Rep. Austin Scott, the Georgia Republican who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee that oversees commodity programs, says it’s time to split the farm bill. It’s long been an article of faith that keeping nutrition and farm programs together ensured there would be bipartisan support for both SNAP and commodity programs.
But in an interview for this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, Scott argues that commodity programs no longer benefit from being tied to nutrition policy. He also wants to make commodity programs permanent, so they would no longer have to be renewed every five years.
If the farm bill is split, “then you can have a more honest debate about what it takes to give America's agriculture producers the risk mitigation tools they need, and how … perhaps we should make changes on the SNAP benefit side of it, not just with work requirements, but other things as well,” Scott says.
Keep in mind: That Scott is calling for splitting the farm bill illustrates how difficult it is going to be to pass a farm bill next year. House Republicans face a conundrum: Their thin majority makes it virtually impossible to pass a farm bill without Democratic support, but Democrats are certain to oppose cuts to nutrition or conservation spending that could be used to address other issues in the bill.
House Republicans split the farm bill in 2013 in order to get it out of the House, but it’s not clear they could do that next year. Republicans had a much larger House majority in 2013.
Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
Stabenow issues call to action on SNAP
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is doubling down on her opposition to any GOP restrictions on updates to how SNAP benefits are calculated. House and Senate Republicans would like to take money from the farm bill nutrition title by imposing restrictions on how USDA conducts future changes in the Thrifty Food Plan, the formula of eating expenses that’s used to determine SNAP benefits.
In a speech Thursday, Stabenow called on anti-hunger advocates to fight any such restrictions on TFP updates. “This has become a real flashpoint right now in getting a farm bill done, and so I need everybody leaning in on this point,” she said.
She suggested that the GOP proposal represented a break in precedent. There has always been an “understanding that you can’t get a bipartisan farm bill, if you attack nutrition.”
Why it matters: Republicans on the House and Senate Ag committees are struggling to find funding for priorities that include increasing Price Loss Coverage reference prices. Republicans argue Democrats should support restrictions on TFP updates to prevent a GOP president from using the process to cut SNAP benefits.
H-2A growth eases
The number of H-2A positions certified by the Labor Department rose just 2% in fiscal 2023 after increases of 15% and 17% in 2021 and 2022, according to an analysis by the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Altogether, 378,513 positions were certified in FY23, which ended Sept. 30. That’s an increase of more than 100,000 since 2020, even though the adverse effect wage rate rose 19% over the same period.
Florida led the nation with 51,987 certified positions in FY23, followed by California (40,758), Georgia (37,536), Washington (35,680) and North Carolina (26,146).
Antibiotic use for food-producing animals up 4% last year
Domestic sales and distribution of medically important antimicrobials in food-producing animals saw a 4% increase in 2022 compared to 2021, according to FDA’s latest annual report. Usage is still down 36% from peak levels in 2015.
Tetracyclines accounted for 65% of sales. FDA reported 43% of the intended antibiotic use in 2022 was for swine, followed by 41% for cattle and 12% for turkeys. An estimated 2% of antibiotics were intended for chickens.
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US needs to win fight over GE corn imports to Mexico, Grains Council expert says
A U.S. loss to Mexico in the battle over genetically engineered corn would embolden activists to fight agricultural biotechnology use in other countries, according to the director of trade policy at the U.S. Grains Council, Andrew Brandt.
“If we don’t win this in Mexico, I think this policy playbook, which quite frankly is run by some activists who have a pretty strong foothold here in the U.S., they’re going to go to the next country and run the same playbook, and we’re going to fight this over and over again,” Brandt said Thursday at the American Seed Trade Association’s field crop convention.
A three-person dispute resolution panel will rule on the U.S. complaint against Mexico over its import ban on genetically engineered corn.
Climate projects mean ‘a lot of seed demand’
Sellers of cover crop seeds may have their hands full when projects designed to develop climate-smart commodities kick in next year.
Bruce Knight, a consultant and former Natural Resources Conservation Service chief, says that more than half the 141 projects funded through the $3.1 billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program focus on cover crop adoption.
Two projects foresee planting of cover crops on more than 1 million acres each, he said at the ASTA convention. “That’s a lot of seed demand.”
She said it. “You have certain areas where there's a red line. And this is it. This is the red line.” – Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., ruling out a GOP proposal to restrict future updates of the Thrifty Food Plan.
Jacqui Fatka and Steve Davies contributed to this report.
