President Biden used his State of the Union address to take on food companies while claiming credit for stabilizing farms with his economic policy.
He accused the food industry of gouging consumers through “shrinkflation,” the practice of subtly reducing the contents of packages. On farmers, he said his “investments” had ensured their operations were “better able to stay in the family ... and their children and grandchildren won’t have to leave home to make a living.”
But, but, but: Notably missing from the speech was any mention of the farm bill. Congress must either pass a new one this year or another extension of the 2018 farm bill.
Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., brushed off the omission. “This was all about lifting up opportunity for everyone tonight and focusing on optimism and investing in the future. While he wasn’t specifically able to go through every part of the federal government, I’m very confident he supports us getting the right kind of farm bill done,” she told Agri-Pulse after the speech.
Read our SOTU report at Agri-Pulse.com.
Ag labor report could be starting point for next Congress
A new report from a bipartisan, House Ag working group could provide one path to a compromise on thorny ag labor issues. The report recommends wage relief for farmers as well as a federal heat standard to protect farmworkers.
Despite the federal government’s decidedly deliberate progress on an occupational heat standard, which has yet to result in a proposed rule, the Agricultural Labor Working Group recommended Congress adopt a standard for H-2A workers when temperatures are “heightened.” But it also urged that any legislation significantly reform the H-2A program to address producers’ main complaint – wages that have increased significantly in recent years. The report also took issue with the way the Labor Department calculates those wages.
Take note: Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, welcomed the recommendations. “That’s what leadership is all about, and I hope this work is followed by action,” he said in a release.
Some of the more significant recommendations were pulled from the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which passed the House in 2021 but failed to get a vote in the Senate, despite widespread support from farm groups. AFBF notably opposed some provisions in the bill.
The report could serve as a blueprint for legislation in the next Congress, since the prospects for moving immigration reform this year are low.
Read more on the report in our coverage on Agri-Pulse.com.
House GOP moves budget blueprint
House Republicans have rolled out their fiscal 2025 budget resolution ahead of the release of the White House budget on Monday. The FY25 resolution, which the Budget Committee approved on a party-line vote Thursday, is similar to the FY24 blueprint that never got a floor vote.
As with the FY24 resolution, the FY25 blueprint includes a policy statement that calls for restricting USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority and improving program compliance and integrity at the department. The resulting savings “should be reinvested into Farm Safety Net programs in the most fiscally responsible manner,” the statement says.
A policy statement on SNAP says the House Ag Committee should “look for opportunities to strengthen measures related to employment, integrity and health.”
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Keep in mind: House Ag Republicans have suggested restrictions on both CCC and future updates of the Thrifty Food Plan, a cost-of-eating model that’s used to determine SNAP benefits.
Lucas: Foreign land measures should aid state enforcement
Provisions in a congressional spending agreement to address concerns about foreign land ownership should help state-level regulators looking to enforce their own land ownership laws, says Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla. The spending package adds USDA to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and gives USDA new money for tracking land purchases.
Fourteen states have approved new restrictions to foreign landholdings in the past two years, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. Some state attorneys general have also committed to ramping up enforcement.
"My attorney general has made it very clear — they’re going to enforce the law,” Lucas told Agri-Pulse. “They just need to be able to verify and go after [violators]."
Lucas said if lawmakers find the new measures aren’t strong enough nationwide, "then we may have to reassess this. But we’ve come a long way since I started trying to push this effort five years ago.”
By the way: The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is trying to counter what the group says is misinformation being spread about $15 million that’s in the spending package for electronic animal ID tags. “We have seen conspiracy theories and intentionally false information being shared by people who do not understand the importance of preventing animal disease outbreaks,” NCBA says in a memo to news media.
Several conservative lawmakers have posted criticism of the funding on X. “Once Big Ag and Big Government know where every animal is, small livestock farmers will get butchered,” posted Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, says Americans have “survived and thrived for two-and-half centuries” without electronic cattle IDs.
Fuel retailers urge EPA to OK E-15 waiver amid supply chain struggles
Three groups representing truck stops, convenience stores and fuel retailers are calling on EPA to authorize summer sales of E-15 amid a “volatile fuel supply market” and other supply chain challenges stemming from the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Red Sea.
In a letter, the groups tell EPA Administrator Michael Regan that year-round sales would “help to enhance supply and lower prices” for fuel amid ongoing supply chain challenges.
The three groups: National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO), the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA), and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
He said it. “He's ready to go. I have no doubt that he is absolutely ready to roll.” – Sen. Mike Rounds on fellow South Dakotan, Minority Whip John Thune, who’s running to succeed Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as GOP leader. Rounds makes the comment on this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.
Newsmakers will be available at Agri-Pulse.com.
