Democrats on the House Ag Committee are releasing a new position paper today that makes clear that the partisan standoff over funding a new farm bill is nowhere near an end.
The two-page paper flatly rules out cutting nutrition assistance or reallocating Inflation Reduction Act funding to pay for increasing reference prices and other improvements to commodity programs.
The top Democrat on the committee, Georgia’s David Scott, calls a GOP proposal to reduce SNAP costs by $30 billion “dangerous” and “mean.” “There’s no way I’m going to accept that … and none of the Democrats on this committee are going to accept that,” he told reporters ahead of the memo’s release.
Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees commodity programs and crop insurance, says it’s up to the House GOP leadership to come up with new funding for a farm bill.
Take note: Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., makes the same points in a new interview with Agri-Pulse, where she also defends a key crop insurance proposal.
Stabenow has proposed to boost premium subsidies for area-based insurance policies along the lines of the existing STAX product for cotton. She says her plan was meant to “jump-start” farm bill discussions. But GOP critics don’t like the idea that farmers who bought the buy-up coverage wouldn’t be eligible to enroll the same crops in commodity programs.
“I think that that's a bad road to go down. We certainly are not in the practice of taking anything away from people,” said Justin Benavidez, chief economist for the House Ag Committee’s majority staff.
For a lot more on that crop insurance issue and on the House Ag Democrats’ position paper, check out our weekly Agri-Pulse newsletter. We also look at a major change that’s likely coming in European regulation of biotech crops.
Appropriators pressed to freeze H-2A rates
Ten Republican senators are asking House and Senate appropriators to freeze H-2A wage rates at January 2023 levels. The wage increase for 2024 adds “significant financial strains” for producers that rely on acquiring workers through the program, the senators say in a letter going to the Senate and House Appropriations committees today.
The lawmakers are also seeking to reinstate a delay between the posting of Adverse Effect Wage Rates and their implementation period, which would be removed under a rule proposed last year by the Labor Department.
"Any changes to the H-2A program should be subject to thorough and insightful action by Congress, not forced on producers by the executive branch,” the Republicans say.
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Dicamba decision leaves question of continued use unresolved
EPA and dicamba registrants are left with difficult decisions to make in the wake of a court decision vacating registrations of dicamba, which had been approved for use on cotton and soybeans in 34 states.
Registrants Bayer, Syngenta and BASF intervened in the case and could appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as could EPA, but chances of success there seem slim considering it was the 9th Circuit that vacated dicamba registrations in 2020.
EPA also could work quickly, as it did in 2020, to fully review the herbicide’s environmental and economic impacts, but time is short before the growing season.
A bigger question involves whether producers can use existing stocks of the herbicide. In 2020, when EPA canceled the registrations after the court decision, it allowed continued use of the herbicides.
Meredith Stevenson, an attorney with Center for Food Safety, one of the groups that sued EPA, said, “We think it’s likely there could be an emergency stay filed to the Ninth Circuit any day. It is also possible EPA could authorize the ‘emergency use’ of the products.”
In its statement Tuesday, Bayer said, “Our top priority is making sure growers have the approved products and support they need to safely and successfully grow their crops. We will keep our customers updated as we learn more from the EPA in advance of the 2024 growing season.”
Read more in our story on Agri-Pulse.com.
Farmers press Biden for biofuels support
President Biden today is getting a letter signed by more than 3,000 farmers, urging him to change course on a regulatory path that could “significantly limit your administration’s ability to immediately lower greenhouse gas emissions and put the nation on a climate-smart path.”
In the letter, which the National Corn Growers Association says garnered thousands of signatures in less than a week, farmers say consumers are “not readily adopting” electric vehicles. Instead, the letter argues the situation will require “a multi-pronged approach that includes tapping into higher levels of biofuels, such as corn ethanol, which offers an immediate climate solution.”
The timing: The letter comes as the White House Office of Management and Budget considers a final rule from the Environmental Protection Agency on light- and medium-duty vehicle tailpipe emissions.
State ag secretaries meet with top officials
Leaders of state agriculture departments hear today from USDA, FDA and EPA leaders Wednesday afternoon as part of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture's winter policy meeting.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, FDA Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones, USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor, and EPA Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff all are to address members of the group at USDA. Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip for the Office of the United States Trade Representative also is scheduled.
SAF hurdles include getting the stuff to airports
U.S. airlines are relying heavily on the production of sustainable aviation fuel to meet lofty climate goals that their corporate customers and investors have pushed them to set. But the product is still expensive relative to conventional jet fuel, even with federal incentives. And airline officials also face a major challenge in getting SAF from where it’s going to be produced to the airports where it’s needed.
John Briere, director of fuel supply and trading for Southwest Airlines, said at the Clean Fuels Alliance America annual meeting Tuesday that an extra cent in increased cost is significant to carriers. He said moving SAF to airports could add 25 cents to the cost of a gallon of SAF.
“We have to be able to connect where the SAF is produced to the existing infrastructure that supplies the airports … We're focused on fractions of a penny in terms of our costs,” he said.
She said it. “It's exciting, but it's also incredibly daunting in the beginning, really the beginning, of what is going to be one day a very big market.” - Jill Blickstein, vice president of sustainability for American Airlines, speaking about SAF at Clean Fuels annual meeting.
