Farm groups are poring through the recommendations of a special House committee that’s proposing to raise tariffs on China. The committee stopped short of recommending the U.S. revoke China’s trade status, but instead called for moving China to “a new tariff column that restores U.S. economic leverage.”
The report also says America should prepare for trade retaliation against U.S. ag exports by finding alternative markets and offering financial assistance to farmers.
A member of the House China committee, GOP Rep. Darin LaHood, stressed to Agri-Pulse that the report doesn’t call for ending permanent normal trade relations with China.
“This is an aspirational document, it does not have legislative authority,” LaHood said. He said the China panel would work with the Ways and Means Committee “to appropriately find that balance of holding China accountable, recognizing that they have not been compliant with the rules and standards that every other industrialized country in the world have been. But also realizing that they’re a market that we need to continue to sell to.”
LaHood is a member of the Ways and Means subcommittee that handles trade policy.
Why it matters: China is a critical market for U.S. soybeans and other commodities.
For more on the recommendations, check out our weekly Agri-Pulse newsletter today. We also review the impact of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
Ag employers petition Labor Dept. to change AEWR methodology
Ag employers are petitioning the Labor Department to change the way it calculates farmworker wages.
Michael Marsh, president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, says the department is misusing data from the Farm Labor Survey and non-agricultural occupations to determine minimum mandatory wage rates for the H-2A program.
“The impact of these runaway wages has real, palpable effects on American agriculture and the American people,” NCAE says in a release.
“Today more than 60% of the fresh fruit consumed in the United States and greater than 40% of the fresh vegetables consumed are produced by America’s competitors,” NCAE says. “U.S. farm and ranch families are at a tipping point in sustaining their legacy family farming and ranching operations.”
Senators look to block beef imports
A bipartisan pair of senators is angling to block USDA from allowing beef imports from Paraguay. Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., are filing a Congressional Review Act resolution that aims to keep the ban in place. The measure would have to be approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
“The Biden administration has this one backwards – resuming beef imports from a country with a recent history of foot and mouth disease is bad news for both Montana consumers and producers,” says Tester.
Check out this week’s Agri-Pulse newsletter for a profile of Tester, whose re-election race could decide control of the Senate.
Lawmakers debate whole milk bill
The House is expected to vote today on whether to clear the way for whole milk to be on school menus.
The National Milk Producers Federation and International Dairy Foods Association have sent out a call to action urging House members to support the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. “The bigger the margin, the more pressure on the Senate to make it law,” NMPF says.
Whole milk is the most popular variety in America, followed by 2% milk, accounting for a combined 80% of milk consumption in 2022. But neither are allowed under federal school meal programs.
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By the way: Michael Dykes, IDFA president and CEO, tells Agri-Pulse the House vote is a “first step in the broad recognition of the evolving science” around dairy fat. He doesn’t see it as a departure from Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Dykes says the dairy industry is also making its case to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. School nutrition standards are supposed to reflect the federal dietary guidelines, issued every five years.
DGAC sets fourth meeting for January
The DGAC’s fourth meeting has been set for Jan. 19. The committee is developing the scientific report that will underpin the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the final recommendations of which will be determined by the secretaries of USDA and Health and Human Services.
The meeting will be livestreamed. Viewers can register at DietaryGuidelines.gov.
Interest rate volatility top concern for ag lenders
Interest rate volatility remained the top perceived concern facing ag lending institutions in 2023, according to the latest 2023 Agricultural Lender Survey released jointly by the American Bankers Association and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, also known as Farmer Mac.
Tyler Mondres, senior director of research at ABA, says rising interest rates bring higher stress for borrowers. Lender competition and credit quality were the second and third biggest concerns respectively. Top concerns for ag producers include liquidity, followed by farm income levels and inflationary pressures from rising input costs.
Ag lenders expect more than three-quarters of their borrowers to be profitable in 2023 and two-thirds to remain profitable through 2024. Lenders expect farm income compression over the next 12 months, with 70% projecting a decline in farm profitability.
He said it. “Some people wanted to get rid of PNTR, which would, in my view, have devastating effects on trade. So that’s not what we did.” – Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., on the House China committee’s recommendations.
Steve Davies, Jacqui Fatka and Noah Wicks contributed to this report.
