EPA’s top pesticide official said Wednesday she doesn’t know what the agency’s official response will be to the decision Tuesday to vacate registrations of dicamba.
But speaking to members of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Wednesday in Washington, EPA Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff did say the agency has some “near-term existing stocks questions” that will have to be addressed quickly.
In other words, just as it was the last time dicamba registrations were vacated by a court, the question now is whether farmers will still be able to use product they’ve already purchased.
“A lot of producers that have made their growing decisions for 2024 have already purchased inputs,” Arkansas Ag Secretary Wes Ward told Freedhoff. In some states, cotton producers are planting next week, he said.
The Agricultural Retailers Association said Wednesday “the timing of the decision will be extremely disruptive to ag retailers, distributors, manufacturers and farmers who made plans to use these products in 2024.” ARA urged EPA and the registrants “to continue the defense of science-based pesticide regulation in the federal courts by appealing the decision and requesting a stay of the decision during the appeal.”
A lawyer for the Center for Food Safety told Agri-Pulse Tuesday that the group expects an emergency stay request to be filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
And there’s this: NASDA members passed an “action item” urging EPA to use “all available discretion regarding existing stocks” so the channels of trade are not disrupted.
NASDA seeks help on PFAS
At its Winter Policy Conference, the group also approved policy supporting indemnities for “farmers and ranchers whose lands are contaminated with PFAS through the spreading of biosolids or biowaste, by contaminated water, or by any other means.”
The amendment also encourages federal agencies to work with states “to keep operations agriculturally productive and economically viable by offering financial support and providing access to effective federal and state assistance programs, either currently existing or to be created in response to this crisis.”
Farm income forecast to fuel fresh demands for farm bill
USDA’s latest farm income forecast is providing some fresh ammunition to lawmakers who are pushing to put more money into farm bill commodity programs. USDA is projecting net farm income to fall this year to $116 billion, which is 1.7% below the 20-year average and nearly 41% below the 2022 record, after adjusting for inflation.
“Our current farm safety net is not equipped to handle the challenges our farmers are facing. The gravity of the situation drives home the need for Congress to make meaningful investments in the farm bill’s safety net programs,” says the Senate Ag Committee’s top Republican, John Boozman of Arkansas.
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But Sheila Korth, senior policy analyst of Taxpayers for Common Sense, says the forecast shows the farm economy is still healthy and doesn’t need more federal subsidies.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack also weighed in, saying the report “underscores the critical importance of USDA’s ongoing work to help foster prosperity for producers and the communities they love by supporting an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out, and by creating new market opportunities that promote competition in the marketplace that can help combat low prices and high input costs.”
CBO lowers commodity subsidy, SNAP forecast
The Congressional Budget Office is out with a new long-term forecast for farm program costs that projects somewhat lower payments over the next decade, reflecting slightly stronger expectations for market prices. The forecast could have implications for the costs of writing a new farm bill.
CBO is forecasting the Price Loss Coverage program, which triggers payments when market prices fall below certain reference prices, will cost $28 billion from 2024 through 2034. The 2023-2033 forecast issued last May was for $33.1 billion. The Agriculture Risk Coverage program is now projected to cost $15.6 billion, down from the $28.4 billion forecast for 2023-33.
CBO also raised its forecast for Commodity Credit Corporation payments by about $5 billion over 10 years, but slashed its 10-year estimate for SNAP benefits, reflecting lower expected enrollment and benefits.
Why it matters: The Senate and House Ag committees have been using CBO’s May 2023 baseline to score the cost of farm bill changes. But lawmakers could decide to switch to a new forecast that’s expected to be released this spring. If that baseline follows the forecast released Tuesday, the cost of raising PLC reference prices would be a little lower, largely because of higher projected rice and cotton prices, says Patrick Westhoff, director of the University of Missouri’s Food and Agriculture Research Institute.
Lawmakers also could get more savings from restricting USDA’s CCC authority. But any potential savings from restrictions on SNAP would be lower than currently estimated. Both are Republican proposals.
North Dakota regulators say carbon pipeline permits can supersede local ordinances
North Dakota’s Public Service Commission on Wednesday determined permits for carbon pipelines, if approved, could supersede local zoning regulations.
In its decision, the commission said that based on its plain language reading of an existing statute, “the approval of a route permit for a gas or liquid transmission facility automatically supersedes and preempts local land use or zoning regulations, except for road use agreements.”
The decision has implications for Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed carbon pipeline project, which, if approved, would then be unobstructed by county-level ordinances along its path.
But, but, but: The commission has not yet weighed in on whether it will grant Summit Carbon Solutions a permit for the proposed pipeline project, the plans for which have been revised after a denial from the commission last year.
PepsiCo official: Corporate ESG commitments here to stay
Conservative lawmakers have been demanding federal regulators stop pressuring corporations to slash greenhouse gas emissions. But David Allen, vice president for sustainability at PepsiCo, told biofuel industry leaders Wednesday that most large corporations have already made sustainability commitments and won’t backtrack, regardless of which party is in power.
“What we're trying to do as PepsiCo is help blaze a trail and show a way for people to make progress and succeed in those commitments,” Allen said at the annual meeting of Clean Fuels Alliance America, which represents the biomass-based diesel industry.
PepsiCo, which has one of the largest corporate vehicle fleets, is becoming a member of Clean Fuels Alliance America, reflecting the company’s ongoing interest in renewable diesel and biodiesel. PepsiCo also has a program aimed at converting more than 7 million acres to regenerative farming practices. As of 2022, fewer than 1 million had been converted.
He said it. “Getting rid of Speaker McCarthy has officially turned into an unmitigated disaster.” – Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., in a post on X. He ticked off a list of failures for the House GOP, including its failure to move individual spending bills and its shrinking majority.
An earlier version incorrectly described the CBO forecast for rice and cotton prices.
