Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says he’s against a proposal to be more restrictive with future rewrites of the Thrifty Food Plan, the calculation used to determine Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
House Ag Republican aides say curtailing future TFP rewrites could save $30 billion over 10 years. They also contend changes to the language concerning future updates could protect against the actions of an administration with designs on major TFP changes, either to increase or decrease the benefit. But Vilsack says the idea should be off the table.
“Do you want a farm bill passed? … that’s the question they have to answer,” Vilsack said of lawmakers considering the idea.
“The challenge with taking on nutrition is that for many people in the Congress, they think they’ve already dealt with SNAP,” he added, alluding to last summer’s debt ceiling deal. “And now, you come back and say, ‘Well…’ That doesn’t sit well with a lot of folks. And so it jeopardizes the ability to get the farm bill done.”
About that farm bill… The nation’s top ag official also said he would like to see fresh farm policy yet this year, something he acknowledges is complicated by lingering government funding discussions.
“Until they figure that out, they can’t even get to the farm bill,” Vilsack told reporters in Salt Lake City.
The secretary said he agreed with the American Farm Bureau Federation, which is pushing for
Congress to reauthorize the farm bill in 2024. “I think it’s important to say to our policymakers, ‘Hey, we’ve given you a year of grace, we’ve extended it to September, but let’s get the job done,’” he said.
ADM replaces CFO amid internal probe, causing shares to plunge
Shares in Archer Daniels Midland plunged Monday after the company announced it was replacing its chief financial officer amid questions about accounting practices in the agribusiness giant’s nutrition division.
Vikram Luthar has been put on leave as CFO while an investigation is ongoing.
The company said the investigation by outside counsel and the ADM board’s audit committee began after the company got a document request from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
ADM shares closed down 24% on Monday.
PFAS, pesticide regs among NASDA policy priorities
Issues surrounding PFAS chemical contamination are becoming a significant concern for state agriculture departments around the country. PFAS is one of five policy priorities announced Monday by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
The other four include the farm bill, food safety, labor reform and pesticide regulation.
In a policy statement on the PFAS issue, NASDA says, “Federal agencies should work with state departments of agriculture to keep agricultural operations productive and economically viable by offering financial support and providing access to federal programs, either currently existing or to be created in response to this emerging risk.”
Take note: When it comes to pesticide regulation, NASDA is concerned in part about EPA’s ongoing work to protect endangered species from pesticide usage. NASDA says it “implores the EPA to develop an ESA compliance strategy to ensure that growers can comply with EPA’s final work plan and state lead agencies can adequately enforce these strategies.”
Meat, poultry plant treatment proposal published
EPA is publishing its proposal today to establish new guidelines for discharges from meat and poultry processing establishments, triggering a 60-day comment period. Public hearings are scheduled for Jan. 24 and 31.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here.
The proposal would set phosphorus limits for large direct dischargers and more stringent nitrogen limits for large direct dischargers based on full denitrification. It also “would establish, for the first time, pretreatment standards for oil and grease, total suspended solids, and biochemical oxygen demand.”
EPA is also seeking comments on a provision requiring “segregation and management of high-salt waste streams that are produced at some facilities, as well as the addition of E. coli bacteria as a regulated parameter for direct dischargers.”
The American Association of Meat Processors says it is concerned about the impact on the industry as a whole. AAMP said it “would have liked to have seen EPA spend more time gathering data from a larger sampling of plants.”
Meanwhile, Food & Water Watch said Monday that while the proposed rule is strong on direct dischargers, it “largely ignores” indirect dischargers, who send their effluent to municipal sewage treatment plants, which FWW says are “often overwhelmed and not equipped to treat the industrial waste.”
Lawmakers aim for new rural workforce training options with proposed legislation
House members Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., and Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, have introduced a bill aimed at using funds from a farm bill grant program to support career training programs in rural areas.
The Access to Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Success Act would use funds from the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program for programs intended to bolster the rural workforce.
The maximum amount that could be offered through a competitive grant process would be $2 million, while the minimum would be $500,000, according to a press release.
Autonomous robot manufacturer wins annual Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge
Barn Owl Precision Agriculture on Monday took home the $50,000 prize in this year’s Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge for its work on an autonomous robot that helps farmers with planting, weed suppression and soil sample collection.
The company was chosen by a three-person panel made up of Oregon Farm Bureau President Angela Bailey, Western AgCredit President and CEO David Brown, and George Gough, state policy and advocacy lead for Bayer CropScience.
Udder Ways, the creator of a device that “improves sanitation and enhances milk flow as dairy cattle are milked,” was selected as the runner-up, taking home a $20,000 prize.
He said it: “We’re not getting it done because people are stuck on these issues and they need to unstick themselves.” – Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack speaking to reporters at the Farm Bureau convention in Salt Lake City about the problems slowing the farm bill process.
Philip Brasher, Spencer Chase, Noah Wicks and Sara Wyant contributed to this report.
