The House is expected to vote this morning on the final six-bill funding package for fiscal 2024.
The package, which needs to pass before this weekend to avoid a partial government shutdown, includes funding for the Labor Department as well as the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Defense.
Democrats say they were able to largely protect the Labor Department from significant cuts. The $13.7 billion provided for DOL is only a slight reduction from FY23 after adjusting for the bill’s community project funding. That’s $4.5 billion above the funding level proposed by House Republicans, according to a Democratic summary.
Why it matters: DOL administers the H-2A visa program, regulates worker safety and enforces wage and hour regulations.
Vilsack accused of risking U.S. security with HPAI research
China and its relation to U.S. agriculture emerged as an issue again on Thursday as Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack returned to Capitol Hill.
Members of the House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee peppered Vilsack with questions about the department’s tracking of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland. And a Virginia GOP congressman, Ben Cline, ripped into Vilsack over USDA’s avian flu research, which includes some cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Vilsack insisted that USDA’s work on highly pathogenic avian influenza is being carried out separately from what the Chinese are doing, but he also defended the cooperation. “We have to figure out how to solve it and how to stop it,” Vilsack said of HPAI.
Cline rejected Vilsack’s argument that there were clear “walls” between what USDA is doing and the Chinese research. “You’re doing a disservice to our national security and our country,” Cline said.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, raised similar concerns about the Chinese connection in a letter last month to Vilsack.
Take note: Vilsack also came under fire from Republicans for his use of the Commodity Credit Corporation. Subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., accused him of running the CCC as a “slush fund,” citing Vilsack’s offer to use the CCC to supplement farm bill funding. Meanwhile, a California congressman complained that Vilsack wouldn’t use the CCC to provide disaster relief to some farmers. Read our report at Agri-Pulse.com.
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By the way: Congressional Republicans haven’t taken Vilsack up on his offer to use the CCC to address a funding shortfall for the farm bill commodity title. In an interview for this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers House Ag Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., indicates he’s still trying to get agreement with Democrats on funding sources for the bill. “We are still working through some of the issues of how you pay for it,” he says.
This week’s Newsmakers will be available today at Agri-Pulse.com.
Senators look to set up farm transition commission
A bipartisan Senate bill would stand up a new commission to dig into issues affecting the transition of farms to the next generation of producers. The 2018 farm bill authorized the Commission on Farm Transitions, but USDA has never established it.
Among the issues the commission would investigate is the availability of land, infrastructure and affordable credit. The commission also would be tasked with making recommendations on improvements to asset transfer strategies and on incentives that would encourage asset transfers to the next generation.
“With one in three farmers preparing to retire in the next decade, we cannot afford to stand back and watch as the nation’s agricultural industry reaches a tipping point without a plan to feed the future,” says Indiana GOP Sen. Mike Braun, who is cosponsoring the bill with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
Bankers report continued rural economic slump
Rural bankers’ assessment of economies in 10 agriculture-dependent states in March fell to lows not seen since the summer of 2020 amid rising interest rates, higher grain storage costs and weaker agriculture commodity prices.
Creighton University’s Rural Mainstreet Index, a monthly survey of rural bankers, fell to an overall reading of 38. One factor at play is the drop in the price of corn, Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss tells Agri-Pulse.
Jeff Bonnett, CEO of Havana National Bank in Havan, Illinois, reported in the survey: “Our farm operators, like their peers across the Corn Belt, are still storing 2023 crop awaiting at least break-even pricing. Without an upward push in commodity prices, the 2024 crop projections mirror 2023."
The index assigns values of between 0 and 100 for bankers’ perceptions of the economy, with 50 meaning growth-neutral. Among the biggest changes from February was the index for farm equipment sales, which fell from a 49.5 to 30.4.
But, but, but: Goss says most farmers can still make their loan payments following “a couple of very good years.” More than three-quarters of bankers surveyed reported farm loan delinquency rates of 0.9% or less.
APHIS recommends approval of dicamba-resistant corn
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is recommending approval of a corn variety developed by Bayer that is resistant to five herbicides.
The company submitted a petition in 2020 seeking nonregulated status for its MON 87429 corn cultivar, which is resistant to dicamba, glufosinate and three other herbicides.
In a draft environmental impact statement, APHIS acknowledged the off-target dicamba damage caused when the volatile herbicide has been sprayed on soybeans. However, it said, “To what extent MON 87429 corn, on which dicamba could be used, may or may not contribute to the controversy and potential tangential costs associated with dicamba use is uncertain.”
The public will have an opportunity to comment on the draft EIS and a Plant Pest Risk Assessment until May 6, according to a Federal Register notice published today.
He said it. “They are overcompensated, and they are putting farms at risk.” – Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., referring to H-2A farmworkers. Moolenaar told Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack that the H-2A wage rates are excessive. Vilsack noted that the Farm Workforce Modernization Act would have frozen the rates temporarily.
