contributed to this report. Questions, comments, tips? Email bill@agri-pulse.com.
